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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

Gisele Pelicot, utterly floored by this

382 replies

twoboystwodogs · 14/09/2024 16:55

I am totally stunned by what happened to Gisele Pelicot, it is beyond horrific. The violation, the betrayal of trust, and that so many 'normal' men thought what they were doing was OK. I am struggling to find words. I'm not wanting to belittle all the other horrendous cases of violence against women. But to be drugged in your own bed by your husband and your husband allow other men to come in and rape you and he films it and he puts it on the Internet and encourages other men to do this to their wives. For over 10 years. What the actual f###? How much more of this abuse are women going to have to take before something is really done to stop it?

BBC News - Women moved by defiant Gisèle Pelicot in France mass rape trial
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvg5g24rr6lo

Gisele Pelicot

Women in France moved by defiance of Gisèle Pelicot in mass rape trial

As her story has emerged, she has become a symbol of courage and resilience.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvg5g24rr6lo

OP posts:
Thread gallery
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EsmaCannonball · 15/09/2024 18:14

The word that keeps coming into my mind over this case is 'disquieting.' There's something deeply unsettling about women discovering that even in their own home, in their sleep, in the presence of their own husband they still cannot relax one moment of their vigilance against rape and exploitation. It's men letting women know there is nowhere for women to be safe and undefiled. It's the fact that this woman was walking amongst men who had enacted their contempt upon her and that her obliviousness was turning her every possible ordinary interaction with the men who had done this (or watched it or encouraged it) into a further act of humiliation. The ability of men to reduce a woman's entire humanity into pornography is just so bleak but unsurprising.

twoboystwodogs · 15/09/2024 17:59

StickItInTheFamilyAlbum · 15/09/2024 14:25

It makes me look at all men so differently. Does this go on near me?

Was it James Cleverly (currently a candidate for the Conservative leadership contest) who made the crack about rohypnol?

Why, yes it was.

Cleverly told guests at a Downing Street reception that “a little bit of Rohypnol in her drink every night” was “not really illegal if it’s only a little bit”, the Sunday Mirror reported.
He also laughed that the secret to a long marriage was making sure your spouse was “someone who is always mildly sedated so she can never realise there are better men out there”.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/dec/24/james-cleverly-facing-calls-to-resign-after-joke-about-date-drug

After so many "in plain sight" scandals, it's increasingly harder to distinguish between what is intended to be wretched humour or a confession made in a culture of impunity.

It just gets worse and worse. How are we ever going to get change with people like this in power?

OP posts:
DreamHolidays · 15/09/2024 17:51

@IwantToRetire another interesting reaction has been the one from PornH* who had to put a block on ‘sleeping woman’ as a search term. And delete all the videos around that I believe.

Once again, the knew very well those women didn’t consent.
They knew and still used them.

But porn is all fine because these are consenting women yes?

Not going into the fact men read the news and then thought it would be exciting to go and watch some. Fathers, husbands, partners. Well respected members of the society who wouldn’t hurt anyone 🤮🤮🤮🤮

DreamHolidays · 15/09/2024 17:47

DOBARDAN · 15/09/2024 17:40

I fear this will be the outcome too.

As for the 3 out of 10 men who didn't say yes to the set up but never reported it, maybe they didn't say yes (or report it) because they were busy raping elsewhere.

Oh yes, esp seeing the name of the website they used…..

DOBARDAN · 15/09/2024 17:40

DreamHolidays · 15/09/2024 16:49

The story itself is awful.
But I’m more repulsed by the men, their answer to it (It wasn’t rape, I thought I had her consent because her dh said so etc….).

Ive been following the trial closely (French journalists and reports). I’m going to bet many of them will walk scotch free. In part due to the French law and the definition of rape
eg a guy, (another case btw) well known and respected, raped 4 young men after making them drink to excess. He walked free because the men didn’t say they didn’t want the sex. They were sleeping and drunk….

Plus it’s the fact that out of 10 men who contact ted him, 7 said Yes to the set up. The other 3 said No but never reported it. Men protecting men,

I fear this will be the outcome too.

As for the 3 out of 10 men who didn't say yes to the set up but never reported it, maybe they didn't say yes (or report it) because they were busy raping elsewhere.

summershere99 · 15/09/2024 17:32

It's horrific. And I'm also appalled at the comments from French men who've been asked about their thoughts on the case - as PP said, they basically don't give a shit. And that explains A. Lot.

Giselle deserves to never have to interact with another man again - unless she expressly chooses too.

IwantToRetire · 15/09/2024 17:21

Another point which some newspaper have covered that there is evidence he was leading up to exploiting his daughter as he had taken nude photos of her.

And not sure of the details (which are going to be more grossness) is that he was also said to be taking an interest in his daughter in law.

And that's the other aspect, once it becomes "normal" men like this just want to push any boundaries they might have even further.

IwantToRetire · 15/09/2024 17:16

Someone asked up thread why did he film it.

Because for him a large part was the sharing of porn on the internet.

