‘Shame must change sides.’. Arguably one of the most powerful quotes of recent times, courtesy of a woman who – despite the horrors she’s endured – remains committed to ensuring this is where it ends. Not just for her, but for women everywhere.
Image Credit: Metro [Gisele Pelicot in court]
Gisele Pelicot has been catapulted to feminist hero status in recent years after bravely standing up against the alleged perpetrators of her sexual violence. Four years ago, police knocked at her door, and her life changed as she knew it. Exposing the alleged crimes, it came to light that her partner of 50 years, Dominique Pelicot, drugged her and invited droves of men to rape her while she was unconscious.
Image Credit: Metro [Gisele Pelicot addresses the press as she leaves the courthouse after hearing the verdict of the court that sentenced her ex-husband to the maximum term of 20 years jail for committing and orchestrating her mass rapes with dozens of strangers he recruited online, in Avignon on December 19, 2024. Dominique Pelicot, who had already confessed to the crimes, was earlier found guilty by the court in the southern city of Avignon after an over three-month trial that shocked France and turned his former wife Gisele into a feminist hero. His 50 co-defendants in the case were also convicted by the court, with no acquittals. (Photo by Miguel MEDINA / AFP) (Photo by MIGUEL MEDINA/AFP via Getty Images)]
This continued for around a decade, but it took until September 2020 for Pelicot’s horrendous alleged crimes to be uncovered when he was reportedly arrested for taking upskirting photos of other women in a supermarket. It was then that tens of thousands of files were unearthed, documenting the sexual violence Gisele – now 72 – allegedly suffered, as he admitted to recruiting dozens of other men to rape her.
Image Credit: Metro [Frenchwoman Gisele Pelicot, the victim of an alleged mass rape orchestrated by her then-husband Dominique Pelicot at their home in the southern French town of Mazan, arrives to attend the verdict in the trial for Dominique Pelicot and 50 co-accused, at the courthouse in Avignon, France, December 19, 2024. REUTERS/Manon Cruz]
To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web
browser that
supports HTML5
video. Up Next. Investigators drew up a list of 72 suspects, of which 51 – including Dominique – (aged between 26 and 74) were identified and began facing trial this autumn.
Image Credit: Metro [This court-sketch made on December 19, 2024 in Avignon shows Gisele Pelicot during the hearing of the verdict of the court that sentenced her ex-husband to the maximum term of 20 years jail for committing and orchestrating her mass rapes with dozens of strangers he recruited online. Dominique Pelicot, who had already confessed to the crimes, was earlier found guilty by the court in the southern city of Avignon after an over three-month trial that shocked France and turned his former wife Gisele into a feminist hero. His 50 co-defendants in the case were also convicted by the court, with no acquittals. (Photo by Benoit PEYRUCQ / AFP) (Photo by BENOIT PEYRUCQ/AFP via Getty Images)]
While Gisele sat silently in the courtroom from the start of September, watching the evidence of her own volition, she has been anything but silent to the world. And it is that fortitude and incredible resilience that has already permanently altered the way we talk about abuse.
![[Gisele Pelicot in court]](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/SEC_226751225-57bb.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=646)
![[Gisele Pelicot addresses the press as she leaves the courthouse after hearing the verdict of the court that sentenced her ex-husband to the maximum term of 20 years jail for committing and orchestrating her mass rapes with dozens of strangers he recruited online, in Avignon on December 19, 2024. Dominique Pelicot, who had already confessed to the crimes, was earlier found guilty by the court in the southern city of Avignon after an over three-month trial that shocked France and turned his former wife Gisele into a feminist hero. His 50 co-defendants in the case were also convicted by the court, with no acquittals. (Photo by Miguel MEDINA / AFP) (Photo by MIGUEL MEDINA/AFP via Getty Images)]](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/SEI_233743994-0af3.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=646)
![[Frenchwoman Gisele Pelicot, the victim of an alleged mass rape orchestrated by her then-husband Dominique Pelicot at their home in the southern French town of Mazan, arrives to attend the verdict in the trial for Dominique Pelicot and 50 co-accused, at the courthouse in Avignon, France, December 19, 2024. REUTERS/Manon Cruz]](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/SEI_233727943-a8aa.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=646)
![[This court-sketch made on December 19, 2024 in Avignon shows Gisele Pelicot during the hearing of the verdict of the court that sentenced her ex-husband to the maximum term of 20 years jail for committing and orchestrating her mass rapes with dozens of strangers he recruited online. Dominique Pelicot, who had already confessed to the crimes, was earlier found guilty by the court in the southern city of Avignon after an over three-month trial that shocked France and turned his former wife Gisele into a feminist hero. His 50 co-defendants in the case were also convicted by the court, with no acquittals. (Photo by Benoit PEYRUCQ / AFP) (Photo by BENOIT PEYRUCQ/AFP via Getty Images)]](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/SEI_233741616-9f37.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=646)
