Gisele Pelicot tells mass rape trial ‘it’s not us who should feel shame’

Addressing the French court for the second time, Pelicot says she’s determined to change how society confronts sexual violence.

Gisele Pelicot, whose ex-husband and dozens of other men are on trial in France and accused of raping her, has addressed a French court for the second time, stating that while she was “broken” by her ordeal she is “determined” to support other women.

Pelicot spoke on Wednesday at the invitation of presiding Judge Roger Arata and encouraged other women who have been sexually assaulted to come forward.

“I wanted all women who are rape victims to say to themselves ‘Mrs Pelicot did it, so we can do it too’,” she said. “It’s not us who should feel shame, but them [the perpetrators]”, she said, referring to her request from the start that the trial should be open to the public.

The 71-year-old has become a feminist icon in France since the trial of Dominique Pelicot and 50 other men opened last month in the southern French city of Avignon.

The case has sparked horror, protests and a debate about male violence in French society.

“I am a woman who is completely broken,” Gisele Pelicot told the court, adding that she wanted to “change society” in terms of how it deals with sexual assault.

“I don’t know how I’m going to rebuild myself,” she said. “I’m 72 soon and I’m not sure my life will be long enough to recover from this.”

The unprecedented trial is exposing how pornography, chatrooms and men’s disdain for or hazy understanding of consent is fuelling rape culture in France.

Dominique Pelicot filmed much of the abuse against his wife and also took meticulous records of the strangers visiting their home, which subsequently helped police uncover the crimes.

He has admitted to drugging his then-wife and inviting men to rape her between 2011 and 2020.

‘Immeasurable’ betrayal

For the first time since early in the trial, Gisele Pelicot spoke Wednesday about her husband’s “immeasurable” betrayal, and expressed sympathy for the wives, mothers and sisters of his 50 co-defendants, French media reported.

“I’m trying to understand how my husband, who was the perfect man, became like this. How my life changed,” she said. “For me, this betrayal is immeasurable. After 50 years together … I used to think I was going to be with this man until the end.”

Among the nearly two dozen defendants who testified during the trial’s first seven weeks was Ahmed T (French defendants’ full last names are generally withheld until conviction). The married plumber with three children and five grandchildren said he wasn’t particularly alarmed that Pelicot wasn’t moving when he visited her and her now-ex-husband’s house in the small Provence town of Mazan in 2019.

It reminded him of porn he had watched featuring women who “pretend to be asleep and don’t react,” he said.

Like him, many other defendants told the court that they couldn’t have imagined that Dominique Pelicot was drugging his wife, and that they were told she was a willing participant acting out a kinky fantasy. Dominique Pelicot denied this, telling the court his co-defendants knew exactly what the situation was.

Most suspects face up to 20 years in jail for aggravated rape if convicted.

The trial is expected to last four months until December 20.

Celine Piques, a spokesperson of the feminist group Osez le Feminisme!, or Dare Feminism!, said she’s convinced that many of the men on trial were inspired or perverted by porn, including videos found on popular websites.

Although some sites have started cracking down on search terms such as “unconscious”, hundreds of videos of men having sex with seemingly passed-out women can be found online, she said.

Last year, French authorities registered 114,000 victims of sexual violence, including more than 25,000 reported rapes. But experts say most rapes go unreported due to a lack of tangible evidence. About 80 percent of women don’t press charges, and 80 percent of the ones who do see their cases dropped before they are investigated.

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Al Jazeera and news agencies