The horrifying rape case roiling France, explained

A horrifying sexual assault case playing out in France is adding to a larger French reckoning over abuse toward women. 

The case centers on 71-year-old Dominique Pelicot, who is accused of drugging and raping his wife, Gisèle Pelicot, and inviting dozens of other men to sexually assault her while she was unconscious. Dominique Pelicot – who has confessed to raping his wife repeatedly over the course of a decade — is now on trial, along with 50 other defendants, who are also accused of sexual assault or attempted sexual assault. Some of these defendants have admitted guilt, while others have denied it. 

Although she had the option of a private trial, Gisèle Pelicot decided to make the proceedings public in order to support and raise awareness for other victims of similar crimes. “I speak for all women who are drugged and don’t know about it, I do it on behalf of all women who will perhaps never know,” Gisèle Pelicot said of her case. In total, police have used roughly 20,000 images her husband took of the assaults to determine that 72 men had been involved in raping her from 2011 to 2020. 

The Pelicot case is roiling France and comes as the country continues to grapple with accountability regarding sexual misconduct toward women. As the New York Times reported this spring, the #MeToo movement had previously stalled in France’s film industry, and has found new momentum this year after prominent actor and director Judith Godrèche spoke out. French writers and actors have also previously noted that the country’s attitudes toward sexual freedom have distinguished it from the US in how condemning sexual misconduct is treated. 

“French attitudes toward morality and sex have historically always been different to the US,” journalist Agnès Poirier previously told the BBC. “But it’s been brewing for years and it feels that 2024 is different.”

What the case is

Dominique Pelicot’s assaults on his wife were first discovered by police in November 2020, after he was initially investigated for taking photos up women’s skirts at a supermarket in southeastern France, where the couple lived. 

After he was caught taking the photos, police searched Pelicot’s computer and found a folder titled “Abuses” on a related USB drive. In it, they discovered thousands of photos and videos of Pelicot and other men raping his wife while she was unconscious. “My world fell apart,” Gisèle Pelicot said after police informed her of their discovery. 

The officers’ findings followed years of Gisèle Pelicot experiencing memory lapses, hair loss, and weight loss, so much so she feared that she might be developing Alzheimer’s or another serious illness. During that time, her husband had been drugging her regularly with a combination of medications, including the anti-anxiety drug Temesta, which can act like a sedative. 

While Gisèle Pelicot was unconscious, Dominique Pelicot invited a number of men to their home so that they could rape her. Gisèle Pelicot has emphasized that she did not have any knowledge of these attacks, and did not feign unconsciousness as some of the defendants have suggested. Dominique Pelicot found the men via a messaging board called “Without their knowledge” on the now-shuttered website Coco, which was known for postings that involved illegal activities. 

On the site, Dominique Pelicot solicited men to assault his wife, giving them specific instructions, including not wearing perfume or smoking, to avoid detection. The identities of these defendants haven’t been revealed, though authorities note that they range from the ages of 26 to 74, that many have partners, and that they come from a wide spectrum of backgrounds, including firefighters, journalists, and soldiers. 

In their search of his computer, police also found naked photos of Dominique and Gisèle Pelicot’s daughter, Caroline Darian. 

What’s happened so far

Gisèle Pelicot and Darian both took the stand last week, and offered harrowing testimony about the assaults. “Frankly, these are scenes of horror for me,” Gisèle Pelicot said of the videos and photos her husband took to document the rapes. “They treat me like a rag doll.”

Prior to learning of the attacks, Gisèle Pelicot had said that she had believed that she and her husband of roughly 50 years had been a close couple. Dominique Pelicot has admitted the abuse and also told a psychologist that he did it because Gisèle Pelicot had rejected swinging, or sleeping with other people outside their marriage. 

Gisèle Pelicot says the decision to release her identity and to speak publicly about the case was intended to show that survivors shouldn’t be ashamed of the abuse they’ve suffered. Handling the case anonymously is “what her attackers would have wanted,” her lawyers said. 

Darian also described the horror she felt upon learning what her father had done, calling him “the worst sexual predator of the last 20 years.” Both emphasized fears that they wouldn’t be able to regain any sense of stability or safety in relationships. “I no longer have an identity. … I don’t know if I’ll ever rebuild myself,” Gisèle Pelicot said. 

The defendants have been charged with aggravated rape or attempted rape, with many facing 20 years in prison if convicted. The trial is set to continue until December as the defendants make their testimony in groups. 

How the case factors into larger movements in France

The Pelicot case is just the latest to raise awareness of sexual abuses in France this year, after multiple cases of sexual misconduct by prominent actors and directors came to light. 

Since February, several high-profile French actresses, including Godrèche, have spoken about being sexually assaulted in their teens by film directors. Notably, Godrèche was invited to make remarks about this problem at the Cesar Awards, the French equivalent of the Oscars, and was received with a standing ovation. 

“After years in which the American #MeToo movement gained traction while in France it languished,” Rokhaya Diallo, a French journalist, wrote of Godrèche for The Washington Post, “this reception signaled that perhaps the larger culture here is finally ready to push back.”

Such shifts come as France has been more resistant to confronting sexual abuses in the same way the US has, with some French commentators dubbing the #MeToo movement the latest extension of puritanical American culture. 

But Godrèche’s speech and the Pelicot case, as well multiple allegations of sexual misconduct against famous French actor Gérard Depardieu, have put a new spotlight on the subject. Women’s rights advocates have also urged lawmakers to add the term “consent” into the legal definition of rape, a move that French President Emmanuel Macron has said he supports. Currently, French law defines rape as “an act of sexual penetration… committed on a person, with violence, coercion, threat, or surprise.”

“While there is still perhaps more skepticism in France than in the US about the legitimacy of sexual assault and sexual harassment, these attitudes are changing fast, especially as a younger generation of women and French feminists and their male allies … are willing to confront these issues head-on,” Laura Frader, a professor of history emerita at Northeastern University who studies gender attitudes in Europe, told Vox. “The Pelicot case is certain to contribute to this trend.”