In many, if not most, countries, raped women are again violated and mistreated by the judicial system. But Gisèle Pelicot has become a hero for France and the rest of the world for ensuring control of the story as she confronts the crimes committed by her husband and 50 other men, all of whom were found guilty in a historic set of sentences. Although some seem shockingly short, the sentencing of the rapists and the husband who orchestrated it feels like a kind of justice.
When she discovered that her husband was drugging her and placing ads on the Internet for strangers to rape her while she was unconscious, Gisèle left her home, her marriage, and the story she had told herself about her life, to spend time in retirement. The same old story could have been repeated, with the shaming, harassment and blaming of a woman in court, but upon emerging from her isolation Gisèle made two key decisions that turned her into a feminist heroine, allowing her to break with that narrative. and write your own.
One of the decisions was practical: waive his right to anonymity and go public. According to her lawyer, Stéphane Babonneau, if she had kept it private, everything would have been “behind closed doors, with no one but her, us, maybe a family member, 51 defendants and 40 defense lawyers.” “I didn’t want to be locked in a room with them for four months; she on one side and the other 90 people on the benches in front,” Babonneau said.
It was a bold decision. There were still 90 people on the front benches, but it ultimately meant that millions of people fighting for women’s rights accompanied Gisèle day after day with flowers, cheers and shows of support as she entered and left the court; to demonstrate in their name demanding that France confront rampant misogyny. Actions that were in themselves another verdict, perhaps more forceful than that of the court.
This immense public reaction was the result of another moral and psychological decision of Gisèle Pelicot: refusing to accept shame. Rape victims are typically publicly and privately shamed during every stage following the sexual assault: by the rapist, by their attorney, by the police, by the judicial system, and by the media. communication. They hold them responsible for what happened and tell them that it was their fault; They reproach them for their past sexual life, their choice of clothing, their decision to go out into the world, not to resist (even if they threaten to kill them), or to associate with the rapist, those who did it. They systematically discredit them when the trauma of the event confuses their memories. They are told that they are not credible, that they are vindictive, unreliable or dishonest.
Shame, so widespread in this society, is usually internalized from the beginning, repeating the effects of the rape itself: disempowering, silencing and traumatizing.
Pelicot entered and left the court with dignity, accepting her statement as well-wishers lined up to cheer her on and bring her flowers. He didn’t want to hide. “I want those women to say ‘Mrs. Pelicot, we can too’
Against this backdrop, Pelicot’s story excited women around the world. Pelicot entered and left the court with dignity, accepting her statement as well-wishers lined up to cheer her on and bring her flowers. He didn’t want to hide. “I want those women to say ‘Mrs. Pelicot, we can do it too,’” she declared. “When they rape you there is shame, and it’s not our turn, it’s their turn,” she added, referring to the rapists.
Many women refuse to sue their rapists out of understandable fear of suffering these consequences. It is not a problem of the past. Without going any further, this December 9, a woman withdrew the federal lawsuit for sexual harassment that she had filed against former Governor Andrew Cuomo, who resigned after an investigation in 2021 revealed that he had sexually harassed several women.
The nonprofit journalism site Gothamist reported on this woman, who was on Cuomo’s staff: “Charlotte Bennett and her attorney, Debra Katz, accused Cuomo of instrumentalizing the discovery process with ‘invasive’ requests designed to ‘humiliate her,’ among which there were requests for documentation for visits to the gynecologist and other medical records.” The explanation from Cuomo’s lawyers is that Bennett withdrew his lawsuit “to avoid facing the mountains of exculpatory evidence that completely refute his claims.”
From Polanski to Strauss-Kahn
France has long been a refuge for film director Roman Polanski, who fled the United States after pleading guilty to illicit sexual relations with a 13-year-old girl whom he had also drugged.
In May 2011, while serving as managing director of the International Monetary Fund, prominent member of France’s Socialist Party Dominique Strauss-Kahn was accused of sexual assault by a hotel cleaner in New York. He denied the charges and she was brutally discredited by Strauss-Kahn’s powerful friends and much of the press. Conspiracy theories that cleared Strauss-Kahn of blame began to circulate, and the center of the story was filled with the plaintiff’s story as a refugee with female genital mutilation. The charges in the criminal case were dropped in 2011, after prosecutors alleged significant credibility problems in the plaintiff’s evidence. The civil lawsuit was settled in 2012 out of court.
Accusations of sexual crimes committed by men have long been ignored in France. The defendants are excused or even celebrated by mixing being a libertine with being liberated. Will this change now? I trust that something does change. I don’t think it’s enough.
Gisèle Pelicot’s heroic boldness in facing the horrible things that happened to her, refusing to be shamed and standing up for her rights, is admirable. But it is not a reaction available to all survivors. Not all cases are so clear-cut and well-documented that the public and the law have no doubts about guilty and innocent people, right and wrong. Not all of them will have the excellent lawyers and public support that Gisèle Pelicot has. The truth is that a majority of women will not have them. Quite a few will be harassed and threatened with death for reporting a sexual assault, as has happened with some of the women who sued Donald Trump.
I don’t know if Gisèle Pelicot has not received threats, but I do know that the support received is unprecedented. Even with this support, lawyers for rapists have repeated the usual accusations: that she is vindictive, that she is an exhibitionist for allowing the videos to be shown in court, or that she is not sad enough (rape victims are It requires a very specific state of mind, or a state of mind that is completely non-existent, between too emotional and very little emotional).
The French women have thrown themselves into their support; Women from all over the world have followed the case, debated it and reflected on it. But what have the men done? Nothing will change until men honestly and seriously confront the pervasiveness of sexual assault and the aspects of culture that celebrate and normalize it.
I have written about this case as many other people have: Mrs. Pelicot has been extraordinary; the French have thrown themselves into their support; and women from all over the world have followed the case, debated it, and reflected on it. But what have the men done? Nothing will change until men honestly and seriously confront the pervasiveness of sexual assault and the aspects of culture that celebrate and normalize it.
Many of Gisèle Pelicot’s rapists denied being rapists. They assumed that her husband had the right to authorize the assault while she was unconscious. All of them demonstrated a desire to have sexual relations with an older woman, drugged and without consent, while her husband observed and recorded their crime. It is possible that their sentences instill fear in those who could commit sexual assault due to the consequences that this generates, but will they serve to change the desire?
The criminal justice system cannot change culture and consciousness. That happens somewhere else. In the last sixty years, feminism has done an amazing job of changing the situation for women, but changing or fixing men is not women’s job. Although there are many feminist men, there are too many who live immersed in the same type of rape culture that we have seen in this trial. Let us at least hope that the Gisèle Pelicot case serves as a trigger for this process, for these conversations, and for this transformation.
May your example help those trying to change the culture. May the sentences of his attackers serve as a warning. May your dignity and poise inspire other victims. And, above all, that there are fewer victims in a better culture. Those are the things I ask for. To achieve these objectives, the will of many and the transformation of institutions will be required. The example of Gisèle Pelicot is a source of inspiration and hope.
Translation by Francisco de Zárate.
#Gisèle #Pelicot #rewritten #story #encouraged #women #world #men
