Gisèle Pelicot: How one woman shook attitudes to rape in France

The verdicts aren't yet in - but the trial has already started changing the conversations around consent in the country and beyond.

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Each morning, the queues began forming before dawn. Groups of women – always women – stood in the autumn chill on a pavement beside a busy ring road, outside Avignon's glass and concrete courthouse.

They came, day after day. Some brought flowers. All wanted to be in place to applaud Gisèle Pelicot as she walked, purposefully, up the steps and through the glass doors. Some dared to approach her.

A few shouted: "We're with you, Gisèle," and "Be brave."

Most then stayed on, hoping to secure seats in the courthouse's public overflow room from where they could watch proceedings on a television screen. They were there to bear witness to the courage of a grandmother, as she sat quietly in court, surrounded by dozens of her rapists.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd75v8eqz44o

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