This article contains references to rape, sexual assault and abuse.
In her book 'Right-wing Women', Feminist Andrea Dworkin once reflected on the experience of women who had survived sexual violence and abuse, women just like Gisèle Pelicot: “No matter how often these stories are told, with whatever clarity or eloquence, bitterness or sorrow, they might as well have been whispered in wind or written in sand: they disappear, as if they were nothing.” These words continue to resonate as the legal system, the media, and society repeatedly validate Dworkin and simultaneously invalidate women and their experiences. It is the age-old pattern; the accused becomes excused while the survivors remain silenced. Calls for justice against sexual violence and abuse are met with ridicule and scepticism while victim-blaming and deeply entrenched misogyny conspire to stifle the voices of women.
On 19th December, Gisèle Pelicot, the 72-year-old grandmother, sat in a French courtroom as her husband of five decades, along with 49 other men, was found guilty of aggravated rape and/or sexual assault against her, signalling the end of France's largest ever rape trial. From 2011 to 2020, Dominique Pelicot crushed tranquilising drugs and sleeping pills into his wife's food and drink, sedating her and rendering her both clueless and helpless. While Gisèle was unconscious, her husband invited 50 men over nine years to their home in the village of Mazan to rape his wife. The evidence was irrefutable: thousands of images and videos documenting the assaults, meticulously catalogued in a hard-drive folder chillingly titled “abuse.”
It is the age-old pattern; the accused becomes excused while the survivors remain silenced. Calls for justice against sexual violence and abuse are continuously met with ridicule and disbelief, while victim-blaming and deeply entrenched misogyny conspire to stifle the voices of women.
Her husband Dominique, hunched over and sobbing, received the maximum sentence of 20 years, while the other men escaped with lenient punishments, with one receiving as little as three years. Some of the sentences were even lower than the state prosecutor’s recommendations, with six of them walking free from court, having either served the duration of their sentence already or received a suspension. In her powerful closing remarks, Gisèle, an emblem of hope and courage, declared, “It is time for society to confront this macho, patriarchal culture and change the way it sees rape.” Outside the courthouse, a crowd stood in solidarity, holding a banner emblazoned with the words: La honte change de camp—the shame changes sides.
The 72-year-old’s bold decision to forgo her automatic right to anonymity was as rare as it was powerful. It denied the 50 men any chance to cower from public view, forcing their crimes into the harsh light of the courtroom, on screens for all to see. However, they continue to avoid accountability with pitiful excuses, claiming they were manipulated or misunderstood the situation. Their poor excuses and blatant lies not only expose their cowardly nature but also expose a deeper issue: that both they and their lawyers were under the illusion that such tactics might lessen their sentences. This reveals a society that has been lenient with rape convictions for far too long. The decision to make the trial public also eradicated the element of shame that is so often intertwined with rape. Gisèle declared: “When you’re raped, there is shame, and it’s not for us to have shame, it’s for them.”
Outside the courthouse, a crowd stood in solidarity, holding a banner emblazoned with the words: La honte change de camp—the shame changes sides.
The Front féministe International, an organisation of 85 feminist collectives hailed Dominique Pélicot’s conviction as “historic.” In their statement, they declared: “In a country where only 10% of victims of sexual violence lodge a complaint and where 94% of these complaints are dismissed, in a country where rapists enjoy virtual impunity, this verdict is historic.”
The horrors revealed in the courtroom have sparked a worldwide conversation about sexual violence and dismantling the cultural and systemic barriers victims face. In the UK, where less than 1% of reported rapes result in a felony conviction despite 97% of women reporting experiences of sexual assault, this case stands as a watershed moment for addressing sexual violence globally. Gisèle Pelicot’s bravery shifted the narrative, a transformation aptly described by Harriet Wistrich, Director of the Centre for Women’s Justice: "from victim-blaming to placing the shame where it belongs—on the perpetrators."
Gisèle Pelicot is a beacon of hope and strength in the face of darkness.
For those affected by sexual violence and abuse:
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