‘Won’t be ashamed’: How France's Gisele Pelicot, who was raped by 50 men, has become a feminist hero

Gisele Pelicot, who was raped by her former husband and dozens of other men, has emerged as a feminist hero in France. The ongoing mass rape trial has revealed gruesome details of the crimes committed by these accused.

At the centre of the horror is the 72-year-old survivor of mass rape who has decided that “shame must change sides” – from the victim to the accused. Speaking at a court on Wednesday (October 23), Pelicot talked about the “betrayal” by her ex-husband, Dominique Pelicot, who drugged her and invited men to rape her at their home in Mazan, a small town in southern France.

“I still don’t understand how this man who was the perfect man could do this, could destroy my life and betray me,” she said during the testimony.

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Pelicot told the court that her decision to waive her right to anonymity to make the trial public was spurred by her desire to change society and help other women.

And a change could be in the cards. Let’s take a look.

The mass rape case that shook France

Gisele Pelicot, a former logistics manager, was raped 100 times by her ex-husband and the dozens of men he recruited over nearly a decade.

Dominique Pelicot has admitted to soliciting dozens of strangers from 2011 to 2020 in the village of Mazan, in Provence, to rape his wife while she was sedated and unconscious.

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As per The Guardian report, he contacted men on an online chatroom titled “without her knowledge” to invite strangers to come to the couple’s home in Mazan to rape his wife after mixing sleeping tablets and anti-anxiety medication into her food and drink that left her unconscious.

Dominique is on trial, along with 50 other men. Forty-nine of these men, including the husband, are accused of rape, one of attempted rape and one of sexual assault. They range in age from 26 to 74. The accused, all ordinary men, include a nurse, a journalist, a prison officer, a local councillor, a soldier, lorry drivers, tradesmen, salesmen and farm workers.

The abuse came to light in 2020 when Dominique was accused by three women of trying to film up their skirts in a supermarket. The police then investigated him and found 20,000 pictures and videos of rapes and other sexual abuse on the electronic devices seized from his home.

Gisele Pelicot is a feminist icon

While Gisele Pelicot had the option of a private trial, she decided to make the proceedings public to raise awareness for other victims of sexual abuse.

“I speak for all women who are drugged and don’t know about it, I do it on behalf of all women who will perhaps never know,” she said, becoming a symbol of women’s resistance to male violence.

Pelicot is being hailed as a feminist icon. Dozens of supporters, mainly women, gather outside the criminal court in Avignon to express their solidarity. She is welcomed to the court with cheer and applause every day since the trial began last month.

Océane Guichardon, a 20-year-old student, who was at the court to applaud Pelicot, told New York Times (NYT) last month, “We came to support her — it’s feminine solidarity, really. Gisèle is brave. Every time we see her leave the courthouse, her head is high.”

Pelicot’s face has appeared on news channels, newspapers, and graffitied walls. Feminist writers and activists have praised her bravery and strength in facing her ordeal head-on.

Hélène Devynck, a journalist and author, wrote in the French newspaper Le Monde: “It is not just you, Gisèle, that they treated like a thing. They tell us all, we are insignificant. Your strength gives us back ours. Thank you for this immense gift.”

Thousands of protesters have hit the streets across France to show support for Gisele Pelicot.

The mass rape trial has exposed the rape culture in the country. It has also broken the myth that rapists are monsters prowling in vacant lanes.

“Friend of the family, stranger at a bar or the street, brother or cousin, friend, colleague, professor, neighbour: All women can sadly find a face that brings them back to a traumatic memory among the multitudes of accused,” said an open letter published in the French daily Libération.

Despite her trauma, Pelicot convinced the judge to make footage of the rapes available to the public and the media. Calling it a “victory”, her lawyers said, “If these same hearings, through their publicity, help prevent other women from having to go through this, then [Gisele Pelicot] will find meaning in her suffering.”

Pelicot’s cross-examination has exposed the treatment of rape victims by defence lawyers. They have tried to question her credibility and even raised doubts about the sexual activity being rape.

To some defendants’ claim that she consented to what was happening, Pelicot, who has become an emblematic figure for rape and sexual abuse victims in France, told the court on Wednesday that it was “unbelievably violent” for her. “I’ve decided not to be ashamed. I’ve done nothing wrong.”

Pelicot said she was a “destroyed woman”, adding that her life had “tumbled into nothingness.”

Despite her suffering, she offered hope to other victims of similar crimes, saying: “I wanted that all victims of rape could say, ‘well if Gisele can do it, we can do it’.”

“Because when we are raped, we have shame, but it’s not for us to be ashamed, but for those men,” Pelicot declared, as per Sky News.

A change in the making?

The trial has triggered a widespread debate about consent, shedding light on the loopholes in French rape laws. It has sparked deep soul-searching in the European country.

As per a Reuters report, France could bring changes to its rape law to include consent. Its criminal law defines rape as a penetrative act or oral sex act committed using “violence, coercion, threat or surprise” on someone.

France’s new Justice Minister Didier Migaud recently spoke in favour of modifying the laws. “I believe it is beyond understanding for our fellow citizens to refuse to include consent in the definition of rape,” he told lawmakers earlier this month.

This comes after France blocked the consent-based rape definition of rape in a European directive last year.

A study by the Institute of Public Policies this year showed only 14 per cent of all rape complaints are formally probed in France. It also said that prosecutors are often unable to prove that the perpetrator had used violence, threat, coercion or surprise.

“Why don’t we manage to obtain convictions? The first reason is the law,” legal expert Catherine Le Magueresse said to Reuters. 

“The law is written in such a way that victims must comply with the stereotype of a ‘good victim’ and a ’true rape’: an unknown attacker, use of violence, and the victim’s resistance. But it is only true for a minority of rapes.”

Now, a change is likely to happen.

Parliament’s Delegation for Women’s Rights, a cross-party working group of 36 lawmakers, has resumed work on a bill that would revisit the legal definition of rape, as per the Reuters report.

While redefining rape could take time, France is already witnessing a shift as men start to speak about “rape culture” and “toxic masculinity.” “We are seeing a difficult, paradoxical, ambiguous awareness — but an awareness nonetheless in part of the French male population,” Christelle Taraud, a feminist historian in Paris, told NYT.

The significant trial, which has led to this change, is expected to go on until 20 December.

With inputs from agencies