after the Pelicot trial, speech is freed

After following this extraordinary trial for almost four months, we wanted to understand how this Mazan rape affair shook the country, shook up society, and freed speech. “Regional investigations” delivers the testimony of people intimately touched by this story.

On September 2, the day the trial opened, the French discovered the horror. The one experienced by a woman, Gisèle Pelicot. Raped and drugged for almost ten years by her husband who handed her over to strangers recruited on the internet.

From her first speech, this septuagenarian surprised the planet. By refusing to go behind closed doors, Gisèle Pelicot held a mirror up to society. It awakened a collective memory, a need to speak. From Mazan to Marseille, via Avignon, we met women and men who were deeply affected by this affair.

In the little Chape alley, from 1^is district of Marseille, a song resonates. “CAnction without Fear », a song without fear in French. The Tutte Quante choir rehearses with energy, because soon, it will sing under the windows of the Avignon court.

“A small sign of solidarity” for Gisèle Pelicot, explains Lise Massal, the head chef. Tutte Quante is a women’s choir. Their repertoire, popular songs written by or for women, often invisible in oral transmission.

“We imagine that a woman must sing in a pretty, polished manner. Tutte Quante seeks power of expression. We are women and we sing loudly“, explains Lise.

We echo these words that Gisèle Pelicot dares to take, she did not want to hide, she put everything on the table.

Lise Massal, choir director of the Tutte Quante choir

Patoue is one of the singers. She is discreet, but gives voice: “in our bourgeois culture, we are not encouraged to speak loudly, to make our voice resonate, and we realize that we are powerful and that we did not know it“.

Patoue is moved. Singing for Gisèle Pelicot is nothing, especially when you’ve never demonstrated in your life. If this chorister is also touched, it is because the courage of Gisèle Pelicot has awakened memories: “there are things that I have kept silent in my life, and this woman at least allows me to say it to myself. I didn’t defend myself, and she does.“Patoue would like” thank her, what she does for us French people is enormous. We thought we were liberated women, but not so much. We live in a country where men have difficulty respecting us“. “She makes her voice heard, she has thrown herself into the arena, fragile and helpless. We are together, that’s Tutte Quante. So we will sing for her.”

Another singer comes towards us: “ I would like to talk please.” Emilie has been part of the Marseille choir for 4 years. She too is deeply touched by what is said a few kilometers away, in the Vaucluse criminal court.

“As soon as the trial started, it stirred a personal story in me.”she confides.

Speaking is difficult. And seeing Gisèle Pelicot fight standing up, it gives me hope that I might one day speak

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The Pelicot affair has awakened a collective memory. Women have the memory, the sensation, the fear, and for some the trauma screwed into their bodies.

“I see it as a symbol of struggle for us women. It will allow us to have an after, I really believe in it“, concludes Emilie.

>>> Find here the replay of the program Enquêtes de Region dedicated to Gisèle Pelicot and broadcast this Wednesday January 22 on France 3

Perhaps the next is now. In any case, for some women, it’s on the way. The path to reconstruction is Latika who shows us. And it is in Mazan that this mother of 3 children is rebuilding herself, where the worst rubs shoulders with the best.

Latika fled an abusive husband in 2019. For ten years, she lived with threats and the fear of chemical submission. For her too, the Pelicot affair had the effect of a trigger in her life. She decided to speak, to testify. “JI saw his courage right away. She arrived with her head held high saying that shame must change sides“, she explains. “I was ashamed, and I didn’t think for a moment that it wasn’t my place to be ashamed“.

Would Gisèle Pelicot have turned the tide, changed the direction of society? In any case, she gave courage to the victims. “I said to myself, I no longer have any reason to hide, I am supported. I have nothing to be ashamed of, I was a victim, and I am in the process of rebuilding myself,” confides Latika. She even met Gisèle Pelicot, at a bend in the road, near the Mazan community farm, where she is rebuilding. Gisèle said in court, she walks a lot, and even during the trial, she continued to walk the trails that she knows by heart.

“She is a kind and gentle person. She encouraged us” tells Latika.And I said to myself, I’m going to do my best, I’m going to reopen my complaint which was closed.“.bBut Latika has no proof: “I tried, and I’m proud of myself for doing it.”.

The Mazan rape affair is upsetting and shakes up his private life. And this also concerns men. The Pelicot trial reminded everyone that there was a culture of rape in France and elsewhere. Questions arise: are they all guilty?

In the Salle des Pas Perdus of the Avignon court, men are rare in the public. But we met Marc, and Ludovic. Both attend the hearings very assiduously. Seeing all these defendants who appear in court every day, they wonder.

“How did these men all become rapists? It bothers me” asks Ludovic. “I once heard a lady say that all men are rapists. I don’t agree with that at all, I’m here to show otherwise“, he explains.

Marc questions himself. “In retrospect, I say to myself, there is a red line, and in my life I have sometimes been close to the red line“. Marc is stirred, “as a man“. So he comes, as often as possible, to “show support for the victim”.

After Mazan, if there is one, will it be written by young people? By this generation born at the heart of the #Metoo movement? According to sociologist Véronique Le Goaziou, this is not for tomorrow. “We are heirs of decades of gendered culture, where it was considered that the woman’s body could be a playground“, she explains.

The researcher recalls that Mazan’s affair is that of “ordinary men, good husbands, good fathers, who did not ask themselves many questions before giving free rein to their impulses.”

Sexuality touches on complex subjects, the intimate, and the political too. So there will be no On/Off buttons, it will take time.

Véronique Le Goaziou, sociologist

To the culture of rape, Véronique Le Goaziou opposes the culture of consent. This is what society must strive for, in the “ordinary behaviors” : “we must ensure that the bond we want to form with the other, whether in matters of sexuality or in other areas, is truly based on the desire of the other“. The door to the court has been closed for a month now. It’s up to us, collectively, to take over.