After the Pelicot verdict: what needs to change?
In the Avignon rape trial, the main defendant Dominique Pelicot has been sentenced to 20 years in prison. Over a period of 10 years he drugged his former wife Gisèle Pelicot on a regular basis and offered her for rape to strangers on the Internet. Through video recordings 50 of these men were identified and tried, almost all of whom were also given harsh sentences. A glance at Europe's opinion pages shows why the case cannot be forgotten now.
It's the perpetrators who should be ashamed
The trial marks an important turning point for society, author Nicoletta Verna explains in La Stampa:
“With its clear simplicity, the symbolic sentence of Gisèle Pelicot and this trial - 'It is not I who should be ashamed, it is they' - opens up a gigantic topic that has never been seriously addressed and is not even remotely settled: the shame and sense of self-annihilation that rape victims feel. The first reaction to shame is the desire to disappear, to evade the gaze of others. Gisèle Pelicot, on the other hand, is exposing herself to the eyes of the world. ... She does not hide. While her husband declares that he hopes to soon be forgotten, she wants to be remembered. And her courage has become a collective legacy.”
Give the countless anonymous victims a face
The huge number of unreported cases must force France to act, demands eldiario.es:
“A woman is raped every two minutes in France. But only six percent of victims press charges. And only 0.6 percent of these cases lead to a conviction, according to the French Observatory of Violence against Women's data from 2020 and 2021. ... Gisèle Pelicot is the name and face of a story that has acted as a catalyst for a malaise, a protest, a demand: that France must update its policies against male violence, its statistics, its resources, its prejudices, its understanding of sexual violence. ... Gisèle Pelicot said after her ex-husband was convicted of rape: 'I think of the unrecognised victims, we share the same struggle.'”
Still stuck in feudal times
Polityka writes:
“In the eyes of many of the defendants, the husband's consent seemed to settle the matter of the wife's consent. The 'Messieurs Everyone' (Messieurs Tout-le-monde, as they were christened by Agence France-Presse) unthinkingly reproduced feudal stereotypes according to which the wife was something like the husband's property. Marital rape was only criminalised in France with the famous reform of 1980. In Poland, punishment for this crime was introduced earlier, after the Second World War, but that does not mean that the police or prosecutors are keeping track of the problem.”
"Yes means yes" would sharpen focus
Tagesspiegel seeks boundaries:
“One such boundary could be 'yes means yes', which requires explicit consent before sex. Figuratively speaking, the woman would have to sit awake on the edge of the bed and say yes before it comes to the actual act. In Germany, the principle of 'no means no' has applied since 2017, which - similar to the much-discussed objection solution for organ donation - presupposes consent in the first instance, which can be actively objected to in the opposite case. ... For many other people, a 'yes means yes' rule would possibly sharpen the focus on an interpersonal act whose fundamental ordinariness could quickly become a maximum offence under minimally changed conditions.”
Recognise the perpetrator for what they are
Far from being asocial types, many sex offenders come across as normal members of society, the Salzburger Nachrichten points out:
“The trial has also mercilessly done away with the image of the perpetrator. He does not necessarily live on the fringes of society. He is often in the middle of it, present within his family and his circle of friends and involved in his community - and in every respect a ordinary father, colleague, and acquaintance. 'He's not a rapist,' witnesses in the Pelicot trial said about some perpetrators. Yes, they are! That's exactly what they are.”
We must all act now
Le Temps calls on society to follow Gisèle Pelicot's example:
“Everyone must recognise that we can only make progress together. ... That means educating our children in matters of unconditional respect and mutual consent. It means having the good sense to ask ourselves if we have ever behaved inappropriately, and taking responsibility for it. ... It means having the finesse to uncouple the fight against sexual violence from the futile debate between 'progressives' and 'reactionaries'. And it means having the courage to take action according to our possibilities - from the political stage to police stations, from courtrooms to our marriage beds. Even when it is uncomfortable, destabilising or criticised. Gisèle Pelicot took action. Now we must prove that we can do it too.”