In the Shadow of Consent: the Taboo on Female Desire and the Denial of Maternal Incest

The sex scandals brought to public attention by the Depardieu, Pélicot, and Le Scouarnec trials prompt the author to consider the notion of consent by differentiating its active and passive sides. Emphasizing the magnitude of the power nature gives the mother in her function, the author describes the vicious cycle that may be established in the male psyche, going from the risk of possession by the Great Mother archetype to fear of female desire. The taboo on female desire has generated a culture of rape... with consent. This observation leads to the hypothesis of a social and familial denial of maternal incest, a denial that would feed back into the vicious cycle outlined above.