I have no doubt that extreme abuse of women had gone on since whenever.

But what is happening now is that some of the quite weak social norms that a supposedly more educated society are being erased by porn being freely available (and a money maker) so men who might have thought this isn't acceptable now take it to be the norm.

In other words, with the internet which began as an unregulated space, the first thing that happened was the sharing of porn. (There's now quite an old story but the first computer network created between 2 colleges was done not for any educational purpose but to share porn.)

So not sure that all the men were local, as the porn share online group was far wider.

DreamHolidays · 15/09/2024 16:52

The other thing that makes me sick is the pushback from men in France when women say ‘this and that happened to me too’.

NotAllMen bollocks because how awful they feel that someone might think THEY could be like that.
Never mind that most women act like they are put of preservation and know to only relax their guard with people they know (and we know even that isn’t enough….)

DreamHolidays · 15/09/2024 16:49

The story itself is awful.
But I’m more repulsed by the men, their answer to it (It wasn’t rape, I thought I had her consent because her dh said so etc….).

Ive been following the trial closely (French journalists and reports). I’m going to bet many of them will walk scotch free. In part due to the French law and the definition of rape
eg a guy, (another case btw) well known and respected, raped 4 young men after making them drink to excess. He walked free because the men didn’t say they didn’t want the sex. They were sleeping and drunk….

Plus it’s the fact that out of 10 men who contact ted him, 7 said Yes to the set up. The other 3 said No but never reported it. Men protecting men,

VoodooQualities · 15/09/2024 16:45

Honestly, I do believe that women being raped by men is the default state for our species. And it's only due to the threat of discovery, prosecution, societal pressure etc., that stops men from doing it all the time.

I know it's not the done thing to say this but we should be grateful for living in these times because I think women's lives get progressively more awful the further back in time you go.

mardirousse · 15/09/2024 16:23

Rachelsthorns · 15/09/2024 14:18

The police found explicit photographs of me that my ex took while I slept.
They are tracing to see if he sold them to porn sites or passed them on.
I don't remember the photos being taken. I do remember waking up some mornings with a splitting headache. He always made me a warm drink last thing at night.
They said it's more common than you'd think.

It's nothing compared to what Gisele has been through, but I'm not surprised so many men thought they could get away with this.

That is sickening, absolutely horrendous. I hope he pays for what he did to you.

StickItInTheFamilyAlbum · 15/09/2024 16:16

People just love to defend men at the mere mention of VAWG. So, so depressing.

Humankind cannot bear very much reality.

But this is what makes it difficult to think we're ever going to be able to have the conversations we need to bring out the necessary reforms and reconstruction of our society.

misscockerspaniel · 15/09/2024 16:13

Rightsraptor · 15/09/2024 08:12

It slightly reminds me of a case in the UK, maybe in the 1970s, known as Morgan vs Morgan, where the husband told other men that his wife liked it rough, so to pay no attention when she fought and screamed.

They duly did pay no attention to her protests.

I didn't know of this case, so looked it up - this is the wiki page for DPP v Morgan [1975] HL (I wouldn't normally cite wiki but this is a concise account). We think we have come a long way from this type of mindset (both that of the Courts and of society in general) and then are shocked to discover that whilst the law has moved on, many men have not.

DPP v Morgan - Wikipedia

DPP v Morgan - Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DPP_v_Morgan

AccidentallyWesAnderson · 15/09/2024 16:08

StellaGreen · 15/09/2024 15:58

OMG I didn't see any women defending him? Where?

If it’s the one I’m thinking about I don’t think
it was him specifically, but very quickly the NAMALTS and not my Nigel’s came out, like every other thread where male violence against women gets discussed.

When it was pointed out that not all males were rapists but all rapists were men, one poster (woman apparently) decided that pointing out that women are just as bad and can rape too was entirely appropriate on a thread discussing the rape of this woman by 80 (at least) men. They never seem to start their own threads though about violence against men.

People just love to defend men at the mere mention of VAWG. So, so depressing.

YellowphantGrey · 15/09/2024 16:03

StellaGreen · 15/09/2024 15:58

OMG I didn't see any women defending him? Where?

There was a post started on aibu I think, after it hit the news.

There were women on there saying women are just as bad as men, that they had only ever been assaulted and attacked by women

There's was plenty of not all men and you must just hate men.

A lot of them are currently on the thread about why men don't consider women's safety and saying that women don't have to consider their safety when out at night but men do and that feminists just want to control women

StellaGreen · 15/09/2024 15:58

YellowphantGrey · 15/09/2024 15:49

There's literally no words, I don't even know how I feel, angry doesn't even come close.

Aisde from that I've also found the way she was treated in court abhorrent along with how many women on here were eager to defend her husband and insist women are just as bad.

It blows my mind that women continue to defend and excuse men

OMG I didn't see any women defending him? Where?

