Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had her drugged and assaulted sexually by dozens for a decade.
The shocking case of sexual assault by
Gisèle and Dominique Pelicot sends France into an uproar and instigates a wider
debate on women abuse. The story of Gisèle is one of unimaginable betrayal and
violation: having to find out that her husband was drugging her and sexually
assaulting her for a decade, and even worse, allowing other men to do the same.
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| Gisèle Pelicot enters the courthouse during the trial of her ex-husband. AFP |
Public stand against sexual violence
Dominique Pelicot, 71, pleaded guilty to repeatedly
raping his wife over a decade, but that is not the worst part of it. He has
also been accused of inviting dozens of other men into their home to assault
her when she was unconscious. Today, he is standing trial along with 50 other
men, charged with sexual assault or attempted sexual assault. A few have
confessed, while others deny involvement. Although allowed a private trial,
Gisèle chose to wave that right and the trial was public. She wants to raise
awareness about this kind of abuse, and to provide a voice for all those
victims who will never even know what has happened to them.
"I speak in the name of all women
who are being drugged without being aware of it, in the name of all women who
perhaps will never be aware," Gisèle said. The extremity of the suffering
was documented in more than 20,000 images that police recovered, documenting
assaults by 72 men between 2011 and 2020. The affair creates an outcry in
France, whose public opinion is already profoundly troubled by recent
revelations of sexual misbehavior scandals, just after the #MeToo movement met
a certain lack of success in the French entertainment world. But for a few
months now, it has regained momentum.
Voices of women like actor and director
Judith Godrèche, who have spoken up about abuse, helped fuel this shift.
"French attitudes toward morality and sex have historically always been
different to the US, but it's been brewing for years and it feels that 2024 is
different," said journalist Agnès Poirier.
A Decade of Unspeakable Betrayal
The abuses came to light in November 2020
when Dominique was caught taking inappropriate photos of women at a
supermarket. During the police search of his computer, they found one folder
entitled "Abuses" containing thousands of images and videos documenting
the horrid assaults. The nightmare for Gisèle didn't end there; she had long
suspected that something was wrong.
The years passed by, and she has
struggled with patchy memories, unexplained weight loss, and even feared she
was developing Alzheimer's. Little did she know that her husband had been
drugging her with a sedative called Temesta and inviting men from some illicit
messaging board to assault her.
"My world fell apart," Gisèle
said afterward, when the police finally showed her what they'd uncovered. She
lived in an unconscious nightmare, being manipulated and abused by her husband
where she was at her most helpless. The men, most of them unknown to her, were
instructed by Dominique on how to carry out the attacks without her knowledge,
such as not wearing perfume or smoking so that she would not be in a position
to detect them.
The shock deepened when police found
naked photos of Dominique and Gisèle's daughter, Caroline Darian, on his
computer. Caroline, just like her mother, has courageously taken to the stand
to testify about the horror that her father inflicted on their family.
A Fearful Assize
The trial has been emotionally
exhausting, as Gisèle and Caroline testified with great impact. Gisèle recalled
the horror of seeing the photos and videos and how her husband and others had
dealt with her. "Honestly, these are grotesque scenes to me," she
said, recounting the brutal documentation of the assaults. "They treat me
like a rag doll."
This case has shattered Gisèle's
perception of her 50-year marriage, which she once believed was close and
loving. Dominique, on the other hand, has confessed to his crimes and even
admitted to a psychologist that he was driven by his wife’s refusal to engage
in swinging, or open relationships. For Gisèle, however, this case is about
showing that survivors of abuse should not be shamed into silence.
She has spoken out publicly-a conscious
decision, to make the point that anonymity is the last thing her attackers
would have wanted.
Her daughter, Caroline, spoke of her own
anguish, labeling her father "the worst sexual predator of the last 20
years." They both grapple with what happened and what it has done to them.
"I don't longer have an identity. … I don't know if I ever will rebuild
myself," Gisèle lamented. The trial, at the time of this writing, remains
ongoing with charges of aggravated rape and attempted rape against the
defendants; most of them, if convicted, could face up to 20 years in prison. It
will continue until December, when each group of the defendants was testifying.
The Case's Impact on France's Broader Struggles
The case has shed even further light on
sexual abuse in France, given a number of recent revelations about sexual
misconduct in Fra nce's
film industry. Since February, a spate of high-profile actresses, including
Judith Godrèche, has spoken about being sexually assaulted by directors as
teenagers. Godrèche's speech at the César Awards - France's version of the
Oscars - garnered a standing ovation, an indicator that attitudes in France are
beginning to shift.
For years, the #MeToo movement in France
was seen by some as a puritanical import from the US. Events over recent weeks
suggest a more general cultural shift is underway, with more women coming
forward and demanding consequences. According to French journalist Rokhaya
Diallo, in a column in the Washington Post, the backlash to Godrèche's speech
could prove to be a sign that France is now ready for this reckoning. The
country has also been slow to embrace the #MeToo movement compared with the US,
but now the momentum appears to be gathering. Women's rights activists want a
change in French law, too. Among the key demands: adding the word
"consent" to France's legal definition of rape. For now, the French
law describes rape as "an act of sexual penetration… committed on a
person, with violence, coercion, threat, or surprise."
French President Emmanuel Macron has
expressed support for changing it-a move that will have massive implications on
the future of how sexual violence cases are considered by the courts. Yet, as
historian Laura Frader observed, the younger generation of feminists and their
male allies do push for change, and the Pelicot case is bound to accelerate the
movement. "The Pelicot case is certain to contribute to this trend,"
Frader said. This case, joined by so many, has underlined how vital it is that
sexual violence be outed and that the perpetrators be brought to book. For
Gisèle Pelicot, it was about having a voice and standing up for those who
cannot; for France, though, it might be a turning point on how it addresses
such deep-seated issues.
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