Why Gisèle Pelicot is not the exception in a culture of abuse
Dominique Pelicot’s crimes are horrific, but characterising his actions particularly deviant or monstrous underplays the pervasiveness of gendered violence.
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The conviction of Dominique Pelicot and 50 other men for the aggravated rape of his wife Gisèle Pelicot, perpetrated over years of horrific violence has been shocking. Their trial revealed that Dominique Pelicot recruited men to rape his wife while she was comatose, having been drugged by him.
Gisèle Pelicot has become a symbol of strength and courage, having waived her right to anonymity at the start of the trial. In doing so, she focused the attention squarely on her attackers.
But while the details of these crimes are extreme, we can only fully learn from them if we accept that describing Dominique Pelicot as a monster is to minimise a wider culture that enables violence against women.
We must now challenge the notion of “exceptional monstrosity” that has become associated with Dominique Pelicot. His crimes are extensive, horrific and, indeed, monstrous. However, the dangers of characterising his actions as those of a particularly deviant “monster” are that we underplay the pervasiveness of men’s violence against women.
Sexual harassment and violence disproportionately affects the lives of women and girls. It exists on what has been termed a “continuum” spanning sexualised name-calling, unwanted touching, flashing, online harassment and trolling, sexual assault and rape.
One could argue that sexual violence has become hyper-visible...