A man holds a placard reading "Thank you for your courage Gisele Pelicot" outside the Avignon courthouse, southern France, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024.Lewis JOLY/ AP Photo A man holds a placard reading "Thank you for your courage Gisele Pelicot" outside the Avignon courthouse, southern France, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024.Lewis JOLY/ AP Photo

‘Merci747 live, Gisèle’ (Thank you, Gisele)

The words flashed on placards and posters held by teary-eyed women (and men) of all ages, who even chanted it as they stood outside the courthouse in Avignon, France, for their new heroine--Gisele Pelicot. Stepping out of the courthouse after victory, the Pelicot who has endured a decade of sexual abuse at the hands of her ex husband and his associates, had a message of hope and resilience. Not just for herself and her family but for all women everywhere living with violence and abuse, the “unrecognized victims (of SA) whose stories often remain in the shadows”.  “I want you to know that we share the same fight,” Pelicot said amid tears and cheers. 

Pelicot was raped and abused for over a decade in what has been dubbed “mass rape”, orchestrated by her husband who drugged her and invited men over the years to rape her, all while meticulously documenting it on film and video. Prosecutors accused Dominique of recruiting “at least 70 men” to rape his now former wife whom he drugged and rendered unconscious. It is believed she was raped 200 times from 2011-2020. 

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On December 19, the French court found 51 men including the ex-husband, guilty of sexual violence. Dominique, a former electrician, was also found guilty of distributing sexual images of Gisele, their adult daughter Caroline, and his two daughters-in-law.

The conviction and Gisele’s brave, three and half months long fight in the face of global scrutiny, especially in the background of globally conservative shift in attitudes towards women’s rights and agency of their body and actions in ‘developed’ nations, seems to have led to a watershed moment for women’s rights activists everywhere. Gisele’s bravado has managed to shift the shame associated with sexual abuse from the victim to the perpetrator. 

‘Never Again’ 

In 2020, then 68-year-old Dominique Pelicot was arrested after the police found him filming the inside of a woman’s skirt at a grocery store without her consent. A cursory search of his phone and laptop which the police eventually confiscated revealed a trove of horrors. The cops found an ample catalogue of photos and videos of his wife Gisele, being sexually assaulted by him and other men while apparently in a state of drugged unconsciousness. 

Even though Gisele experienced the health impacts of the regular drugging and the repeated assaults, it was only after the photos and videos were shown to Gisele by the cops that the 72-year-old found out what had been happening to her.

Following the discovery, Pelicot sought a divorce and soon after, filed charges against her ex-husband. From the start, Gisele held that she had nothing to be ashamed about and waived the anonymity that is customarily granted to sexual violence victims in France, to prove it. 

“When you’re raped there is shame, and it’s not for us to have shame, it’s for them. It’s true that I hear lots of women, and men, who say you’re very brave. I say it’s not bravery, it’s will and determination to change society,” Pelicot said.

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During her trial, she told the court, “I wanted all woman victims of rape — not just when they have been drugged, rape exists at all levels — I want those women to say: Mrs. Pelicot did it, we can do it too. When you’re raped there is shame, and it’s not for us to have shame, it’s for them.”

The decision to opt out of a closed-door trial has led to an outpouring of debates and discussion on the rights of victims and the legal as well as cultural attitudes of nations towards sexual violence. Legacy media and social media platforms have recorded a huge surge of support for victims and survivors of sexual violence, who tend to face shaming and resultant self-doubt and self-censorship when and if they decide to speak up about the violence they face. 

"It is time for society to look at this macho, patriarchal society and change the way it looks at rape," Gisele said in her closing statements in court. 

Pelicot’s bravery seems to have struck a global note and led to debates about “masculinity”. 

“NEVER again can women be told our fear of male violence is "irrational,” activist Onjali Rauf, who is the founder of Making Herstory, said on the microblogging site X.  Among the 51 accused of raping Gisele were men working in respectable jobs. The list includes former firefighter, electricians, nurses, bakers, restaurant owners, shop workers, gardeners, plumbers, office temps, builders, masons and tilers, prison guards, truck drivers, carpenters, technicians and even former soldiers. One of the accused allegedly missed the birth of his child in order to participate in the assault. Some of the accused even claimed that though they realised Gisele was unconscious, they did not know Gisele had not consented for the act.

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“Gisèle Pelicot's courage, strength and dignity have brought rape culture out into the open, put consent at the heart of discussions, advanced the fight against sexual violence and for women's rights,” Bénédicte Jeannerod, the France Director of Human Rights Watch, said. 

Gisele’s ordeal also led to an outpouring of personal grievances with many women sharing their own horror stories. “I was raped by my ex-partner. Just like Gisèle, I waived my anonymity after he was found guilty to shift the narrative and reject shame. It came with consequences. Horrific trolling, harassment, and abuse. We should never, ever underestimate the bravery of Gisele’s decision,” rape survivor Ellie Wilson from Scotland posted. 

