How an ordinary woman shook attitudes to rape

A ROADMAP FOR MEN | 'LET'S STOP THINKING THERE IS A MASCULINE NATURE THAT JUSTIFIES OUR BEHAVIOUR'

- Agencies

The Gisèle Pelicot case has had a significant impact on French society, sparking a national conversation about sexual violence and drug-facilitated assault. Pelicot's courage in speaking out and the severity of the crimes committed against her have led to increased awareness of these issues and a renewed focus on supporting victims.

As France digests the implications of its largest rape trial, which is due to end this week, it's clear that many French women—and not just those at the courthouse in Avignon—are pondering two fundamental questions.

The first question is visceral. What might it say about French men—some would say all men—that 50 of them, in one small, rural neighborhood, were apparently willing to accept a casual invitation to have sex with an unknown woman as she lay, unconscious, in a stranger's bedroom?

The second question emerges from the first: how far will this trial go in helping to tackle an epidemic of sexual violence and of drug-facilitated rape, and in challenging deeply held prejudices and ignorance about shame and consent?

Put simply, will Gisèle Pelicot's courageous stand and her determination—as she has put it, to make "shame swap sides" from the victim to the rapist—change anything?