What does the ultimate feminist icon look like in 2024? Is she an influencer or a politician, a sportswoman or a pop star, conspicuously living her best life on stage and across social media?
In truth, she is none of these. To witness what a truly powerful trailblazer looks like, we must turn our attention to the courtroom of the sleepy provincial French city of Avignon. Here stands an absolutely extraordinary woman in her seventies, who never sought fame but whose courage and dignity might just change the world.
Elegant and poised, with an impeccable bob and the dress sense of a Parisienne, Gisèle Pélicot is 72. A wife, mother of three and grandmother of seven, she was content living quietly in the village of Mazan, southeastern France, with Dominique – the person she described on the stand as “a kind, caring man…in whom, I had complete trust”.
They knew each other as well as any couple could, after a 50-year marriage. She supported him with his worries about work. He supported her through health issues and the mystery gynaecological problems that had plagued her for a decade.
But those memories have long since been shattered. Her husband is now on trial for drugging and raping her, alongside inviting dozens of other men to rape her, all while she was heavily sedated.
Dominique, who made and kept videos of the abuse over a ten-year period – from 2011 to 2020 – has admitted administering sleeping pills and other medications in the food he cooked for his wife and recruiting men online to rape her.
The chronic health problems Mme Pélicot suffered were linked to the medication and the rapes. We can’t begin to understand the extent of her horror, her sense of betrayal, her sheer revulsion. At one point, she described herself as “completely destroyed” and said she needed to begin building herself back up again.
But every day in court, the world has witnessed her begin to do just that by taking back control. She waived anonymity. She requested an open trial. She gave permission for videos of the alleged rapes to be shown. She turned up most days, her head held high – and this week, she took the stand.
“I’ve been told I’m brave. This isn’t being brave, it’s having the will and determination to change society,” she said. “This is why I come here everyday… Even if I hear unspeakable things…
“I want all women who have been raped to say: ‘Madame Pelicot did it, I can too.’ I don’t want them to be ashamed any longer. It’s not for us to have shame – it’s for them.”
Along with her ex-husband – who she divorced in 2021 – fifty other men, including a nurse, a journalist, a local councillor, a soldier and farm workers may face up to 20 years in prison if found guilty. Some have admitted rape, some have apologised to her in court, others maintain they did not commit a crime because they believed they were taking part in a game and had no idea she was unconscious.
The trial is due to last four months. Mme Pélicot will be there until the end, looking every defendant in the eye. And every evening, she is greeted outside the court by grateful women bearing flowers because they too agree that “shame must change sides”.