Will Gisèle Pelicot’s trial change how we talk about sexual abuse?

Warning: this video contains discussions of sexual abuse and rape
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“It’s time that the macho, patriarchal society that trivialises rape changes”. This is what Gisèle Pelicot, whose ex-husband, Dominique Pelicot, has admitted drugging her and inviting men to rape her for more than a decade, said in her final statement to the criminal court in Avignon, where he and 51 other men have been standing trial.

The trial, which has been considered one of the most horrific France has ever seen, comes to a close this week, with French prosecutors demanding that Dominique Pelicot be jailed for 20 years, the maximum available sentence,

“I think that this case should help us understand how common rape is and how deep-rooted [rape] culture is,” says Guardian columnist Rokhaya Diallo – who says that Gisèle’s brave choice to waive her anonymity to force a debate on rape culture, according to her lawyers, has helped her be “the voice of the victims who do not have such an opportunity to have global attention to them”.

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, has become a feminist hero after insisting that the rape trial of her ex-husband and the other men be held in public. “It’s not for us to have shame, it’s for them,” she said to the court during the trial.

The case has caused outrage in France, where activists have called for changes to the country’s rape law to explicitly include consent for the first time.

But, says Rokhaya Diallo, while this case is exceptional in its scale, the issues it draws attention to are bigger than just one country.

“Male violence is endemic, it’s systemic,” says Diallo.

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