Gisèle Pelicot
Gisèle Pelicot | |
|---|---|
| Born | 7 December 1952 |
| Occupation | Logistics manager |
| Known for | Victim of the Mazan rapes |
| Spouse |
Dominique Pelicot
(m. 1973; div. 2001)
(m. 2007; div. 2024) |
| Children | 3 |
Gisèle Pelicot (born 7 December 1952)[1] is the French woman at the centre of the Mazan mass rape case. From 2011 to 2020, her husband, Dominique Pelicot, covertly drugged and raped her and also invited men he had contacted on the internet to rape her while she was unconscious. Pelicot only became aware of the abuse in 2020, when her husband was arrested for upskirting women in a local supermarket and a police search of his computer equipment revealed images of her being raped. When her husband and 50 other men went on trial for aggravated rape in Avignon in 2024, Pelicot waived her right to anonymity and a trial behind closed doors. The trial attracted worldwide media attention and Pelicot's dignity and determinination to speak out on behalf of all victims of sexual assault won her widespread support and admiration. She became a feminist icon and featured in the BBC's 2024 list of 100 women of the year and the Financial Times list of the 25 most influential women of the year.
Background
[edit]Born on 7 December 1952 in Villingen in southwest Germany, Pelicot was the daughter of a French soldier. She arrived in France when she was five and lost her mother to cancer when nine. In 1971, she met her future husband, Dominique Pelicot.[1] They married in April 1973 and settled in the Paris suburb of Villiers-sur-Marne.[2][3] A son, David, and a daughter, Caroline, were born in the early years of the marriage; they were followed by Florian, born in 1986.[2] Pelicot had a career in administration for the state electricity company. Her husband worked as an electrician and an estate agent and set up a number of businesses which ultimately failed.[4][5] Pelicot had a three-year affair with a colleague.[6] When her husband discovered the affair, he moved in with another woman for several months before the couple were reconciled and resumed their life together.[2] In 2001, the couple divorced for financial reasons but continued to cohabit and remarried in 2007.[2][7]
On retirement in 2013, Pelicot and her husband moved to Mazan in southeastern France, renting a house with a swimming pool[5] Pelicot joined a choir, while her husband did a lot of cycling.[4] In the summer holidays they were joined by their children and grandchildren.[5]
Abuse and trial
[edit]While the couple were still living in the Paris area, Pelicot was prescribed Temesta (lorazepam), a benzodiazepine. Her husband took advantage of her drugged state to rape her while she was asleep. He began to add sleeping pills obtained from his own doctor to her food and drink to render her unconscious. It was after the couple moved to Mazan that he invited men he had contacted on the internet to rape her while she was drugged. Pelicot was completely unaware of what was happening to her. When she suffered memory lapses due to the drugs, she worried that she might have Alzheimer's disease or a brain tumour but tests always came back negative. She had suspicions and on one occasion asked her husband if he was drugging her, but accepted his denial. It was only after her husband was arrested for upskirting women in a local supermarket in September 2020 and police discovered images of an unconscious Pelicot being raped by her husband and over 50 other men on the computer equipment they seized from the couple's home, that the truth emerged. Pelicot recalled the day, 2 November 2020, when they were called into the police station and she was shown videos of her abuse: "Everything caved in, everything I built for 50 years". Dominque Pelicot was remanded in custody. Pelicot moved out the family home and initiated divorce proceedings. She would not see her former husband again until his trial in 2024.[8]
The trial of Pelicot's husband and 50 other men who had been identified from the computer images began in Avignon in September 2024. As a rape victim, Pelicot had the right to anonymity and the right to a trial behind closed doors. She waived her right to anonymity and insisted on a public trial in order to raise awareness of drug-facilitated sexual assault (chemical submission) and encourage other victims of sexual crimes to speak out.[9] She successfully challenged the judge's initial decision to exclude the public from court when videos of her being raped were shown.[10] "The shame is theirs" she said, referring to the men accused of raping her.[11] "I'm lucky to have the evidence. I have the proof, which is very rare. So, I have to go through [all this] to stand for all the victims," she said of the videos.[12]
Pelicot's decision to waive her anonymity and to have her trial held in public, as well as her dignified demeanour during the trial, led to widespread admiration and public support for her, both in France and worldwide. She left court each day to applause from people gathered outside, her image appeared in street art, supportive slogans were pasted on walls around the courthouse. Demonstrations were held in her support. She became a feminist icon.[11]
Pelicot was included on the BBC's 2024 list of 100 women[13] and was cited as one of the 25 most influential women of 2024 by the Financial Times.[14]
References
[edit]- ^ a b "Viols de Mazan : Gisèle Pelicot, nouveau symbole des victimes de violences et de la soumission chimique". actu.fr (in French). 14 September 2024.
- ^ a b c d "Procès des viols de Mazan : la "personnalité à double facette" de Dominique Pelicot, jugé pour avoir drogué et livré sa femme à des hommes". francetvinfo (in French). 9 September 2024.
- ^ Prange de Oliverira, Astrid (25 October 2024). "Missbrauchsprozess in Frankreich: Wer ist Gisèle Pelicot?". DW (in German).
- ^ a b "Pelicot rape trial: It is Gisèle's name that will be remembered". The Guardian. 23 November 2024.
- ^ a b c "Final phase for mass rape trial that has horrified France". BBC. 17 November 2024.
- ^ "Inferiority complex, revenge? Gisèle Pelicot testifies on husband's possible motives for mass rape". France24. 25 October 2024.
- ^ "Gisèle Pelicot: How an ordinary woman shook attitudes to rape in France". BBC news.
- ^ "New name, no photos: Gisèle Pelicot removes all trace of her husband". BBC. 15 December 2024.
- ^ "France mass rape survivor Gisele Pelicot becomes a feminist hero". France24. 12 December 2024.
- ^ "Pelicot rape trial: press and public allowed to see video evidence". France24. 4 October 2024.
- ^ a b "After Pelicot: how one woman's courage has pushed France to a turning point". The Guardian. 26 October 2024.
- ^ "Gisèle Pelicot lifts her sunglasses and chooses to fight back". BBC. 9 December 2024.
- ^ "BBC 100 Women 2024: Who is on the list this year?". BBC.
- ^ "The FT's 25 most influential women of 2024". Financial Times. 6 December 2024.