Gisèle Pélicot's courage changed France

The scene repeated itself almost every weekday for three and a half months. As soon as Gisèle Pelicot, always closely followed by her lawyers, entered or left the courthouse in Avignon, applause erupted.

It came mostly from women, who had often been here since early morning to get a seat in the next room. “Bravo, Gisèle!”, some shouted, “We are with you!”, others. “Merci,” replied Gisèle Pelicot with a smile, raising her hands in thanks.

She received numerous gifts, flowers and letters over time, including a handmade scarf from Australia that she wore several times.

At the beginning of the last week of the trial on Monday, a hyacinth hung for her at the entrance, the “flower of hope, renewal and prosperity” was written on a card hanging next to it. “By bringing this trial to the media, you give us hope in the face of justice.” Thank you, Gisèle Pelicot!”

Pélicot shaped an entire generation

In a survey in France among 18- to 30-year-olds, most female respondents named her as the person who particularly shaped 2024.

The decorative woman with the reddish pageboy has become a feminist art icon in France and beyond since she decided not to hide.

They decided that the trial, which focused on her multiple rapes by dozens of men, should take place in public. All victims should be encouraged to raise their voices against their tormentors, as she did, said the 72-year-old. “So that shame changed sides.”

Since the beginning of September, 51 men have been in the dock accused of raping Gisèle Pelicot in her home in the southern French town of Mazan. She was “invited” for almost ten years by her ex-husband Dominique Pélicot, who previously drugged his wife by mixing sleeping pills and sedatives into her food.

He filmed the joint rapes and saved them under vulgar keywords. The videos serve as comprehensive evidence in the trial.

Last words of the defendant

Before the verdicts were made on Thursday or Friday, each defendant had the floor again at the beginning of the week. Some thanked their lawyers or the court, some had compassionate or encouraging words for Gisèle Pélicot, others “nothing more to add.”

Dominique Pélicot praised “the courage of my ex-wife” and asked for forgiveness from his family, who broke with him.

The 72-year-old confessed and blamed all the other defendants, 34 of whom denied the rape allegation. They assured them that they “did not intend to rape” and that they were manipulated and deceived.

The public prosecutor's office has demanded comparatively high sentences: 20 years in prison for Dominique Pélicot, 18 years for Jean-Pierre M., who, together with her, did not attack Gisèle Pélicot, but rather his own wife, who was also drugged; Otherwise, punishments range from ten to 18 years, or four years in prison for a man.

© IMAGO/ABACAPRESS/IMAGO/Coust Laurent/ABACA

It is about “profoundly changing the relationships between men and women,” said public prosecutor Jean-François Mayet. As a result of this trial, “there will be a before and an after” in French society,” emphasized Laure Chabaud, the second chief prosecutor. The then Prime Minister Michel Barnier also used the same words.

Defense attorney fears media pressure

In contrast, a defense lawyer, Margot Cecchi, pointed out that a court ruling had no place “to change the law, societies, mentalities.” The court needs “great courage to withstand this media onslaught.”

Because the public attention on the case is immense. “There is a real change compared to previous reporting on rape, as all newspapers, including the conservative ones, cover this process without exception,” says Claire Ruffio, who has been researching media coverage of rape since 1980 at the University of Paris 1.

Gisèle Pélicot herself played a decisive role in driving this change by describing sexual violence as a general problem that exceeded her own fate. “It is time for the patriarchal, macho society that trivializes rape to change,” she said in court.

Ruffio states that in media treatment there is a tendency to concentrate on the individual fates of the perpetrators and to explain a sexual crime through the life story and psychology. In fact, many of the defendants, including husband Dominique Pélicot himself, experienced sexual abuse, violence or neglect at a young age.

But not all of them. According to the expert, the topic is increasingly being “looked at from a sociological perspective with a view to the social environment”: What role does the continued male dominance over women play? To what extent is rape facilitated or trivialized by the system?

Convictions of celebrities have already made a big difference

Ruffio has been gaining momentum for this debate for years, also through the #metoo movement and the many reports from famous and unknown victims, which the media could not ignore due to the sheer number of those affected.

Claire Ruffio also played a part in the development of such spectacular cases as the conviction of the former head of the International Monetary Fund, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, for raping a hotel employee or serious allegations in the film milieu.

© AFP/CLEMENT MAHOUDEAU

But Avignon was not about celebrities, but “about the paradox that supposedly normal people could commit such incredible acts.” The work of clubs is also important. Caroline Darian, the daughter of Gisèle and Dominique Pélicot, is also involved in the fight against the drug anesthesia of victims for purposes of abuse.

“It is not yet possible to say whether the process can really bring about change,” emphasizes Ruffio. That was exactly the ambition of Gisèle Pélicot's lawyers.

One of them, Stéphane Babonneau, referred to the historical dimension of those being judged. These are a kind of setting the course for a different view of rape. He spoke of the “testament we will leave to future generations.”