Heroine on behalf of all rape victims: Gisèle Pélicot now speaks

Gisèle Pélicot enters the courthouse looking very upright ? and is greeted with applause. Every day of the trial, dozens of women stand in the hall in Avignon and applaud the 71-year-old for minutes. Some shout “Merci”. A women's rights organization has covered the walls around the courthouse with posters saying "Rape is rape." Behind all of this is a great need for many women in France: to express solidarity with the woman who has been appearing in the trial against her rapists since September. Because Gisèle Pélicot's attitude and the powerful determination with which she endures everything have made her a hero for many women in France and far beyond.

It must be unimaginably bad as a victim of rape to have to face the perpetrator in court. Reliving the terrible experience, rehashing the trauma, and enduring the most intimate details being discussed in public. It is completely understandable that women who have been victims of rape want to keep their time in court as short as possible.

Things are different for Gisèle Pélicot: she has decided to make the process public and wants to be present at every hearing. In order to do this, she accepts that she will have to listen to all the gruesome details of her rapes and even see the videos that her husband recorded of the attacks. At first the judges wanted to refrain from showing these recordings. But Gisèle Pélicot insisted that everything be shown. The public should stop looking the other way, everything should finally come to light. In this way, she wants to have a say in what image is painted of her. Because one thing is clear to her: she has nothing to blame herself for.

There are 51 men sitting opposite her. They are accused of raping the woman while she was unconscious. In total, there are said to have been over 90 men whom her husband invited to rape his drugged, defenseless wife. For nine years. Only a few have confessed to the crime so far, and none of them have shown any sign of regret. Instead, the same perpetrator-victim reversal takes place: Gisèle Pélicot is demoted as an accomplice and alcoholic? which she completely rejects. Others trivialize the rapes: one defendant answers questions about the consent that her husband gave his: "It was a gift from Mr. Pélicot." Another claims he's not a rapist because he caressed her, and rapists don't do that.

Why is Gisèle Pélicot doing this to herself? During the trial, she repeatedly explained that she wanted to encourage all other abused women and point out their fate: “I want the women to no longer feel shame. It's not us who should be ashamed, it's them!? she says, referring to the perpetrators. She advocated for a public trial so that all women who were raped could say to themselves: "Ms. Pélicot did it, we can do it too." Gisèle Pélicot says: “Look around, you are not alone.”

How right she is: Ten percent of women in Germany have experienced rape or attempted rape. This is what the association “Women Against Violence” says. But women only report their rapist in five to 15 percent of cases. Our rape culture contributes to this, with victim blaming like "Why did she dress like that?", "Why did she drink so much?", "Why was she out alone at night?" Gisèle Pélicot wants to fight against this. Her goal is for “rape culture to end and society to change.” And she wants to point out something else: that violence also occurs in families and...represents a great danger. The perpetrators often lurk close to the victims. “The rapist is not the one you meet in a parking lot late at night,” explains Gisèle Pélicot. “It can also be in the family, among friends.”

Gisèle Pélicot has already achieved a lot. "Mrs. P.'s open approach means that sexual violence against women is removed from the taboo and existing myths are counteracted," explains Gerlinde Gröger, head of the Münster women's emergency number. The case could even mark a real turning point because it has opened the eyes of many people in France. According to a survey, 72 percent are of the opinion that the fate of Gisèle Pélicot reflects the "permanence and banalization of sexual violence in our society." shows. For weeks, people across the country have been taking to the streets to demonstrate against sexual violence. Gisèle Pelicot's famous sentence appears on their posters: "Shame must change sides."

It could even be that French criminal law will now be adjusted: it will then be considered rape if the victim's consent is missing. We already have this regulation in Germany. Although the word “consent” is missing in our paragraph 177, sexual acts can be punished if “the perpetrator takes advantage of the fact that the person is unable to form or express a conflicting will”. But women's rights activists now want to go much further. In mid-October, around 50 organizations came together to form an alliance that created a “global law”. against sexual violence. And all because of a woman who had the courage to make her story public.