Every week or so, a major newspaper or a high-audience radio or TV station devotes a story to a sexual abuse, abduction or placement case involving a child. The problem? Only cases that involve the mother's pain are covered. Shocking.
The arrest of Camille's mother, the kidnapping of the twins in La Chaux-de-Fonds or, more recently, the Bénédicte affair, the abduction of a child by his Lebanese father or the denunciation by a mother of molestation by the son of her ex-husband's new partner: you've probably read about one of these stories in the press or other media. And what do they all have in common? The mother's position at the center of attention. While this may not be problematic in itself, as a mother has a duty to look after the well-being of her offspring, the fact that the major media players in French-speaking Switzerland prefer or take her side at all costs, regardless of the reality of the situation, is far more problematic.
From the moment of her arrest until the end of the trial, Lake Geneva's leading newspaper supported a mother responsible for abducting her daughter for over ten years, without any evidence of any sexual wrongdoing on the part of the father. Radio Télévision Suisse (RTS), via its «Mise au Point» program», presented the departure of the two children from La Chaux-de-Fonds to Spain as a paternal abduction, whereas the mother had kidnapped her children and taken them to Switzerland two years earlier. The Tribune de Genève and 24 heures have detailed another international abduction, that of a boy by his father to Lebanon, while no line is ever given to these abductions if they are committed by mothers (even though they are the authors in 80% of cases, according to various valuable scientific studies). An editorial line chosen partly out of feminism, partly out of commercialism, that exasperates by its lack of honesty.
Double standards
Alas, the evil goes even deeper, and also attacks other themes relating to married and family life. While domestic violence is well-documented in the news, the focus is on abuse of women (even going so far as to coin the term "domestic violence"). femicide when they are fatal), whereas, according to the Swiss Federal Statistical Office (SFSO), they are guilty of around 30% of episodes, psychological violence not taken into account. Don't get me wrong: all aggression is inexcusable, intolerable and punishable, but we have to remain objective.
Another stumbling block was finance. Is it acceptable that RTS, once again, should build a «12h45» item on the abandonment by the Canton of Vaud of the principle of tax solidarity between ex-spouses around the testimony of a woman, while the channel has always ignored the serious financial problems, even ruin, of many fathers in the context of their separation or divorce proceedings? To ask the question is to answer it.
Only balanced, unbiased and truly egalitarian information can create the balance that women and men need on a daily basis. What's the point of including at least one woman's story in a newspaper every day? What's the point of stirring up rumors about a father when the investigation hasn't even begun (think of the family tragedy in Yverdon in March 2023)? All this just reinforces a vindictive feminism, as selfish and sterile as that practised by certain men in centuries gone by.
Pascal Gysel is President and Head of Communications at Mouvement de la condition paternelle Vaud (MCPV).
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