Today, we wanted to discuss the trending news story about the French mass rape trial; in which 51 men are facing a maximum of 20 years in prison after being put on trial for rape by Gisele Pelicot. The 71-year-old retiree’s ex-husband has admitted to drugging her so that men – who were recruited online – could rape her whilst she was unconscious. This trial has shed light on various issues including the fact that French Senator; Melanie Vogel, proposed changing the legal definition of rape over one year ago. With the global significance and vast media coverage of this trial in mind, the Campaign team wanted to publish this article discussing everything around the trial in more detail as well as providing our thoughts on the case. If you find yourself triggered or struggling from this article, please see our Help Directory…
The Defendant’s Responses:
One reason why it’s said that the mass rape instances were able to take place and how they avoided attracting legal attention at an earlier time, was the profiles of the men involved. They were aged between 22 and 67 at the time the rapes took place and had no previous convictions, no negative reputations in their community, and held ‘everyday’ jobs that varied from Gardeners and City Councillors. Pelicot addressed this in saying: “but a rapist is not just someone you meet in a dark car park at night. He can be found in the family, among friends.” These factors meant that despite the fact Pelicot was unconscious during the rapes, the Lawyers for the men being prosecuted have argued that they believed that because Pelicot’s ex-husband filmed the rapes, they thought they were just becoming involved in a sexual fetish that the Pelicot’s shared. On September 18th, in Court, Pelicot voiced how these allegations of fetishes and sex games made her feel: “these men came to rape me. What I am hearing in this Courtroom is so degrading, so humiliating.” This is reminiscent of the UK statistics that 40% of women don’t report rape because of the fear that it will be ‘embarrassing’ and 34% say they worried it would be ‘humiliating’ (you can find more statistics and data around rape and abuse on our ‘The Data & Statistics’ page.
One Lawyer defending 6 of the men, has stated that “without the intention to commit it, there is no rape” and “in France, proof of intent is required.” Due to the French definition of rape (‘any act of sexual penetration of any kind whatsoever, or any oral-genital act committed… by violence, coercion, threat or surprise’) failing to recognise ‘consent,’ this also brings difficulty to Pelicot’s case being successful and Vogel has said that this is just further evidence of the need for reform that she is campaigning for. She said, “the media coverage of the trial and the defence used by the Lawyers have highlighted this flaw, and today’s society no longer tolerates this flaw.” Vogel’s campaign to include consent in the legal definition of rape has been given massive momentum because of the mass rape trial and she voiced the reasons for her campaign: “what’s at stake here is a crucial change in perception, to establish that women’s bodies are not readily available to be used.” As a result of the progress of this campaign, Justice Minister Didier Migaud is now proving to be a powerful ally in expressing support for it too.
The rape culture in France that the trial is thought to be shining a light on is the exposure of how hazy the understanding of consent is in pornography, chatrooms and within men in general. This highlights that one of the many horrors in this case is the fact that Pelicot’s ex-husband said he had “no difficulty” finding dozens of the 51 men to take part in the traumatic incidents. One of the defendants even said in Court that he wasn’t “particularly alarmed” that Pelicot was barely moving during the rape he committed in 2019 and said it actually “reminded” him of “porn that features women who pretend to be asleep and don’t react.” He also said – as did many of the other defendants – that Pelicot’s ex-husband claimed she was a willing participant in a “kinky fantasy” they both shared and none of the men said they could “imagine” that he was actually drugging Pelicot. Peilcot’s ex-husband actually denied this in Court though and claimed that all of the men “knew exactly what the situation was” and a technology expert who testified at the trial said that he had found the search term “asleep porn” on his computer.
Pelicot’s Thoughts on Her Ex-Husband:
Pelicot voiced that her ex-husband had committed an “immeasurable” betrayal in saying: “I wish I could still call him Dominique. We lived together for 50 years, I was a happy, fulfilled woman.” She described her ex-husband as having been “perfect,” “caring” and “attentive” in ways that meant she never doubted him and ways which made her feel that she had “always tried” to lift him “higher, towards the light.”
She also reminisced in talking about how her ex-husband often cooked meals for her and brought her ice cream after dinner (it transpires, however, that this had been one method of drugging her) and that she would often say “how lucky am I, you’re a darling, you really look after me.”
Pelicot’s Motivation & Thoughts on Bravery:
In rape and sexual abuse or assault cases, it can be incredibly difficult for a Survivor to feel able – in so many different ways – to report the crime and to continue to pursue it through the entire lengthy (in the UK, it’s said that a lot of rape cases are taking over two years to process through Court) legal process. So, one factor of this mass rape trial that we at Shake My Hand were particularly curious and interested to know, were Pelicot’s motivation for going ahead with the trial. She voiced these in Court when she said that a huge amount of her determination to “change society” was because “when you’re raped, you feel ashamed, but it’s not us who should feel ashamed, it’s them.” We found this to be a really powerful statement because we recognise how influential feelings and thoughts of shame can be for a rape or abuse survivor. They can, in fact – very reasonably – become motivation not to report the traumatic experiences.
French authorities have said that they registered 114,000 victims of sexual violence and that over 25,000 of these were rapes, but experts who have stated that most rapes go unreported and that around 80% don’t press charges and 80% who report have then dropped their case before investigation or Court. So Pelicot hopes to have inspired these women in saying: “I want all women who have been raped to say; Madame Pelicot did it, I can too.” But she’s still very understandably struggling in saying she is “completely destroyed” and voicing the feeling that she’s going to struggle to understand her own life. She also talked about being labelled ‘brave:’ “I’ve been told I’m brave. This isn’t being brave; it’s having the will and determination to change society. Bravery means jumping into the sea to rescue someone. I just have will and determination… This is why I come here (to the Court hearings) every day… Even if I hear unspeakable things, I am holding on because of all the men and women who are right behind me. I did it (requesting an open trial) because what happened to me can never happen again.”
The Future of The Trial:
There will be further video evidence released to the public after a decision by Judge Roger Arata to allow journalists and public members attending the trial the opportunity to view the video recordings for the rapes. This decision was the result of a two-week legal battle in which many journalists argued that viewing the videos would be crucial to gain a full understanding of the trial and Pelicot has supported this move. Regarding this, one of her Lawyers said: “it’s a unique case. We don’t have one representation of rape. We have dozens, hundreds of videos of a rape. Gisele Pelicot things that this shock wave is necessary, so that no one can say after this: ‘I didn’t know this was rape.’”
After the Court was shown a four-minute video from the collection, a Journalist said that, in his opinion, the video countered some of the claims of some of the defendants that it was a ‘consensual game.’
Having opened on September 2nd, the trial’s verdict is thought to not be reached until December due to the number of defendants being questioned.
SOURCES FOR THIS ARTICLE:
Horrific rape case pushes France to change the crime’s definition – POLITICO
Sensational mass trial shines a dark light on rape culture in France
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ckgr2yym0nko
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/gisele-pelicot-france-rape-case-b2624961.html