More than six hundred years ago, a conspiracy theory about the murder of children went viral in a brand new medium, and it has circulated in ever-changing forms to the present day, inspiring vigilantism, mob violence, and state persecution.
Since the scandal surrounding Dominique Strauss-Kahn’s arrest in New York City in 2011, several momentous affairs have shaken longstanding French taboos around sexual harassment: Vanessa Springora’s memoir about her damaging relationship as a 14-year-old with writer Gabriel Matzneff, Adèle Haenel’s accusation against film-director Christophe Ruggia of sexually harassing her when she was in her early teens, and very recently, Camille…