Campaigners hoping for exemplary prison terms
Campaigners against sexual violence are hoping for exemplary prison terms and view the trial as a possible turning point in the fight against rape culture and the use of drugs to subdue victims.
Gisele Pelicot’s courage in waiving her right to anonymity as a survivor of sexual abuse and successfully pushing for the hearings and shocking evidence – including videos – to be heard in open court have fueled conversations both on a national level in France and among families, couples and groups of friends about how to better protect women and the role that men can play in pursuing that goal.
“Men are starting to talk to women – their girlfriends, mothers and friends – in ways they hadn’t before,” said Fanny Foures, 48, who joined other women from the feminist group Les Amazones in gluing messages of support for Gisele Pelicot on walls around Avignon before the verdict. It was awkward at first, but now real dialogues are happening,” she said.
“Some women are realizing, maybe for the first time, that their ex-husbands violated them, or that someone close to them committed abuse,” Foures added. “And men are starting to reckon with their own behavior or complicity – things they’ve ignored or failed to act on. It’s heavy, but it’s creating change.”
