The battle over pornographic frescos inside French hospitals
In a number public hospitals around France, the staff rooms of junior doctors – where they take meals and hold parties – are painted with sexist and pornographic frescos. While often these are scenes of orgies involving caricatures of consultants and junior doctors, at least one depicted the rape of a health minister. Last year the health authorities ordered hospitals to remove the frescos, but as Mediapart reports here, many have not done so because of opposition, not least from elder doctors, against a “cancel culture”. Meanwhile, feminist activists say the hospital murals are perpetuating a “an apologia of the culture of rape”. Prisca Borrel and Caroline Coq-Chodorge report.
InIn an extraordinary move on January 17th 2023, the French health ministry issued an order to the managements of hospitals across the country to remove “all frescos of a pornographic or sexist nature” present in their establishments.
