Today is Thursday, December 19, 2024. Today my blog takes you across the pond, this time to the land of Notre-Dame and the Champs-Elysées, to the town of Avignon where a supercharged trial has upended French society and prompted some deep soul-searching about sexuel violence and consent: the Pelicot mass rape case. You might ask, “what is this?” if you haven’t heard of it before. This gruesome case received full coverage in an online CNN analysis by Saskya Vandoorne entitled “France’s landmark mass rape trial is over. But the Pelicot case demonstrates that systemic violence against women runs deep.”

At the epicenter of the trial were 51 men, all who lived within a 30-mile radius of one another. At the center of the trial was Dominique Pelicot, married to the victim, Gisele, who drugged and invited those strangers to assault and rape his then-wife, Gisele, for over a decade. Just reading about the details of this case makes one wonder and shrug one’s head in total disbelief! And to find out that this outrageous situation didn’t occur right here in the United States which also has a big problem with misogyny. Just witness the last election as proof of this.

In this small province, forty-nine of the men were convicted of rape. Two were convicted of sexual assault. Four of the men were also convicted for possessing child sex abuse imagery.

The men were dubbed “Monsieur-Tout-Le-Monde,” or “Mr. Everyman,” as they’ve come to be called – not career criminals. The males, aged 26 to 74, worked in various jobs like nursing, the military, journalism, and in the prison system.

The stark horror of the crimes, coupled with the idea that they were carried out by “Mr. Everyman,” has pushed forward a national conversation on the normalization of sexual assault.

The husband, or architect of this terrible crime, Dominique, was sentenced to 20 years in prison, the maximum for his transgression. The other men received jail terms of between three and 15 years. Some, meanwhile, have walked free after completing suspended sentences.

Many onlookers feel the sentences were not even harsh enough, that they do not take into consideration the magnitude of the crime. And despite the prison sentences, without any concrete changes, the women of Mazan – the southern French village where the crimes occurred – say they could still happen tomorrow.

The victim here, Gisele Pelicot, hoped that by waiving her anonymity – and therefore opening the trial to the public – she would help to change rape culture, however painful it was to watch the harrowing evidence of her long-term abuse at the hands of her own husband and 50 other strangers.

Talking about Gisele’s choice here to make the trial public, Sarah McGrath of Women for Women France told CNN, “It was a choice to make it public. And she’s done that in service of other women.”

It was that service, courage, and defiance that transformed her into a feminist hero, one who is determined to make “shame change sides.”

In light of this trial’s outcome, data show that survivors of sexual violence don’t tend to come forward in France. Only 10 percent of rape victims even report the crime to the justice system. And of those reports, only 1 to 4 percent end up with a conviction, McGrath said.

Gisele Pelicot has now inspired these very victims to come forward and push for change. This very important trial has spurred people across France to be introspective and to consider what constitutes consent. The trial has forced people to discuss rape culture and how to change it.

Women’s rights activists are riding the wave of Gisele’s call to action – and optimism.

As she left the courthouse today, she said that the trial showed to her that a “future where women and men can live in harmony and mutual respect” is in fact achievable.

Now it’s up to France to seize this moment and make it a reality.

Sorry about my not reporting on things here in the United States. I’m just disgusted with the news these days, as you all can figure out why. I’m hearing terrible things now about the outsized influence this South African, Elon Musk, has on the new president of the United States and that he’s interfered in these House discussions to keep the government open, and now it seems that it could be a fucking reality tomorrow if Congress cannot pass a stopgap spending bill in time. Just in time for the fucking holiday, everyone! What a joke these repugnicans are and Musk is now being called the real president. Hey, I didn’t know that Musk’s name was on the ballot this November, did you? Even more fucking ridiculous! Boy, did we screw ourselves by voting this bastard back in. It’s already appalling now before he even gets inaugurated next month. I don’t know how we will ever survive his second term!

And so it went!