Abbey Jordahl
**Trigger warning: this post includes extremely graphic content related to sexual assault.**
“Shame must change sides.”[1] With just four words, Gisèle Pélicot rocked the world with her unfathomable bravery. For almost a decade, she endured a shocking nightmare, one that was orchestrated by the person she should have been able to trust the most: her husband.[2] For many years, her husband, Dominique Pélicot, repeatedly laced her food and drinks with drugs and raped her while she was unconscious. In an online forum titled “without her knowledge,” Dominique invited at least 83 other men to do the same.[3]
It all began to unravel when Dominique was caught filming up the skirts of women in a supermarket. A vigilant security guard intervened, and when police examined his phone, they uncovered something far more sinister than voyeurism.[4] A deeper investigation into his digital media revealed thousands of meticulously labeled videos of him and others assaulting Gisèle with folders titled “abuse“ and “her rapists.”[5] Until that moment, Gisèle had no idea what was happening to her.
Ultimately, Dominique and 50 other men were convicted at trial.[6] Among them were the types of men most of society usually trusts: a nurse, a journalist, fathers, husbands.[7] There was even a soldier who missed the birth of his own daughter because he was assaulting Gisèle. Many of them lived shockingly close, within just a 40-mile radius of the Pélicot home. What horrified France and the world was not just the severity of their abuse, but the fact that these perpetrators were “unsettlingly ordinary.”[8] These were not strangers lurking in dark alleys. They were “normal” men woven into the fabric of everyday life. Throughout the proceedings, some of the convicted admitted they never obtained consent. Others, disturbingly, justified their actions, claiming it couldn’t be rape because her husband was present or because they believed it was a “game.”[9] None of them obtained her informed consent. None.
Gisèle is the hero of this story. Despite beyond-horrific betrayal and abuse, Gisèle waived her right to anonymity so the trial was made public, so that “society could see what was happening.”[10] Further, Gisèle advocated for the videos filmed by her husband to be shown to the court, saying that she was “treated like a rag doll.” According to reports, her snoring could be heard in these videos.[11]
Gisèle’s courage has inspired a push for changes to French law regarding consent with regard to rape cases, given it contains no such definition.[12] The current law mentions “violence, coercion, threat, or surprise,” but not consent.[13] France’s new Justice Minister, Dider Migaud, has voiced support for adding “consent” to the country’s law that defines rape.[14]
Gisèle Pélicot’s bravery is nothing short of extraordinary. In the wake of betrayal and abuse on a massive scale, she refused to let shame define her and waived her right to anonymity so that the world could see what she endured. She made the deeply painful choice to expose the reality of her abuse, not just for herself, but for the countless others who have suffered in silence. In her own words:
“La honte doit changer de camp.” // “Shame must change sides.”
[1] Agence France-Presse, ‘Shame Must Change Sides’ — France’s Rape Plaintiff Becomes Feminist Icon, VOA News (Sept. 14, 2024, 8:54 PM), https://www.voanews.com/a/shame-must-change-sides-france-s-rape-plaintiff-becomes-feminist-icon-/7784817.html
[2] Id.
[3] Haley Ott, Gisèle Pelicot’s Ex-Husband, Dozens of Others Found Guilty in Rape and Drugging Trial in France, CBS News (Dec. 19, 2024, 7:39 PM), https://www.cbsnews.com/news/gisele-pelicot-france-husband-dozens-of-men-found-guilty-rape-trial/.
[4] Sarah Shamim, Who Are the 51 Men in Gisèle Pelicot Rape Case; Will Old Cases Be Reopened?, Aljazeera (Dec. 20, 2024), https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/12/20/who-are-the-51-men-in-gisele-pelicot-rape-case-will-old-cases-be-reopened.
[5] Id.
[6] Ott, supra note 3.
[7] Shamim, supra note 4.
[8] Zoë Beaty, As Her Husband Is Jailed for His Heinous Crimes, We Must Ask: How Many More Gisèle Pelicots Are There?, Indep. Co. (Dec. 19, 2024, 10:04 PM), https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/gisele-pelicot-husband-dominique-guilty-case-b2667076.html.
[9] Id.
[10] Id.
[11] Id.
[12] Noël James, Women This Week: Gisèle Pelicot is France’s New Feminist Hero, Council Foreign Rel. (Sept. 27, 2024, 5:14 PM), https://www.cfr.org/blog/women-week-gisele-pelicot-frances-new-feminist-hero.
[13] Id.
[14] Id.