Punishment too little too late? 

Many however feel that the punishments were not strict enough for all of the accused. Sophie Burton, who was part of the crowd of viewers and protesters in Avignon, told the Associated Press, “The sentences aren’t at all exemplary”. 

Among the protesters gathered outside the Avignon courthouse, many felt that some of the defendants got off with lighter sentences. Of the 50 accused of rape, just one was acquitted but was instead convicted of aggravated sexual assault. Another man was also found guilty of the sexual assault charge he was tried for — producing 51 guilty verdicts in all. While Dominique Pelicot was sentenced to 20 years in prison, sentences for other defendants ranged from three to 15 years imprisonment, with some of the time suspended for some of them. Six defendants are now free, accounting for time already spent in pretrial detention.

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“Some men will think, ‘OK, it’s alright, what they did wasn’t really a rape,’” Burton told AP. “The message that’s sent is, ‘Is it really serious?’ — with sentences that are so light. For me, It was meant to be a historic trial, but the feeling I have is that history hasn’t been made,” AP quoted the 53-year-old as saying. 

Rauf also took to Twitter to express her disappointment with the verdict. “Dominique Pelicot found GUILTY of the aggravated rape of Gisele Pelicot AND distributing sexual images of his daughter Caroline AND his sons' wives! Sentence: 20 years. His 51 fellow rapists? Between 2-12 years or...FREEDOM. What an insult to Gisele and every woman everywhere,” Rauf noted. 

There have been demands by feminist organistaion for a complete re-haul laws and legal systems and understandings of sexual violence and consent. 

On Tuesday, deep inside Chinese Mongolia, the Harmanpreet Singh-led Men in Blue did just about enough to beat a spirited Chinese side. The occasion: the final of the Asian Champions Trophy 2024.

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Unlike France or countries like India and US, some European nations like Spain have adopted what has been dubbed an “only yes means yes” sexual assault legislation. This means that consent cannot be assumed to have been given by default or silence but must always be given in the affirmative.

The Front Féministe International, an umbrella body consisting of 85 feminist collectives across eight nations, described the verdict as historic but also said that it came in a country where “rapists enjoy virtual impunity”.

Accusing French society of being “macho”, the Front told The Guardian, “Ten percent of victims of sexual violence (in France) lodge a complaint and 94 percent of these complaints are dismissed”.  

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In the UK, one in four women have been raped or assaulted since the age of 16. UK-based organisation Rape Crisis notes that between 69,184 rapes recorded by police between 1 July 2023 and 30 June 2024, and as of 30 June 2024, charges had been brought in just 2.7 percent of these cases. Less than three in 100 rapes recorded by police between 1 July 2023 and 30 June 2024 resulted in someone being charged that same year, let alone be convicted.

Feminist group, Fondation des Femmes (Women’s Foundation), told the Guardian that by refusing a closed-door trial, Pelicot has “given a historic dimension to this trial, exposed marital rape, the banality of rapists, the extent of chemical coercion”. 

French President Emmanuel Macron also tweeted “Merci Pelicot”. “Thank you Gisèle Pélicot. For this word of justice in the name of which you faced the ordeal with your head held high. For women, who forever have a scout to speak and fight for. For all of us, because your dignity and your courage have moved and inspired France and the world,” he said. 

The verdict came at a time when a French politician, 66-year-old centre-right senator Joël Guerriau, faces accusations of drugging an MP, Sandrine Josso, with intent to rape or sexually assault her. Guerria allegedly gave Josso champagne spiked with ecstasy, the latter has claimed.

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A moment of reckoning 

The Mazan rape trial, which has led to a quiet debate about masculinity, consent and marital rape, should come as a wake-up call for the world, especially countries like India which do not accept “marital rape” as a legal offense and the concept of "consent" remains vague. 

In the US, debate over the physical agency of women is rife since the country's Supreme Court in 2022 reversed Roe vs Wade which ensured women’s right to safe abortion. As of August 2024, 17 American states had outlawed nearly all abortions, banning the procedure at six weeks of pregnancy or earlier. Incidentally, re-elected US President Donald Trump has previously praised himself for 'killing' Roe vs Wade and eliminating federal abortion rights.

Moreover, despite marital rape being a criminal offense nationally across the US, since 1993, until recently it was difficult to prosecute perpetrators for the same due to laws allowing exemptions to states. 

In Afghanistan, the Taliban government has banned women from public spaces and have prohibited women from even talking to each other. In Palestine, thousands of innocent women of all ages have been killed or remain besieged without any resources amid the ongoing genocidal assault by Israel on Gaza. 

Can the Gisele Pelicot case bring a moment of reckoning for women’s rights747 live, autonomy and agency across the world? Activists feel that though it’s a big step in the right direction, there is still a long road to ending impunity.