Image: Gisèle Pelicot and her lawyer Stéphane Babonneau, at the courthouse in Avignon, 17 September 2024. Credit: Corinne Rozotte/Divergence
by Françoise Girard
“Sometimes, a single person’s courage is enough to begin to shift an entire system. That is what happened in France last year when Gisèle Pelicot decided that the trial of the 51 men who raped her would take place in open court, rather than in closed session. The horrific evidence caused a profound national shock. It prodded French lawmakers to finally move to change the definition of rape after years of unsuccessful struggle by activists, and to move forward with more robust sexuality education after decades of right-wing objections and government procrastination.”
“The trial began in September 2024 in Avignon in Southern France, not far from Mazan, the village where the Pelicots had retired. The facts are appalling: Over a period of ten years, Gisèle Pelicot’s then husband, Dominique, recruited men online to rape his wife as she laid, drugged unconscious, in the couple’s bed. During those years, as she awoke groggy and confused, Gisèle began to think she had a brain tumor or Alzheimer’s, but no medical exam could find anything. She never suspected her husband of 45+ years, the father of her three children.
“Dominique advertised on the online site Coco under the heading: “without her knowledge” (“à son insu”). The men who came were young, old, good-looking and fit, fat and unkempt, married, divorced, single, white, Black or brown. Among them: firemen, truck drivers, soldiers, security guards, pensioners, a nurse, a plumber, a journalist, a DJ. Ordinary French men. Dominique documented it all, carefully cataloguing over 20,000 graphic videos and photos of Gisèle being raped while heavily sedated.
“As the “Mazan rape trial” unfolded, the shortcomings of the existing legal definition of rape became obvious. Currently, French law recognizes rape only when there is intention to commit the crime (Article 121-3), combined with sexual penetration or oral-genital contact effected via “violence, pressure, threats or surprise.” (Article 222-23)
“In his (it’s usually a “he”) defense, an accused will typically claim he had no intention to rape, that it was a misunderstanding and that the woman had enticed or misled him. Additionally, he’ll argue that the act of rape wasn’t proven because there was, for example, no violence or threats: she had not fought him off, nor objected. Unsurprisingly, in France as in so many other countries, very few rapes are ever reported or prosecuted, and fewer still (only 0.6% of those reported) result in a conviction.
“Anne Bouillon, a French lawyer specialized in women’s rights, in an interview to France24, described the law as built on the presumption that people engaged in sex are de facto consenting. “It’s an outmoded idea, that has at its core the concept of women’s bodies as always accessible.” It also evokes the myth of the stranger jumping out of a bush to attack a woman, when in fact, most rapes are committed by intimate partners or people close to the victim. In Gisèle Pelicot’s case, it was her own husband who orchestrated the crimes.
“Rape trials are usually closed to the public in France, out of a well-meaning desire to protect the victim’s reputation and privacy. And in the year before the proceedings, Gisèle Pelicot had in fact kept a low profile. She was horrified by what awaited her. But, as she watched the videos with her lawyers ahead of the trial, she became angry and realized what she had been reduced to, what had been done to her.
“In Avignon, the initial line of questioning by the lawyers for the accused relied on the well-worn tactic of suggesting that Gisèle was sex obsessed herself, and a willing party to an elaborate role play. This, even though Gisèle was what lawyers would describe as the “perfect victim”—married, a caring mother and grandmother, a gentle person with a quiet lifestyle, no interest in swinging or sex clubs, and not even conscious during any of it! “I feel I’m the guilty party here, and that the 50 are the victims,” she indignantly told the tribunal on September 18, when testimony began. “I’m being called an exhibitionist ! In the state I was in, I couldn’t answer to anyone. I was in a coma. The videos will show that.”
“From that moment on, Gisèle made the choice to blow open the whole trial. She had already decided she wouldn’t hide her name or her face. Now she demanded that all the evidence be presented in open court. These videos and photos were graphic—showing Gisèle completely passed out on a bed or the kitchen table, almost naked, unresponsive and often snoring loudly. The lawyers for the accused objected vehemently, complaining of “voyeurism,” of a “criminal porno naming and shaming” and even pleading on behalf of court decorum and Gisèle’s own dignity. She would have none of it. Gisèle even had to fight trial judge Roger Arata on this question. Arata wanted to show the images sparingly, and only in closed session, because he found them so “indecent and shocking.” In the end, she prevailed.
“Gisèle’s famous statement: “It shouldn’t be the victims who feel shame, it should be the rapists,” became a slogan: “Shame must switch sides.” (‘II faut que la honte change de camp.’).”
This report continues at length, go to the link below to read the whole; this is only about 20% of the whole.
SOURCE: Merci Gisèle. Feminism Makes Us Smarter. The Famous Feminist. Newsletter by Françoise Girard, July 2025. https://mailchi.mp/fbd5f2dc7972/merci-gisle-when-one-womans-courage-challenges-an-entire-system?e=5fe7ed3ccd