Manon Garcia - Harbour Front Literaturfestival

In collaboration with the Institut français Hamburg
Reading and Discussion

The horrific crimes committed against Gisèle Pelicot—who was drugged by her husband for years and raped by him and nearly 70 other men—shocked the world. The ensuing trial became one of the most sensational trials of recent decades, not only because of the gravity of the charges, but also because it became widely clear that what was being tried there affects millions of women.

As one of the leading feminists of the new generation, Manon Garcia traveled to Avignon for the trial to document it meticulously. She combines her precise observations on the course of the proceedings, the defendants, and their reactions to the allegations with reflections on the role of women in patriarchal society. And she links them to her own experiences of the everyday danger of becoming a victim. Faced with the abyss of male violence, she arrives at the existential question: How can we still live with men?

Manon Garcia, born in 1985, is a professor of practical philosophy at Goethe University Frankfurt, following stints at Harvard and Yale. In France, she is considered one of the most influential and widely read female philosophers of her generation. Her books have been translated into numerous languages. For “The Dialogue of the Genders: A Philosophy of Consent,” she received the 2022 Prix des Rencontres philosophiques de Monaco. Her most recent publications include: “We Are Not Born Submissive: How Patriarchy Shapes Women’s Lives” and “Living with Men: Reflections on the Pelicot Trial” (2025).