The Rape Trial That Could Change France - WSJ

[question everything]

A trial that has shocked France took a dramatic turn this week. Gisèle Pélicot, 71, has accused her former husband of 50 years of drugging and raping her and recruiting strangers online to sexually assault her while she was unconscious in their bedroom. On Oct. 23 she arrived at the Avignon courthouse, to the cheers of supporters, and took the stand for the first time since her deposition in September.

“I’ve been told that I’m brave. But it’s not bravery,” she declared. “It’s having the will and determination to change society.”

By coming forward and insisting on a public trial, Gisèle Pélicot has forced a national reckoning over sexual violence in France. Since the proceedings began last month, thousands of people have taken to the streets chanting “We Are All Gisèle” in protest against “rape culture.” Artists have painted murals of Pélicot and tagged walls with the phrases “Don’t Put Me to Sleep” and “Death to Patriarchy.” Public intellectuals and elected officials have published editorials and petitions and more than 200 men have proposed a “road map” to put an end to “masculine domination.”

Dominique Pélicot, a 71-year-old retiree living in the village of Mazan, has pleaded guilty to inviting seemingly ordinary men to sexually violate his heavily sedated wife for nearly a decade. Police identified over 80 suspects but found and charged only 50 of them, all filmed and photographed by Pélicot himself.

These men, ages 26 to 74, come from diverse backgrounds, but most are gainfully employed, and many are married with children. As locals have noted, they represent a sample of French society. They are your next-door neighbor, your “Monsieur Tout-Le-Monde,” your average Joe.

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[niyad]

1. Thank you for updating us on this horrific, utterly sickening case. May

all those rapists rot in hell.

There are almost no words to express my admiration for Gisele's courage and determination.

[Stargazer99]

3. all the men''s names and addresses ought to be publically listed so women will know who to stay

away from but society run by men won't do that to help women

[Beringia]

4. Thanks for sharing this story

[jfz9580m]

5. That article had some truly eye popping statements

What fucking century do these guys live in?

Some of the defense lawyers have proposed that what happened in Mazan was not a rape but rather an elaborate “libertine game” orchestrated by Dominique Pélicot, to which his wife consented while pretending to be asleep. As one of the men on trial has put it, the husband’s consent appeared sufficient: “It’s his wife; he does what he wants with her.” Another defendant insisted his actions could not be rape: “I don’t have the heart of rapist…For me, rape is catching someone on the street.”
These arguments have highlighted the perplexing fact that the definition of rape in French law does not mention consent. Rape was traditionally seen as a crime against the honor of a woman’s family, against her father or husband, rather than a violation of her own dignity.

Seriously wtf? How dated is this shit? A crime against the honor of the woman’s family? Crime against the father or husband? When was this shit even drafted? How is consent by the woman not the primary if not only factor? Clear, unambiguous and explicit consent at that?

Good fucking god. It is shocking that these bloody dated laws exist apparently on every part of the planet. In India for instance I think it was only in 2022 (at least the article I saw was from 2022) they got rid of the infamous 2-finger test. And India has pretty progressive abortion laws so inspite of a lot of violence against women, there has also been progress legally wrt women’s rights. And China has had its own MeToo recently.

This shit needs to go away in every part of the world.

Bloody barbaric…
Good for Gisele. She is fucking awesome.

But systems also have to offer women the opportunity to fight back against this stuff anonymously.

You shouldn’t have to sacrifice your anonymity because of someone else’s predatory crimes. It is not about shame. Some people are naturally very protective of their privacy. I post here frequently about privacy because it is important to me. That is why I am here and not on social media. I am pretty introverted irl.

It adds a layer of added violation when women cannot have control over their own privacy in order to be safe from predatory and harassing men. It should be up to the victim whether to give up their anonymity or not. And the victim should not have to undergo more violation and stress to prove there was a crime. There are other ways in which due process can take place.

[littlemissmartypants]

6. This man and his ilk are despicable!

Also of note...

Parisian Women Legally Allowed to Wear Pants for the First Time in 200 Years

February 5, 2013

On January 31, France’s minister of women’s rights made if officially impossible to arrest a woman for wearing pants in Paris, the Telegraph reports. Previously, the law required women to ask police for special permission to “dress as men.” If fashionable French ladies ignored this rule, they risked being taken into custody.

The rule originally came into being just after the French Revolution, in the early 19th century. As anyone who watched Les Miserables will recall, rebellious ladies often donned pants in defiance of the bourgeoisie. This anti pants-wearing movement was dubbed sans-culottes, or without the knee-breeches (“cullottes”) of the high class.

In 1892, the legislation changed to allow women to wear pants only if she “is holding a bicycle handlebar or the reins of a horse.” That latest ordinance stayed in place until today, despite multiple attempts to get rid of it. Officials said the unenforced rule as not a problem so they didn’t want to waste time amending “legal archaeology.”

But politicians last July argued of the law’s “symbolic importance” and its potential impact on modern perspectives surrounding women’s rights. The minister then got on board, declaring:

This ordinance is incompatible with the principles of equality between women and men, which are listed in the Constitution, and in France’s European commitments.

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https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/parisian-women-legally-allowed-to-wear-pants-for-the-first-time-in-200-years-11848690/?origin=serp_auto