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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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:
INFP · 26/08/2017 14:15

Was he your teacher or in a position of authority?

OP posts:
MistressDeeCee · 26/08/2017 14:18

Gaelle1 Thank you for info, I didn't know that

So basically she abused a position of trust by taking advantage of a young boy, be he mature or not still only 15. Thats an impressionable age

Disgusting woman particularly with her secret as to when they actually became lovers

INFP · 26/08/2017 14:19

This thread has been a real eye opener for me TBH. I didn't think that there would be such a majority of people who accept a sexual relationship between a mid-teen and adult in their 30s and 40s as being fine and dandy.

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BarbarianMum · 26/08/2017 14:21

All i know is that, as a woman in my 40s, I dont find 15 year olds either sexually attractive or potential relationship material. Ditto whilst in my 20s and 30s actually. In fact the very idea is disturbing.

x2boys · 26/08/2017 14:21

I don't think they would INFP if they sexes had been reversed....

x2boys · 26/08/2017 14:26

Me neither Barbarian my 15 yr old nephew is a handsome lad and I can certainly see how girls his age would find him attractive but he's incredibly immature my dh 16 yr old daughter is a nice girl but she is what she is a teenage girl and everything that goes with that I can't see how an adult would find a 15/16 yr old attractive other then physically.

GreatFuckability · 26/08/2017 14:27

INFP No, he wasn't my teacher or anything and I'd not be happy at the thought of it if was my own daughter, but that doesn't change the fact he was a lot older and I was, at least for a short time, underage.

INFP · 26/08/2017 14:28

I completely agree Barbarian. I'm also in my forties and the idea of being sexually/romantically attracted to a fifteen year old is frankly beyond the pale.

x2boys - but there have been numerous posters who condone the reverse situation too.

Sometimes I think MN is the weirdest place.

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GreatFuckability · 26/08/2017 14:28

from my POV, I was a lot older than my years as a 15 year old. I read a lot, I was a carer for my family and had been running our home for years, tbh I'd say I was probably more capable at life than he was. so in that respect I wasn't your average 15 year old.

LassWiTheDelicateAir · 26/08/2017 14:43

I completely agree Barbarian. I'm also in my forties and the idea of being sexually/romantically attracted to a fifteen year old is frankly beyond the pale

And all this dancing on a pin head as to whether the correct term for someone who has sex with a child is a paedophile. The dictionary definition of paedophile is a person who is sexually attracted to children. Child in UK law is under 16 for sex. In France the age is 15, with special protection for abuses of authority.

It is not just the Mail etc who use "paedohile" in that sense. It is a horrible thing to be called- if someone doesn't want to be called it, then it is very easy to avoid- don't have sex with children and don't groom children.

MissEliza · 26/08/2017 14:44

I wouldn't say she's a paedophile but I can't understand why a woman of 40 would find a 15 year old boy sexually attractive. I worked in a secondary school in my 20s and there was a case (not in our school) of a female teacher who'd had a relationship with a pupil. I couldn't even comprehend it then when there was less than ten years between me and many of the pupils. Now I'm in my 40s I find it absolutely disgusting and bizarre.

Ttbb · 26/08/2017 14:53

Pedophile is a bit of a strong word but a pervert? Definitely.

x2boys · 26/08/2017 14:53

I think when you are in a position of power you don't or you shouldn't see a person a someone to be a potential sexual partner I wasn't a teacher but I was a mental health nurse and I know a few nurses who embarked on sexual relationships with patients I just didn't understand it .

LassWiTheDelicateAir · 26/08/2017 15:00

Pedophile is a bit of a strong word but a pervert? Definitely

Not seeing much of a difference but if it offends any adult who wants to have sex with an underage teenager the remedy is in their own hands.

INFP · 26/08/2017 15:06

I agree with you Lass. Im not sure I understand this pendantry around pedophile/pervert/groomer etc. It's about being sexually attracted to a child. How is that ever justifiable?

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MissEliza · 26/08/2017 15:07

Absolutely x2boys. She was in a position of trust AND a quarter of a century older than him. How is that ok?

MarianneAgain · 26/08/2017 15:16

Well I voted for EM because I believe in him - his was obviously not your average 15 year old and Brigitte saw this.
Their families tried to split them up but they came round in the end.
Frankly "when they became intimate" is none of our business - if nobody close to them is making a fuss, why should we?

And as for François Fillon - it wasn't just that he employed his wife and kids at huge expense to the taxpayer in non existent jobs.... but also the fact that he then lied about it!

INFP · 26/08/2017 15:22

It's not true that nobody close to them made a fuss. His mother begged BM to "release" her son, saying: "don't you see? you've had your life. But he won't have children with you".

His father says that when they learned of the affair, he could not say "how wonderful".

They asked her not to see their son again but BM replied that she "couldn't promise anything".

It seems they have reluctantly accepted the situation, but it was a struggle.

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Gaelle1 · 26/08/2017 15:26

MarianneAgain, "none of our business".

Don't talk for all of french people. We are french and I asked all my family to vote for Macron notwithstanding the perverted woman next to him just so Le Pen does not get in power.

We in France, can look aside and put things into their own little boxes but it does not erase the FACT that ANY parent with children would know that she is a sick egoiste who should have been tried for detournement or corruption de mineur. We struggle everyday to protect our children against predators like her specially the ones who have access to our children, so do not tell us that it is not our business.

About him being special, mon cul. He got rejected in ENS 2x which my daughter got into quite easily. My daughter is specially intelligent but over my dead body before a predator like BM can victimise my children. Whoever thinks that what she did is right, can only be a sick individual.

TimeafterTimeafterTime · 26/08/2017 15:31

Some of you sound quite deranged. There are plenty of real predators and perverts for you to be concerned about instead of frothing over a devoted couple.

swingofthings · 26/08/2017 15:34

I'm French currently in France on holiday. Have many French friends. It makes me laugh how the Brits are much more shocked by what happened than the French.

Ultimately he proved that it is possible to not end up traumatised by the experience and have a happier more successful marriage than many if those judging him.

I can totally understand how worried his parents would have been initially but they have surely shown that their affair was the result of genuine attraction and then love. It might have been classified as rape from a legal perspective but it wasn't from a personal one.

Gaelle1 · 26/08/2017 15:36

TimeafterTimeafterTime, oh you think just because she got away that she isn't a real pervert or predator? In fact, she is quite an important predator and pervert who is in the limelight. The media's 'laundering' of their couple into a fairy tale cannot erase the fact that she IS a predator.

INFP · 26/08/2017 15:38

Good post Gaelle. I was just going to say that the alternative was Le Pen.

Time - and which part of a 40 year old teacher pursuing a relationship with her 15 year old pupil is not the behaviour of a real predator?

The only reason why she was not prosecuted was because his parents reluctantly didn't file charges.

How is this case different to Mary Kay Letournau?

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Gaelle1 · 26/08/2017 15:39

swingofthings, I have many friends too. And my friends say that she is a sick pervert who will never feel good under her own skin. So from my standpoint, french people are just better at hiding things under the rug.

eyebrowsonfleek · 26/08/2017 15:43

I agree that it's child abuse and the people saying he wasn't pre-pubescent so not a peadophile are just being pedantic. It's like when people say they are starving despite their last meal being only 6 hours ago or saying they are skint when they have a fridge full of food and bills paid until payday.

French voters seem more accepting of politicians having affairs compared to British voters. (I'm not French or live in France so this is purely an impression) BM is at least a predatory pervert for pursuing a relationship with a student so much younger. The fact that they married and are still together is neither here nor there.