Gisele Pelicot showed that a woman who stands up can change the world

What does the ultimate feminist icon look like in 2024? Is she an influencer or a politician, an athlete or a pop star, conspicuously living her best life on stage and on social media?

In truth, she is none of those things. To see what a truly powerful frontrunner looks like, we must turn our attention to the courtroom of the sleepy French provincial town of Avignon. Here stands an absolutely extraordinary woman in her 70s who never sought fame, but whose courage and dignity could change the world.

Gisèle Pélicot is 72 years old, elegant and confident, with an impeccable bob and the dressing sense of a Parisian. A wife, mother of three and grandmother of seven, she lived quietly with Dominique – who… in the village of Mazan in southeastern France. She described the person on the witness stand as “a kind, caring man… in whom I had complete trust.”

After 50 years of marriage, they knew each other better than any other couple. She supported him with his worries about work. He supported her through health problems and the mysterious gynecological problems that had plagued her for a decade.

But these memories have long since been destroyed. Her husband is now on trial for drugging and raping her and inviting dozens of other men to rape her while she was heavily sedated.

Dominique, who made and stored videos of the abuse over a period of 10 years – from 2011 to 2020 – has admitted putting sleeping pills and other drugs in the food he cooked for his wife and recruiting men online to rape her.

The chronic health problems Ms. Pélicot suffered were related to the medication and the rapes. We cannot begin to comprehend the extent of their horror, their sense of betrayal and their sheer disgust. At one point she described herself as “completely destroyed” and said she needed to start rebuilding herself.

But every day in court, the world witnessed her begin to do just that, taking back control. She waived anonymity. She requested an open trial. She agreed to release videos of the alleged rapes. Most days she appeared with her head held high – and this week she took the witness stand.

“I’ve been told that I’m brave. “It doesn’t mean being brave, but having the will and determination to change society,” she said. “That's why I come here every day… Even when I hear unspeakable things…

“I want all women who have been raped to say, 'Madame Pelicot did it, I can do it too.' I don't want them to be embarrassed any longer. It’s not our job to feel shame – it’s their job.”

Along with her ex-husband – whom she divorced in 2021 – fifty other men, including a nurse, a journalist, a local councilor, a soldier and farm workers, face up to 20 years in prison if found guilty. Some have admitted to rape, some have apologized to her in court, others claim they committed no crime because they thought they were taking part in a game and had no idea she was unconscious.

The process is expected to last four months. Ms. Pélicot will be there until the end and will look every defendant in the eye. And every evening she is greeted outside the courtroom by grateful women carrying flowers because they too believe that “shame must change sides.”