ABSTRACT
Research workers who approach a subject that touches on or which is in any way related to the judicial system, inevitably risk falling into the trap laid for them by the very institution that they are observing. One could in fact ask whether our social system’s great strength has not been to propagate this ideology/myth, which is dissembling the exploitation of women in marriage, makes women appear responsible for the exploitation of men in the labour market. The stigmatization of certain individuals by the judicial system in the course of divorce proceedings can be interpreted as an attempt to hide the conflicts consequent on the exploitation of women. The judicial system is also, of course, a dissuasive system directed against women and children. It is no exaggeration to say that working-class women deviate from the marital ideal by getting into debt, having love affairs, or simply by disappearing, whereas middle-class women have nervous breakdowns.
