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AIBU?

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Original poster

To think Brigitte Macron is a pedophile

347 replies

INFP · 26/08/2017 02:12

Apologies if this subject has been done before. But I came across an article where Brigitte Macron describes her love affair with her then 15 year old pupil where she goes on to say "when we became lovers is our secret".

AIBU to think this woman is a pedophile?

She actively groomed her FIFTEEN year old pupil. How is she different to Jeremy Forrest who was jailed for having a relationship with his pupil?

It is beyond disgusting.

OP posts:
LassWiTheDelicateAir · 26/08/2017 04:44

France does have a similar "abuse of trust" provisions.

Article 227-27 prohibits sexual relations with minors over age 15 (aged 15, 16 or 17) where they are committed by an ascendant or by any other person having a legal or factual authority over the victim; where they are committed by a person abusing the authority conferred by his functions."

JAPAB · 26/08/2017 04:47

AIBU to think this woman is a pedophile?

She actively groomed her FIFTEEN year old pupil.

I don't enough about the details of this case to know whether she had "groomed" him, but will agree with others that paedophile is technically inacurate.

You may of course just be using the term in a looser, colloqueal sense of 'anyone who has sex with someone who is significantly younger than them and who is underage' and possibly. Though do we know for sure what age he was when that side of things began.

MakeItStopNeville · 26/08/2017 04:53

Clearly Emmanuel Macron, as a 39 year old successful man, feels differently as he's apparently very happily married to her. I'd love to know what Mdme Macron Snr thought of it all though!

CasperGutman · 26/08/2017 05:49

Would those posters stating the psychiatric definition of paedophilia (i.e. attraction to prepubescent children) have been so quick to make this point in a case where the genders were reversed? If not, why not? And if they had, what would the general reaction have been?

Lavabravacava · 26/08/2017 06:09

What she has done is wrong. The 15 year old boys at my school can be lovely and have many great qualities but they LOOK LIKE LITTLE BOYS! even the tall ones.

They have little boy problems and little boy BO, can barely get their course work in, watch ridiculous TV shows, rarely listen to music an adult would find enjoyable and so many other reasons it just shouldn't turn an adult on.

Many of my mum friends put posts praising her on Facebook. I always want to write 'same age difference between me and your son - are you sure you support her decision?' but I don't because even that seems super creepy to me.

BarbarianMum · 26/08/2017 06:11

If paedophile is not the right word, would "child-abuser" perhaps work?

You can marry a 12 year old openly (if maybe not legally) in Nigeria. Any 40 year old doing so is a child-abusing creep though.

famousfour · 26/08/2017 06:11

I would be equally quick if it were a man. I don't think Jeremy Forrest was a paedofile based on what was reported, whatever he was labelled in the media. however, what he did was still an offence - an abuse of trust and highly inappropriate.

IfyouseeRitaMoreno · 26/08/2017 06:26

But I definitely think peoples' attitudes would be different if we were discussing a man who was sleeping with his teenage student who was less than half their age.

True but if the pupil had gone on to become the first female president of France whilst lovingly supported by her husband I think we might be giving him some slack Grin

Thatssomecatchthatcatch22 · 26/08/2017 06:38

It is super creepy. I was not too surprised that the novelty and appeal of Macron subsided so quickly after he was the only option to see Le Pen off.

BWatchWatcher · 26/08/2017 06:40

I suspect, judging by the fact that he is the French president at 39 and the youngest in the history of France, that Emmanuel Macron was not like most 15 year old boys.

Inkanta · 26/08/2017 06:51

Something definitely not right about a teacher going off with their pupil. The French obviously don't see it the same way as the Brits or else he wouldn't have got voted in.
A 15 year old boy to me is still a 15 year old boy and should not be seduced by his teacher.

Thatssomecatchthatcatch22 · 26/08/2017 06:52

"I see something very, very special in you..."

Nope...doesn't sound creepy at all...

BarbarianMum · 26/08/2017 06:54

You wouldn't vote for someone who'd been preyed upon by an adult Inkanta ? Way to victim blame.

Inkanta · 26/08/2017 07:02

No. I'm not victim blaming Barbarian How did you manage to twist that!

We have strict ethical protocols in this country - regarding teacher pupil behaviour. That is my point. I don't think the electorate here would embrace this kind of couple in office and would be put off by the origins of the 'teacher' in the relationship

noeffingidea · 26/08/2017 07:05

lavabravacava most 15 year olds look nothing like 'little boys'. The majority of them will have been through puberty and the fact that they have BO indicates that.
Don't want to be prejudiced here, but I wonder if there is a romanticised view of boys being introduced to sex by an older woman going on.
I don't see why the French wouldn't vote for him. Perhaps they felt that it didn't particularly matter 24 years later and that it's pointless bringing up the past, and that his private life doesn't have any bearing on how he does the job.

MyOtherProfile · 26/08/2017 07:07

True but if the pupil had gone on to become the first female president of France whilst lovingly supported by her husband I think we might be giving him some slack
That's exactly what's happening in this thread and makes me very uncomfortable. She had a relationship which at some point became sexual with a 15 yr old pupil when she was his 40 yr old teacher but it's ok because he went on to have a successful career?

BarbarianMum · 26/08/2017 07:10

Sorry Inkata but I don't understand why their relationship would/ should stop people voting for him. I can absolutely see why it would stop people voting for her.

Inkanta · 26/08/2017 07:18

The electrate here in Britain would probably not vote for him - not because he was the victim, but in protest that she got away with seducing her pupil. In France I don't think it is a big deal. I assume teachers can seduce/shag pupils and that there are no EU laws/protocols against it.

EmmyInTheSticks · 26/08/2017 07:30

Paedophile is the wrong word and using it diminishes the abuse of small, prepubescent children.

However.... if I was his mother I would have been absolutely beside myself with this situation. I don't think the fact he was gifted and didn't mix with his own age group holds much weight as emotionally it would still have been such an imbalance of power.

LittleWitch · 26/08/2017 07:32

The pictures of the Macrons meeting the Trumps was particularly creepy I thought. Trump and M Macron there with their generation younger spouses. Brigitte and The Donald with something very fundamental in common, an inappropriate sexual attraction to much younger people. Yuck.

Ceto · 26/08/2017 07:35

Erm...no she hasn't. You can't win damages based on someones thoughts.

You obviously can when those thoughts are broadcast a public forum.

PollyPerky · 26/08/2017 07:36

You are being very silly.
I may be wrong but I thought their relationship didn't develop into a sexual one until he had left school.

Cailleach666 · 26/08/2017 07:36

Interesting thread.

pictish · 26/08/2017 07:36

A hebephile is someone who is sexually attracted to adolescent children typically between the ages of 11-14/15.

A ephebophile is an adult who is sexually attracted to adolescents between the ages of 15 - 20.

Just for clarification. x

cowgirlsareforever · 26/08/2017 07:37

I have a 15 yo DS, and whilst he looks quite mature he is still very much a child. If a 39 year old woman took a romantic interest in him it would be horrific.