Living With Men
Reflections on the Pelicot Trial
Manon Garcia author Maya B Kronic translator
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Polity Press
Publishing:10th Oct '25
£20.00
This title is due to be published on 10th October, and will be despatched as soon as possible.
Gisèle Pelicot's story outraged the world. The sickening parade of crimes to which she was subjected and her betrayal are dark pages in our history. Feminist philosopher Manon Garcia decided to attend the trial and to analyse its resonance for our future.
It became the trial that demonstrated that trials will never suffice to serve justice. If the perpetrators, for the most part, seemed so unashamed of what they had done, can we see in their sentencing anything meaningful? If their lawyers defend their clients by relieving them of responsibility for their actions, how will these men, their families, their friends see this trial as anything other than an injustice? If, even as the most explicit proof streamed before the court, the victim was stonewalled with the bland denial of facts, what can juries achieve in cases when the evidence is lacking? The threat of incarceration will never be powerful enough to stop men raping. If trusting the justice system, as those who fret about feminist overreach counsel us to do, gets us nowhere, what do we do?
Above all, one question haunted Garcia: under such circumstances, can we live with men? And at what price?
"Riveting, harrowing, and brilliant, Manon Garcia's Living with Men is indispensable reading for our times. A work of journalism, philosophy, and cultural criticism, it will help you to grapple not only with the mass rape case that gripped the world, but also the ordinariness of men's cruelty to women under patriarchy. An extraordinary book."
Kate Manne, Cornell University
"A breathtaking tapestry of personal reflections, case details, and philosophical insights, Garcia has written the book we needed to make sense of the Pelicot trial and what it means for living with men."
Fiona Vera-Gray, Co-Director of the Child and Woman Abuse Studies Unit, London Metropolitan University
"As she excavates the sobering details of the Pelicot trial, Manon Garcia shares the painful realization of what it all reveals about our (women’s) ongoing place in the world and the possibilities for stopping sexual violence. It is confronting and disturbing. But through personal reflections woven throughout the book, she walks alongside us, offering company, solidarity, and challenge: we see what is going on."
Nicola Gavey, University of Auckland
"In Living with Men, Manon Garcia, one of the foremost feminist philosophers of her generation, delivers an unflinching and extremely insightful analysis of the trial of Dominique Pelicot and his 50 co-defendants – a case that exposed the deep entrenchment of rape culture in French society. Blending courtroom observation with philosophical analysis and personal reflections, Garcia dismantles the notion that sexual violence is an aberration, showing instead how deeply it is woven into social norms and how inadequate the criminal law is in addressing it. Both a searing indictment of patriarchy and a profound work of feminist thought, this book is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the structures that make such violence possible."
Susan J. Brison, author of Aftermath: Violence and the Remaking of a Self
ISBN: 9781509573134
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: unknown
208 pages