"My father began sexually abusing me when I was at the age of 2 …#MeTooIncest," wrote a woman from the U.S. on Twitter.

"I remember myself banging on the closed door whilst my sister was being molested by our older cousin," read another #MeToIncest Twitter post from the UK.

"#MeTooIncest I was 4 years old …" shared a woman from France.

"I was 8 years old at the time of the incident #MeTooIncest," recalled another French woman on the social media platform.

These gut-wrenching accounts of sexual abuse by family members are just a few of the 80,000 shared on Twitter using #MeTooIncest since Saturday.

It all started with a book.

La Familia Grande (The Big Family) landed in bookstores worldwide on January 7. 

Written by Camille Kouchner, the daughter of late French political scientist Évelyne Pisier and former French minister of foreign and European affairs Bernard Kouchner, the book unveils startling details of how the menace of incest plagues even the pinnacle of the French society. 

The word "incest" is used by the French to refer to the sexual abuse of minors within the family.

A high-profile scandal erupted with Kouchner accusing her stepfather Olivier Duhamel, a popular French political scientist and television personality, of molesting her twin brother as a teenager in the 1980s.

"I was 14 years old and let it go ahead. I was 14, I knew and said nothing," wrote Kouchner. 

Her narration of the events has received her brother's approval. Named "Victor" in the book, he told France's Le Monde newspaper: "I confirm what my sister has written concerning the actions of Olivier Duhamel towards me is correct."

Seventy-year-old Duhamel, who now faces a criminal investigation, resigned as the head of the governing body of the prestigious Sciences Po university, saying: "I am stepping down from my posts after being the target of personal attacks as I want to preserve the institutions in which I work."

Secrecy. Silence. Shame. Stigma

It took Kouchner 30 years to break her silence. She claims that many among friends and family knew what was happening but looked the other way. 

Her biological father, a French politician who supported a petition in 1977 to lower the age of consent from 15 to 13, released a statement describing it as a "heavy secret weighing on us for too long," applauding "the courage of her daughter".

A separate probe has been ordered by France's Higher Education Minister Frederique Vidal at Sciences Po to find out who else was aware of the crime but kept quiet. 

Brigitte Macron, the French First Lady, told a French TV station: "It's absolutely necessary that these actions are known, and that these actions are not silenced."

According to a survey published in November 2020 by Ipsos, a global market research company, there were 6.7 million victims of incest in France in 2020, which is 10 percent of the French population, among whom 78 percent were women, 22 percent men. These cases are rarely reported owing to the fear of public shame and social stigma.

A week after the incest scandal, Marie Chenevance of NousToutes, a French collective against sexual violence, smashed the rusted doors of silence. "I was five years old. And one evening, my mother's brother corrupted my innocence and darkened the rest of my days. In just one second, I turned 100 years old. #metooincest," she tweeted.

Her post triggered others to speak up.

"It was just the way it was. How could I explain it? I didn't have the language. My instinct to protect my family was strong. There wasn't the right opportunity. Shame. Fear. Stigma. #incestmetoo," a survivor replied.

The campaign, inspired by the #MeToo movement, is gaining momentum beyond France.

"We stand in #solidarity with all the women and men of #MeTooIncest in #France, in #Canada, and everywhere else in the world. By speaking up, you are giving voice to the countless victims who can't," VancouverRapeRelief tweeted.

Macron promises action

French President Emmanuel Macron has promised to adopt better laws to protect children from sexual violence. "I have asked the justice minister to quickly make legislative proposals," he said on Saturday in a video posted on his official Twitter handle, adding: "We are here. We are listening to you. We believe you. And you will never be alone again."

As per French law, sex between an adult and a child under 15 is illegal. But it is not considered rape in court unless there's "violence, coercion, threat, or surprise," even when the victim is less than 15 years old.