This is the historic trial that has shaken French society and provoked deep reflection on sexual violence and consent: the Pelicot gang rape case.
Many called it a sociocultural earthquake, a reckoning over France’s systemic problem with women. , who lived within a 30-kilometer radius of each other. In charge was Dominique Pelicot, who drugged and invited these strangers to assault and rape his then-wife, Gisèle, for more than a decade.
It was in this small geographical perimeter that a whole world of violence and misogyny existed.
On Thursday, hundreds of people filled an Avignon courtroom with great emotion, and many spread throughout the court to hear the fate of the accused, whose actions not only changed the lives of Gisèle and her family, but also that of nation.
Forty-nine of the men were convicted of rape. Two were convicted of sexual assault. Four of the men were also convicted of possessing child sexual abuse images.
The men were “Monsieur-Tout-Le-Monde”, or “Mr. Everyman”, as they came to be called – were not career criminals. The men, aged between 26 and 74, had professions that included nursing, the army, journalism and the prison system.
However, despite the overwhelming evidence against them, the hundreds of videos showing the rapes, and the thousands of text messages revealing their plans, only a dozen men admitted guilt, with many of them stating that they believed the consent of Dominique – and not Gisèle – was enough to carry out his crimes.
The horror of the crimes, along with the idea that they were carried out by “Mr. Everyman,” led to a national debate about the normalization of sexual violence.
Dominique Pelicot was sentenced to 20 years in prison, the maximum sentence for his crime. The other men received prison sentences of between three and 15 years. Some, however, were released after serving suspended sentences.
Many people say that the penalties are not severe enough, that they do not take into account the horrors of the crime. And despite the prison sentences and no concrete changes, the women of Mazan – the village in southern France where the crimes took place – say they could still happen again tomorrow.
“What has really changed? The mentality hasn’t changed and neither have the laws, everything remains the same and that’s why we don’t feel safe”, says Nedeljka Macan, resident of Mazan.
Gisèle hoped that by giving up her anonymity—and therefore by opening the trial to the public—she would help change rape culture, however painful it was to watch the harrowing evidence of her abuse.
“It was a choice to make the case public. And she did it at the service of other women”, says Sarah McGrath, from Women for Women France, to CNN.
It was this service, courage and defiance that transformed her into a feminist hero, determined to make “shame change sides”.
“Often internationally, France can have kind of a reputation for being really progressive when it comes to women’s rights,” says McGrath. “And that is the case, we have just had, for example, the right to abortion written into the Constitution, which is a big step forward. However, when it comes to sexual and sexist violence, we are actually lagging behind our European neighbors.”
Data shows that, in France, survivors of sexual violence do not tend to report it. Only 10% of rape victims report the crime to the judicial system. And, of these complaints, only 1 to 4% end up being convicted, according to McGrath.
Gisèle Pelicot has now inspired these same victims to denounce the crime and push for things to change. The last three months have caused people across France to reflect and consider what consent is. The trial forced them to discuss rape culture and how to change it.
Although the trial will be marked in French history, activists and lawyers stressed that it does not mark the end of an ugly chapter in time, but rather the beginning of a new era in which consent is taught in schools and included in the criminal code.
Women’s rights activists are riding the wave of Gisèle’s call to action — and optimism.
As she left court on Thursday, Gisèle said the trial showed her that “a future in which women and men can live in harmony and mutual respect” is, in fact, possible.
It is up to France to seize this moment and make it a reality.
CNN’s Kara Fox contributed to this article.
