Gisele Pelicot

[losingweightandgainingconfidence]

There are no words for this woman's astounding bravery and courage. Watching Sky news this morning with a lump in my throat and tears in my eyes, because she's finally getting justice.

One was 3 years.
Another isn't on prison due to medical issues

I cried watching her walk into Court, what a thing she has achieved. And credit to her Lawyers too. Thank goodness they overcame all the despicable attempts to get the rapists off. Shame has swapped sides.

I don’t know how the French system works so can't comment on whether they're low or high

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c785nm5g5y1o. List of the sentences - as far as I can tell, it is being updated.

BBC saying that they think all defendants bar Dominique got lower sentences than asked for.

I'm pretty tough, but I have found the reports almost impossible to read.
Gisele Pelicot is not just Woman of the Year, but Person of the Year. She is amazing.

I'm amazed by those sentences.

Brava Gisele

I want to see the ‘not all men’ percentage in that area. Because it was a fuck ton of men.

And I pray Giselle stays healthy admitted the trial. I fear for her, now this part is over. She has a long recovery ahead of her and is probably running on adrenaline at the moment.

Fighting back tears at this amazing woman. Sentences too low IMO,but her dignity and courage surpasses everything.

A thought too for the families of the bastards who took part in this. The shame by association is not their fault.

It's so frustrating that the sentences are almost all lower than the prosecution asked for. Steps forward and steps backwards.

I’m relieved to find a thread about this today as I had, not a row exactly, but strong words with my dh about this case this morning.

We were discussing the case as he works in the judicial system and he was appalled of course and disgusted by the crimes of these men. But as he was leaving he said, these men are all very strange perverts.

And I had to point out to him that while the main perpetrator, Dominique Pelicot, would indeed fit that description, the judge called the men who were his customers; “Mr Everyman” and included a former fire chief, a naval fireman, a builder, a male nurse, a motorcycle mechanic, an odd job man, a supermarket worker, a painter and decorator, many of whom are indeed your average Joe who you could be inviting in to your home or with whom you could be alone in very vulnerable circumstances eg in hospital.

One of the key bits of information being that these men, initially came in to contact with Pelicot via a truly hideous website for voyeurs called “without her knowledge” . I mean, if ever there was more plain indication of a serious crime being committed, it’s that! And yet they all protested their innocence loudly.

And of course the perpetrator himself had managed to sustain a supposedly happy 50 year marriage and had three children and seven grandchildren. At the age of 72, Gisele Pelicot might have been forgiven for thinking that she was comfortable and safe in her life, yet nothing could be further from the truth. A monstrous sexual offender was hiding in plain sight in her own home.

So despite being someone who is not of the “all men are bad” mindset, it really does give you pause for thought. If the “opportunity” to rape is provided for them, how would most men react?

When are women ever truly safe? And who in the government is talking about this and working to make it happen? Why is the policing and punishment of sex crimes so under-resourced?

The other thing that screams out of the case to me is that this Dominique Pelicot was only caught because he was discovered upskirting in a supermarket. So please, please can we treat crimes like flashing and upskirting with a degree of seriousness now? We do not need any more proof, along with the case of Wayne Cousins, to know that they are often lead to escalating sexual crimes, ie rape and murder.

One man thought that he didn't need her consent as her husband said it was ok. This tells you all you need to know about the male mindset here in France. The hope is that Gisele Pelicots incredible bravery will result in a change in French law that will take into account the importance of consent. Currently French criminal law defines rape as any sexual act committed by violence, coercion, threat or surprise, with no mention of consent.

She is a hero-shes someone I want my dd's and gd to look up to for her sheer strength and bravery

She walked in with her head held high and these cowards where covered up and cowering

These 'men' have come up with some stupid excuses

Some (if not all) don't see themselves as rapists-after all,a 'real' rapist will follow a woman down the street,after dark and pounce on a woman or have a 'bit of harmless sex and she'll cry rape afterwards if she didn't enjoy it'

(I've heard both to justify their actions-in fact my rapist used the latter after denying hed come anywhere near me and it seemed to be accepted,even though there was dna and other proof and he was found not guilty-he certainly doesnt see himself as one)

In their eyes,they had 'permission',she was married to her husband who gave it for her,like she was his property

'Shame has switched sides' so bloody true

She's a heroine for every single woman

Not all men?but its always men

I hope this isn't brushed away and attitudes and laws change-they certainly need to be tightened

I cried massive tears while watching a documentary a few days ago-shes such a brave woman and I hope she sees the support she's getting online

No, but some of their reactions have been puzzling. One of the convicted men has a partner with a 15 month old child with him, and the partner has said she's standing by him 😮

I want to see a piece of investigative journalsm sharing how many people accessed athat website , how many people posted messages, how many other sites there are that invite such a conversation, how many websites there are where men share images of woman, how many people access these websites. Let's see the real picture of how many men...

I agree with @Wheelsupinthirty . I have said over and over again to people I know, male and female, it's not "just" a pinch on the arse, or saying a filthy joke or simulating a sex act. It's the start, or by-product, of something much, much worse. These men are disgusting. I hope police services in the UK take note, that yes, an upskirting video can lead you to a serial rapist.

Some years ago my friend's husband was arrested for a terrible crime (although very different). She initially stood by him, made excuses for him, talked about a future with him. It was painful to see, but then came her dawning realisation and change towards him as she realised that he was not the person she thought him to be. They divorced and some time later she met someone else. Maybe the wife in this case is going through something similar, let us hope for the child's sake she gets away.

Just watching a woman on bbc news. She's the daughter of one of the men, and she's saying "he thought she consented. He was tricked by Pelicot"

Give me a fucking break.

Just watching a woman on bbc news. She's the daughter of one of the men, and she's saying "he thought she consented. He was tricked by Pelicot" Give me a fucking break.

Not to make excuses for this but I can't imagine the earth shattering experience of finding out your husband or dad had done something like this. This smacks of someone who is in complete denial.

Good, sounds like he'll never be out of prison with a sentence like that (unless they let him out after half).

I'm just reading through all the names and crimes of the men who did this. The details are just despicable. The one who raped her despite knowing he was HIV positive but said "the husband's consent is enough" really got me. I'm glad he got a longer sentence than a lot of the others (he got 15 years). I hope every last one of these evil bastards have a truly awful time in prison.

Reading through it all really brings it home what a range of men across society would do this if given the chance.

I don't think Mr. Pelicot is going to do so well in prison if he gets locked up with the others.

I wonder if there is a way that Mumsnet could write to her or her lawyers to say that this network of UK women wholeheartedly thanks her for her bravery on behalf of all women everywhere. I'm sure she's getting lots of individual communications but Mumsnet would represent much larger numbers.

I love this idea.

@Wheelsupinthirty
Excellent post 👏

Let's hope them men have fun in prison ! Dirty bastards