In France, sentences have been handed down in the trial of Dominique Pelicot and 51 other men convicted of rape against Pelicot’s ex-wife, Gisèle. Dominique Pelicot had repeatedly and systematically drugged and facilitated the rape of Gisèle Pelicot, approaching other men online to visit their home and assault her over a period of 10 years. Pelicot waived anonymity and fought for a public trial in the historic case, a decision that shaped the public discourse on sexual violence and the prevalence of chemical submission and drug-assisted sexual assault. “We were all here to wait for Gisèle, but also we were all here for one another,” says Diane de Vignemont, a French journalist who reported on the Pelicot trial and found a “sisterhood” that formed among women attendees to the trial, many of whom shared their own experiences with sexual assault.

This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.

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