Abuse: Pelicot: “I had to take this life back”

The Frenchwoman Gisèle Pelicot wants to meet her ex-husband and tormentor “at some point”. “I think I might not get any explanations or answers,” said the 73-year-old at the Frankfurt Book Fair. But that's part of her path. She hasn't spoken to him alone in years.

Gisèle Pelicot was repeatedly drugged, abused and offered to rape strangers by her then husband for almost ten years. In 2024 he was sentenced to 20 years in prison. The court sentenced 50 men, most of whom were also accused of serious rape, to prison terms of between 3 and 15 years.

“I lived as if under general anesthesia for many hours.”

She was almost unconscious for ten years. “I lived as if under general anesthesia for many hours and I had to recapture this life,” she said in Frankfurt.

Love has not left her and she can trust again. She didn't think she could fall in love again at her age, but "I met a wonderful man." And: “You really have to give yourself the right to love, because that is the most beautiful thing in life. But I’m also on guard.”

Gisèle Pelicot became a feminist role model in France thanks to her decisive demeanor and her decision not to conduct the trial behind closed doors. Her memoirs “A Hymn to Life” were published in February.

Why did she make the process public?

“I told myself that if I'm locked in the courtroom with these 50 rapists, then I'll be ashamed and they won't be. And I would like to emphasize that the victim should not be ashamed." The lawyers warned her that it would be very difficult. “And I told them it doesn’t matter, I’m going to see this through to the end,” Pelicot said to loud applause.

When asked what was going on with society, also with a view to the recently reported case of abuse at the US elite university Cornell, Pelicot said: She believes that we still live in a macho society. It is important that women take on more power and are less afraid.

Instill respect for women from an early age

And - she emphasizes: “We have to educate our children very early. You have to educate the little children, the boys. You have to show them that a woman is not an object, her girlfriend is not an object. You have to respect the woman.” Education must convey this.