NPET · 15/09/2024 15:57

BloodyHellBob · 14/09/2024 18:52

@LittleGreenDuck exactly. It beggars belief that so many men actually think that women would be ok with being drugged by their significant other and then raped. This case honestly makes me look at men differently.

This suggests that you LIKED men before?

YellowphantGrey · 15/09/2024 15:49

There's literally no words, I don't even know how I feel, angry doesn't even come close.

Aisde from that I've also found the way she was treated in court abhorrent along with how many women on here were eager to defend her husband and insist women are just as bad.

It blows my mind that women continue to defend and excuse men

lcakethereforeIam · 15/09/2024 15:30

It ties in with women and girls who have been trafficked or otherwise forced into prostitution. All the men who use them...all of them rapists.

MeowCatPleaseMeowBack · 15/09/2024 14:37

turbonerd · 14/09/2024 22:08

Yes, I wrote this on the other thread.

A population of 6000, half if which are male. Say a Third of the males are children.
So in this case at least 80 out of 2000 -ish men thought raping this unconscious woman was absolutely fine and dandy + that they would Get away with it. So in only this case 4% of the local male population were happy to rape.
AT LEAST 4%, since sadly GP probably wasn’t the only one being abused in the community.

That is just too many men.

That maths doesn't make any sense though. The real statistic is that he invited approximately 85 men to rape his wife, 80 did it and 5 refused. That's 94% of men that happily engaged in rape when they thought there would be no comeback.

Bodeganights · 15/09/2024 14:35

turbonerd · 14/09/2024 22:08

Yes, I wrote this on the other thread.

A population of 6000, half if which are male. Say a Third of the males are children.
So in this case at least 80 out of 2000 -ish men thought raping this unconscious woman was absolutely fine and dandy + that they would Get away with it. So in only this case 4% of the local male population were happy to rape.
AT LEAST 4%, since sadly GP probably wasn’t the only one being abused in the community.

That is just too many men.

Also not all the men who raped her were as yet identified.
So here we are talking about 80 men, given the time of 10 years plus, I reckon its into hundreds.

How many who didnt rape her only because they didnt know how to find the videos the husband uploaded? Yet if they had found the offer to rape a drugged woman, most certainly would have.
Is it going to be a different court case for the daughter and daughter in law?
If anyone knows.

StickItInTheFamilyAlbum · 15/09/2024 14:25

It makes me look at all men so differently. Does this go on near me?

Was it James Cleverly (currently a candidate for the Conservative leadership contest) who made the crack about rohypnol?

Why, yes it was.

Cleverly told guests at a Downing Street reception that “a little bit of Rohypnol in her drink every night” was “not really illegal if it’s only a little bit”, the Sunday Mirror reported.
He also laughed that the secret to a long marriage was making sure your spouse was “someone who is always mildly sedated so she can never realise there are better men out there”.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/dec/24/james-cleverly-facing-calls-to-resign-after-joke-about-date-drug

After so many "in plain sight" scandals, it's increasingly harder to distinguish between what is intended to be wretched humour or a confession made in a culture of impunity.

James Cleverly facing calls to resign after joke about date rape drug

Home secretary has apologised for remark at Downing Street reception about spiking his wife’s drink

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/dec/24/james-cleverly-facing-calls-to-resign-after-joke-about-date-drug

twoboystwodogs · 15/09/2024 14:19

Surf2Live · 15/09/2024 11:13

Porn is the biggest sector of the internet and men are the majority consumers, and amongst regular consumers men dominate even more.

Demand drives supply. Online porn is increasingly violent and degrading to women. It's addictive and men learn sex is abusive and women watching this porn learn to perform for male pleasure. I truly believe online porn is driving an epidemic of MVAWAG. Those in power don't want to do anything about it because most of them use it and like it.

The men in this case were IMO highly likely to be porn sick, and the internet facilitated the abuse to happen.

I'm finding it difficult to articulate how exactly this particular case has changed my attitude to men around me when I go outside. I find myself unwilling now to interact with them, I avoid them all whenever possible. I do not trust any of them.

If this level of abuse happened to an elderly woman by her husband of over 50 years whom she trusted, then it can happen to any one of us at any time. The number of men involved, none of whom thought to report to police, is chilling.

I think a large portion of men view women as service animals and walking orifices for their use. Not as actual full human beings. Some hate us, too many simply have no regard for us. To move through public spaces with a female body and this knowledge I am finding extremely difficult.

I'm finding the silence from politicians and so many men with wide audiences chilling tbh.

I just do not know where we as women can go from here. I feel like we need a revolution.

So well said, see my previous post - I am seeing all men in a new light

OP posts:
Rachelsthorns · 15/09/2024 14:18

The police found explicit photographs of me that my ex took while I slept.
They are tracing to see if he sold them to porn sites or passed them on.
I don't remember the photos being taken. I do remember waking up some mornings with a splitting headache. He always made me a warm drink last thing at night.
They said it's more common than you'd think.

It's nothing compared to what Gisele has been through, but I'm not surprised so many men thought they could get away with this.