What happened to Gisèle Pelicot?
Gisèle and her husband retired from Paris in 2013, moving to the picturesque town of Mazan, and were happy and in love. However, shortly after moving 200 miles from her children, Gisèle began to fall ill, having memory lapses and blackouts due to the drugs her husband had been spiking her with. Oblivious and convinced she had Alzheimer’s, she visited specialist after specialist, all with her seemingly supportive husband by her side, who she relied on heavily.
Dominique maintained his perfect image, despite knowing exactly why she was unwell, cooking her meals every day and seemingly being her rock during her medical crisis, until he was caught filming up women’s skirts for the second time in 2020 (He had been fined previously for this). Upon this, his house was searched and 20,000 pornographic images were found on his devices, the majority of which were numerous men having sex with one woman unconscious: his wife, Gisèle.
This investigation into potential abuse is what caused Gisèle to realise her loving marriage was a lie, that she was a victim of a decade of sexual abuse. She had discovered her husband had been drugging her since 2011 with Temesta, a drug he was prescribed for anxiety, perfecting the dosage and obtaining hundreds of tablets from their pharmacy. He had been raping her for two years in Paris, filming her, before they moved to Mazan, where his behaviour escalated. He began meticulously planning assaults under a group chat named “Without her Knowledge”, inviting dozens of men to join his fantasy. He would instruct these men not to wear cologne and to park further from his house to avoid raising suspicion, after bringing an oblivious Gisèle her favourite ice-cream laced with drugs, creating a chilling, false sense of comfort with her.
He and 50 other men were charged with aggravated rape and sexual assault, with video evidence from his hard drive named, “Abuse”. He was also charged with attempted rape of one of his friends’ wives, taking indecent photos of his daughter, Caroline Darian, and his daughters-in-law, Aurore and Celine. Dominique admitted to his crimes, crying in court, and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Of the 50 defendants found guilty, 46 were guilty of rape, two of attempted rape, and two of sexual assault. They were charged with sentences lasting 4-20 years.
What makes this trial so different, and how did it affect the women’s rights movement in France?
Gisèle decided to waive her right to anonymity, with the reasoning that she wanted shame to move from the victim to the rapist. She said, “I want any woman who wakes up one morning with no memories of the night before to remember what I said. So that no more women can fall prey to chemical submission. I was sacrificed on the altar of vice, and we need to talk about it.”
This trial sparked the debate as to whether consent should be built into French law, as currently, the legal definition of rape is “any act of sexual penetration of any kind whatsoever or any oral-genital act committed against another person or against the perpetrator by violence, coercion, threat or surprise”.
Her trial raises two key questions: What needs to change surrounding rape culture in France if 50 men from the same village (Mazan) were willing to have sex with an unconscious woman, and what does this trial mean for rape and consent laws in France?
Many women in France also share in this train of thought, outraged and disgusted by the crimes. Many brought flowers, shouting “Be brave”, and “We are with you”, creating an empowering feminist movement during such a brutal trial. It raised awareness of the fact that there is no “type” of person who could be a rapist – to the outside world, Dominique appeared as the perfect family man, who had been committing the most brutal of crimes completely undetected for a decade. Furthermore, the 51 men involved in the abuse of Gisèle came from completely different walks of life – from firefighters to a journalist and a DJ. They have been fittingly named “Monsieur Tout-Le-Monde”, or Mr Everyman, as they walk among us as family and friends. The case may leave women questioning whether they are ever truly safe, even amongst the people they love and trust the most.
However, despite the trauma Gisèle has faced, her trial has caused the laws surrounding rape in France to be reassessed. France’s new justice minister, Didier Migaud, recently came out in support of updating the law to include consent, as has President Emmanuel Macron, despite France blocking the inclusion of a consent-based rape definition in a European directive in 2023.
Gisèle’s strength, bravery and determination for justice are inspirational to women across the globe. It is her taking back her power, shifting the focus from the abuser to the survivor, and has inspired women across Europe to take a stand against abuse. In response to the press surrounding her trial, she has said, “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. This is not just my battle, but that of all rape victims.”
It’s safe to say this trial marks a turning point in French law and has changed the conversation surrounding sex and consent across Europe.
