By bravely confronting her abusers in court and insisting they feel shame, France’s Gisèle Pelicot has emerged as a feminist icon.
Ms. Pelicot’s husband orchestrated her sexual abuse by strangers, an act that could have shattered her spirit.
Today marked the culmination of over three months of challenging hearings, featuring graphic video evidence, as judges delivered their verdicts and imposed sentences.
When the trial of her now ex-husband and 50 other defendants commenced in the French city of Avignon in September, journalists observed a woman with short red hair, concealed behind sunglasses.
However, Ms. Pelicot chose to waive her right to anonymity, advocating for public access to the trial to raise awareness about the use of drugs to facilitate abuse.
People began welcoming Ms. Pelicot with flowers upon her arrival at court.
She garnered support from across France and beyond, inspiring artistic tributes in her honor after proclaiming that it was her abusers – not herself – who should feel shame.
“I wanted all women who are victims of rape to realize: ‘Ms. Pelicot did it, so we can do it too,'” she stated in court in October.
“It is not us who should bear the shame, but them,” she emphasized, referring to her abusers.
As news of the trial spread, protests erupted throughout France in solidarity, and people began to cheer for her or greet her with flowers when she entered the courtroom.
Throughout the trial, Ms. Pelicot gradually removed her dark sunglasses.
‘Rape is rape’
As the verdicts approached, the 72-year-old was included in the BBC’s 100 Women list for 2024, alongside fellow mass rape survivor and Nobel Prize laureate Nadia Murad, as well as Hollywood actor Sharon Stone.
In August, Ms. Pelicot finalized her divorce from her husband, who admitted to the abuse after documenting it meticulously with photos and videos.
She has relocated from the southern town of Mazan, where her ex-husband Dominique Pelicot had treated her like “a piece of meat” or a “rag doll” for years.
Now using her maiden name, Ms. Pelicot has asked the media to refer to her by her married name during the trial, the name that her seven grandchildren have inherited.
In mid-September, she broke her usual silence to speak about her humiliation and her anger towards several lawyers who had made insinuations regarding her suffering.
“Rape is rape,” she declared.
Besides her 72-year-old ex-husband, 50 men are on trial
In October, she expressed that she felt “broken” but remained determined to enact societal change.
Last month, she reiterated in court the necessity for a shift away from a “macho, patriarchal” society regarding attitudes towards rape.
She described the extensive hearings as a reflection of the “cowardice” displayed by the men who participated in the assaults.
Many argued they believed they were engaging in a couple’s fantasy, having allegedly received consent by proxy through her husband.
She voiced her outrage that none of her abusers contacted the police regarding the rapes, which took place between 2011 and 2020.
Some of the perpetrators participated in the abuse on multiple occasions.
Apart from her 72-year-old ex-husband, 50 men are currently on trial, including one who did not assault Ms. Pelicot but repeatedly abused his own wife with Mr. Pelicot’s assistance.
Several co-defendants have acknowledged committing rape.
However, over 20 additional suspects remain unidentified, as investigators were unable to recognize them prior to the commencement of the mass trial.
Memory lapses
Throughout the trial, Ms. Pelicot shed her dark sunglasses.
The daughter of a military member, Ms. Pelicot was born on December 7, 1952, in Germany, and returned to France with her family when she was five.
At the age of nine, her mother, only 35, succumbed to cancer.
Her older brother, Michel, passed away from a heart attack at age 43, shortly before her 20th birthday.
She met Mr. Pelicot, her future husband and abuser, in 1971.
Though she aspired to become a hairdresser, she instead pursued a career as a typist.
After several years of temporary work, she secured a position with France’s national electricity company, EDF, eventually retiring from logistics in its nuclear power sector.
At home, she devoted herself to her three children and later, her seven grandchildren.
After retiring, she found joy in walking and singing in a local choir.
It wasn’t until the police apprehended her husband for filming up women’s skirts in a supermarket in 2020 that she discovered the true reason behind her troubling memory gaps.
