“I am normal” - The importance of Gisèle Pelicot
A trial that changed the trajectory of feminism, Gisèle Pelicot who is now branded as a feminist icon, faced a harrowing 16 week mass rape trail in hope to serve justice for not only victims of rape like herself, but for women as a whole.
Who is Gisèle Pelicot?
Living in the village of Mazan in the south of France, Gisèle Pelicot began to be involved in her own horrific nightmare happening within her own home
The 72 year old mother, grandmother and wife life changed overnight, suspected to have started in 2011, her own husband Dominique Pelicot began his twisted fantasy. Dominique began recruiting and inviting random men online to come into their home and rape his wife.
What happened?
Over the course of 10 years, Gisèle was subjected to repeated rape with the permission of her husband, happening whilst she was asleep as Dominique would crush sedatives into her food and drink in aims to play with her consciousness and memory.
Whilst this was happening, Dominique would proceeded to capture footage of the attacks and upload them to his laptop, keeping a bank of evidence that would later be exposed.
Constantly feeling confused due to the unawareness of drugs she had been sedated with over the course of 10 years, Gisèle would go to doctors seeking advice on what could of been wrong with her.
The monster is caught
In 2020, a security guard caught Dominique Pelicot upskirting a women in public and reported it to the police.
Having mass amount of evidence on his laptop due to recording each rape, the videos were played out in court and therefore none of the accused were able to deny that it was them
How did the trail take place?
Focusing on the years between 2011-2020 when the continuous rape would happen, a 16 week train took place
The trail started on the 2nd of September and ended on the 19th of December
The jury suspected their to be over 200 pieces of evidence found on Dominique Pelicot’s laptop
51 defandants were sentenced, with a range of sentencing between 3 to 15 years
Her husband Dominique Pelicot faced a max sentence of 20 years, being sentenced to aggravated rape and abuse of his wife
At the age of 71, it is suspected that he will spend the end of his life in prison
“I am normal,” she does not want to be considered as an icon”
