A French man who admitted to repeatedly drugging and raping his wife for 10 years and inviting other men to join him in the assaults was found guilty Thursday of aggravated rape and other crimes in a case that set off a furious count. The culture of sexual violence in European countries and around the world.
The man, 72-year-old Dominic Pellicott, was A maximum sentence of 20 years is imposed For his crimes, which included filming the sexual assault and distributing sexual images of both his wife and daughter without their consent.
Fifty other men were convicted of crimes related to the case.
The case shocked and enthralled the French public, partly because of the gruesome details and the refusal on the part of the initial victim, Pellicote’s wife, Giselle Pellicote, to keep the gruesome account of what happened to her in the shadows.
The case is sparking a wider debate on marital rape and consent in France. But it also mirrors similar policy issues in the United States, where activists recently managed to reform laws that make it harder to prosecute marital rape. Until recently, most US states had exemptions that made it difficult to charge those accused of marital rape with the crime. An American woman who had a strange experience similar to Pelicot’s helped change all that.
What happened to Gisèle Pelicot?
In 2020, Dominique Pellicott was arrested after taking a photo up a woman’s skirt in a grocery store. Police seized his phone and laptop and found an extensive collection of videos of Pellicote and several other men sexually assaulting his wife while she was unconscious. Giselle Pellicote had health problems related to drugs and assaults, but was unaware of what was happening to her until police showed her the video of the assault.
Gisele argued from the start that she had nothing to be ashamed of, keeping the anonymity traditionally given to victims of sexual violence in France. as He told the court During her trial: “I wanted all the women who were raped – not only when they were drugged, rape exists at all levels – I wanted those women to say: Ms Pellicott did it, we can do it too. Shame on you when you’re raped, and shame on you. Not for us, it’s for them.”
“Rejecting closed doors, Giselle Pellicote gives a historical dimension to the trial, showing the existence of marital rape, the fabrication of rapists and the extent of chemical submission,” Mahila FoundationA prominent women’s rights organization said in a statement sent to Vox in French. At the same time, the group criticized the court for giving short sentences to Dominic Pellicote’s co-accused. “The fight against impunity is not over yet.”
Refusing to hide, Giselle Pellicott held up a mirror to some of the darkest corners of society, and rape culture in particular: here was an ordinary woman, a grandmother, who suffered excruciating sexual violence at the hands of the man she loved, and faithfully there were several seemingly ordinary men — one Nurses, an IT guy, a journalist and a truck driver — who took part in the crime. What does it mean that many of them were willing to participate in such heinous acts?
A Me Too moment in France
Allowing her story to be told, Gisele has become an icon in Europe. A group of protesters began gathering at the court every day and cheering him as he entered the trial. he Appeared on the digital cover of Vogue Germany and depicted as a Larger-than-life murals in several cities.
Thousands of protesters also took to the streets He demanded that the government take sexual violence more seriouslySome protesters argued that the French law, which prohibits rape “by violence, restraint, threat or surprise” but does not mention consent, needs to be updated to include that rape is also sexual conduct. which is not necessarily violent but is done without permission (Not all French feminists agree(Some argue that the term places the burden on the victim to prove that he did not consent.)
In late November, just days after protests across France, Introduced by the Minister of Justice Salima Sa A series of recommendations to raise awareness and improve support services for victims of both sexual and domestic violence. This includes increasing the number of hospitals where women can report incidents of sexual violence. He also made new announcements Hotline to help victims navigate Medical and legal procedures when reporting an assault.
In an interview, Sa said there would be one “Before and After” of the Pellicott CaseJust like the “before and after” of the Me Too movement
French survivors of sexual violence have argued that the Me Too movement has not affected French culture as much as it has in the United States. As Li Zhou of Vox wrote in September: “Following a series of revelations of sexual misconduct by major actors and directors, the Pellicot case is the latest to raise awareness of sexual abuse in France this year.”
Now, France seems to be in the midst of a revolution of its own. French director Christophe Rugia is currently on trial for allegations that he groomed and sexually assaulted Adele Hennel, a star of the 2019 film Portrait of the Lady in FireWhen she was a child. The trial began in December. Another sexual assault trial has begun against Gerard Depardieu, one of the country’s most famous actors. is set to begin in March After the suspension on the fall. Depardieu has been accused of assault by more than a dozen women.
An Account of Marital Rape in the United States
Although the Pellicott trial is sparking a cultural reckoning with sexual assault in the years after Me Too, the case in some ways echoes a reform movement that has been quietly taking place in the United States in recent years. French feminists have argued the country Proudly independent culture People are less exposed to the Me Too movement than in the US, which has a relatively more conservative culture. But in reality, the United States has also had to reckon with marital rape.
In the United States, Marital rape is expressly illegal in every state Since 1993, the product of a feminist activist movement that successfully pressured every state legislature to update their laws. But until recently, several states had exemptions that made it difficult to prosecute marital rape. In some cases, people cannot be charged if the person making the rape complaint is their spouse. In other cases, they were exempted if the person was disabled – if, for example, they were addicted to drugs.
In a case of haunting similarities to Pellicote, in 2017, a Minnesota woman named Jenny Tison discovered videos during her divorce from her then-husband that depicted him drugging and raping her unconscious. When Tison brought the evidence to the police, she was surprised that they could not arrest her because even though marital rape is illegal, a different state law covers a “Defense of Voluntary RelationshipsIt is prohibited to sue someone for rape if the complainant is their wife at the time. With the help of state lawmakers, Tison began advocating for reform of the Minnesota law, and in 2019, Governor Tim Walz signed a bill eliminating the voluntary relationship defense and outright outlawing marital rape.
At the time, according to the New York Times, most states were similar Errors that effectively legalized some forms of marital rape. As Tison raised awareness of the issue, other states have moved to reform their laws: Ohio closes its marital rape loophole Earlier this year.
Today, the loopholes have been closed in most states, but a few states remain Like MichiganWhere spouses cannot be sued if their partner is “mentally incapacitated” or under 16 years of age. Advocates who work with victims of sexual violence say removing exemptions that allow people to get away with spousal rape is important. A “defense should not exist based on just one relationship,” Jennifer Long, CEO Equitya nonprofit organization that helps develop strategies for prosecuting crimes of gender-based violence, told Vox in an email.
The questions raised by the Pellicott trial are not only relevant to France and the United States – and that is why the trial has become a major news story around the world. “It’s about time the patriarchal society that trivializes rape,” said Giselle Pellicott at the trial. His words resonated far beyond his country, pointing to the culture of violence that exists around the world.
