French mass rape case highlights a second wave of the #MeToo movement

A landmark mass rape trial in France has exposed abuse orchestrated by the victim's husband, and a culture that many activists say is sexist, tolerant of violence toward women and resistant to change.

PARIS — When France’s landmark mass rape trial began Sept. 2, the woman at its center appeared to shrink as she arrived at the stark courthouse in Avignon, her face hidden behind dark sunglasses and surrounded by a cordon of lawyers and loved ones.

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, eventually found her voice, bringing into the light not only the inconceivable abuse orchestrated by her husband, who was on Thursday sentenced to 20 years for drugging her and inviting dozens of men to rape her while she was unconscious, but a culture that many activists have called sexist, tolerant of violence toward women and resistant to change. 

Another 46 other men were found guilty of rape, two of attempted rape and two guilty of sexual assault. They ranged in age from 26 to 74 and were handed sentences from three to 13 years.

Many here say France will never be the same. How could it be, they ask, after so many supposedly ordinary men — among them a firefighter, a nurse, a journalist and a retired sports coach — were recorded committing unspeakable acts on a snoring grandmother.

Gisèle Pelicot.Laurent Coust / ABACA Press via Reuters“It brings us back to the idea of who we are as a society, for normal men to commit acts that are totally transgressive and criminal,” said feminist, lawyer and author Anne Bouillon. With domestic violence complaints in France doubling since 2016, she said, the Pelicot case highlights the fact that women are most at risk at home, threatened by partners.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/gisele-pelicot-france-mass-rape-rape-metoo-rcna184326


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