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Gisèle Pelicot waived anonymity to make public the trial of her former husband and the 50 men accused of joining him in raping her. Her poise and courage have made her an icon.
Sept. 25, 2024, 5:12 a.m. ET
Each morning, when Gisèle Pelicot arrives at the courthouse, dozens of supporters, mainly women, are already there, waiting for her. When she leaves each night, they line her path to applaud and cheer.
Many call her “Gisèle,” as if they know her, though few do personally. In her chic image, they see themselves, their mothers, their grandmothers. They come to the court in the southern French city of Avignon and wait for hours to support her.
“I don’t know how she does it — her dignity,” said Catherine Armand, 62, who arrived an hour and a half before proceedings one recent morning to be first in line for a coveted place in a room in the courthouse where the trial was being broadcast.
“I admire this woman,” she added. “She is exceptional.”
In the three weeks since the rape trial against her former husband and 50 other defendants began, Ms. Pelicot has become a feminist hero in France. Her face, framed by her red Anna Wintour bob and tan sunglasses, appears on nightly TV newscasts, the front pages of newspapers, graffitied walls and signs held up by protesters around the country.
Feminist activists and writers have penned open letters to her that have been published in newspapers and read on the radio.
They laud her courage, her strength, her dignity in confronting her horrifying story. They also praise her rare decision to fling open the doors onto her intimate hell and to insist that the trial be made public, when it could have stayed behind closed doors. Many victims feel she speaks for them.
