“I never, even for a single second, gave my consent to Mr. Pelicot or those other men.”
Halfway through the mass rape trial in France that has been shocking the world and brewing feminist rage since September, survivor Gisèle Pelicot took the stand for the first time on Wednesday to share her nightmarish story.
Pelicot, 72, first spoke publicly about her experience and the aftermath in September at the trial of her former husband, 71-year-old Dominique Pelicot. He admitted to drugging her unconscious so that he and 50 other men he met in online chatrooms could rape her countless times over a period of almost 10 years, from 2011 to 2020.
Some of the accused men—aged between 26 and 74, with jobs ranging from nurse to truck driver to journalist—have admitted that they knew Pelicot was drugging his then-wife with sedatives and anti-anxiety medication to render her unconscious. Most of them, however, have denied rape or said they thought they were participating in the couple’s organized game.
In response to the claims that the men thought Gisèle Pelicot was drunk or just pretending to be unconscious, she said, “When they see a woman sleeping on her bed, no one thought to ask themselves a question? Don’t they have brains?”
On Wednesday, Oct. 23, Pelicot gave her own testimony and explained why she’s choosing to speak publicly about her harrowing experience and raise awareness about rape.
Here’s what she had to say on her first day on the stand, in her own words.
Why she’s taking a stand:
“I wanted all woman victims of rape—not just when they have been drugged, rape exists at all levels—I want those woman to say: Mrs. Pelicot did it, we can do it too.
When you’re raped there is shame, and it’s not for us to have shame—it’s for them.
It’s true that I hear lots of women, and men, who say you’re very brave. I say it’s not bravery, it’s will and determination to change society.”
How society needs a better understanding of rape:
“For me they are rapists, they remain rapists. Rape is rape … Of course today I feel responsible for nothing. Today, above all, I’m a victim … We have to progress on rape culture in society.”
Her experience hearing the accused men speak:
“The profile of a rapist is not someone met in a car park late at night. A rapist can also be in the family, among our friends.
When I saw one of the accused on the stand last week who came into my bedroom and house without consent … This man, who came to rape an unconscious, 57-year-old woman—I am also a mother and grandmother. I could have been his grandmother.
I am a woman who is totally destroyed, and don’t know how I can pick myself up from this.”
Her horrifying experience:
“Often when there’s a football match on TV, I’d let him watch it alone. He brought my ice cream to bed, where I was, my favorite flavor, raspberry. And I thought, ‘How lucky I am, he’s a love’ … I never felt my heart flutter, I didn’t feel anything, I must have gone under very quickly. I would wake up with my pajamas on. The mornings I must have been more tired than usual, but I walk a lot and thought it was that.”
How she feels about her former husband:
“So many times, I said to myself, ‘How lucky am I to have you at my side. For me, he was someone I trusted entirely. How can the perfect man have got to this? How could you have betrayed me to this point? How could you have brought these strangers into my bedroom … ?
I wouldn’t have stayed 50 years if he had behaved like a violent brute. Like all couples, we had arguments. We got through lots of challenges, illness, work, money. He wasn’t a brute. He never hit me … This case for me is total incomprehension. I would never have imagined a man could do this.”
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