Such depravity, such betrayal, Gisèle Pelicot rape trial

[TSwizzle]

Sickening;

Dominique Pelicot, one of the worst sex offenders in modern French history, has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for drugging his then wife, Gisèle, and inviting dozens of men to rape her in her home in the south of France over almost a decade. The historic trial of 51 men was held in public after Gisèle Pelicot waived her right to anonymity so that “shame could change sides”. Alongside Dominique Pelicot, guilty verdicts were returned on Thursday for all the accused men including a nurse, a soldier, a journalist, a prison warden and delivery drivers, aged from 26 to 74. Forty-seven were convicted of rape, two of attempted rape and two of sexual assault. Dominique Pelicot, 72, a retired electrician and former estate agent, was given the maximum sentence of 20 years for drugging and raping his then wife and inviting men to rape her when she was in a comatose state. The court heard that he crushed sleeping tablets and anti-anxiety medication into her mashed potato, coffee or ice-cream and invited dozens of men to rape her over a nine-year period from 2011 in the village of Mazan, Provence, where the couple had retired. After videos of the rapes by him and other men were found meticulously categorised on his computer hard drive in a file labelled “abuse”, Dominique Pelicot admitted the charges in court, telling judges: “I am a rapist.” He was also convicted of placing hidden cameras in bathrooms and bedrooms in his own home and that of his family to make and distribute naked images of his adult daughter and the wives of his sons.

Teh Gruaniad

I believe there were more than 51 participants in the rape of this woman.

It is shocking that so many men, professionals, husbands, fathers would participate in such an act. But should I be really shocked? Is this new?

 

[steve_bank]

If you want examples of sexual depravity look at the extremes of Internet porn including explicit bestiality.

Rape, gang rape, and forced sex is a very common porn theme. Teen sex live on the net overseas. Teen sex tourism overseas.

Now that people are free to speak in Syria reports of sexual slavery and rape are coming out.

There is the current cases of sexual abuse by the wealthy icons in the music business that nay involve well known figures as participants.

So no, nothing new as far as I know.

 

[Elixir]

sexual abuse by the wealthy icons in the music business

Sexual abuse by wealthy icons in the _____ business is commonplace.
Getting caught is exceptional. After all, wealthy icons are wealthy.

 

[steve_bank]

In the last big Hollywood sex scandal it came out it was an open secret in the Hollywood community.

Nobody even the hard core co0re liberals did not speak out, they put their own career and financial interests instead of speaking out.

 

[TSwizzle]

If you want examples of sexual depravity look at the extremes of Internet porn including explicit bestiality.

No thank you and I recommend you purge your browsing history.

Rape, gang rape, and forced sex is a very common porn theme. Teen sex live on the net overseas. Teen sex tourism overseas.

What on earth do you do all day?!

{snip}

There is the current cases of sexual abuse by the wealthy icons in the music business that nay involve well known figures as participants.

So no, nothing new as far as I know.

Sure, the upper echelons of the wealthy and privileged classes have always enjoyed a level debauchery that most can't imagine. But the Pelicot case is most disturbing as it involves ordinary and otherwise bland people. A husband that drugged his wife and scoured the internet for men to come to his home and rape his comatose wife is beyond belief. Something is sick in society.

 

[steve_bank]

If you want examples of sexual depravity look at the extremes of Internet porn including explicit bestiality.

No thank you and I recommend you purge your browsing history.

Rape, gang rape, and forced sex is a very common porn theme. Teen sex live on the net overseas. Teen sex tourism overseas.

What on earth do you do all day?!

{snip}

There is the current cases of sexual abuse by the wealthy icons in the music business that nay involve well known figures as participants.

So no, nothing new as far as I know.

Sure, the upper echelons of the wealthy and privileged classes have always enjoyed a level debauchery that most can't imagine. But the Pelicot case is most disturbing as it involves ordinary and otherwise bland people. A husband that drugged his wife and scoured the internet for men to come to his home and rape his comatose wife is beyond belief. Something is sick in society.

Ordinary bland people don't usually do things like that? You must not watch any of the national, local, and global reporting. And you must have limited experience with people in general.

IMO there is a general sickness in our pop couture and sex abuse is one manifestation. Just look at the movies that are now consderd normal entertainment. Grotesque violence.

There is a movie The Woman With The Dragon Tattoo with a rape scene. Pretty graphic but penetration is not shown. A woman tied to a bed and screaming as she is raped.

That is entertainment today. Mainstream movies.

From global reporting kids and young adults are in a bad way.

I guess all is well in normal happy Santa Monica '...where nary is heard a discouraging word and the skies are not cloudy all day.....'

 

[TSwizzle]

If you want examples of sexual depravity look at the extremes of Internet porn including explicit bestiality.

No thank you and I recommend you purge your browsing history.

Rape, gang rape, and forced sex is a very common porn theme. Teen sex live on the net overseas. Teen sex tourism overseas.

What on earth do you do all day?!

{snip}

There is the current cases of sexual abuse by the wealthy icons in the music business that nay involve well known figures as participants.

So no, nothing new as far as I know.

Sure, the upper echelons of the wealthy and privileged classes have always enjoyed a level debauchery that most can't imagine. But the Pelicot case is most disturbing as it involves ordinary and otherwise bland people. A husband that drugged his wife and scoured the internet for men to come to his home and rape his comatose wife is beyond belief. Something is sick in society.

Ordinary bland people don't usually do things like that? You must not watch any of the national, local, and global reporting. And you must have limited experience with people in general.

I don't recall anything similar to this. Maybe it does go on a lot more than any of us are aware of but it is still shocking to me.

 

[steve_bank]

IMO we are sliding into a cultural shit hole, fortunately I will not live long enough to see how it all plays out.

 

[Tigers!]

Giesle Pelicot is an exceptional brave woman. To have such knowledge of what was done to her been made public is an act of exposure of the sordidness of some parts of society.

I salute her courage and strength.

 

[Rhea]

It is shocking that so many men, professionals, husbands, fathers would participate in such an act. But should I be really shocked? Is this new?

I agree it is shocking. But sadly, not new. This has happened to developmentally disabled women for… forever. Nowadays it is considered wise to give developmentally disabled women birth control as soon as they menstruate to protect against this. And it has happened as well to an untold many women through drugging or coercion or capture. This is, in a nutshell, the human trafficking trade. And many many many men participate in it, all of them “normal” men that you encounter.

This case is exceptionally depraved, IMHO because of the betrayal by a husband (and father - his daughter was also a victim). Combined with the other men who did this, and the ones that did it to her multiple times. Horrible. Horrific.

And I agree with Tiger - her courage is absolutely astonishing. Her courage to help the public understand that this is NOT a one of a kind crime, and that women, and sometimes men as well, all over the world are not supported or believed when they try to report sex crimes, and usually do not even report sex crimes because of society’s additional crime of heaping shame and fault upon them. Her incredible bravery to serve other victims, other women and girls is just monumental. I am in awe of her strength of purpose.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

Sickening;

Dominique Pelicot, one of the worst sex offenders in modern French history, has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for drugging his then wife, Gisèle, and inviting dozens of men to rape her in her home in the south of France over almost a decade. The historic trial of 51 men was held in public after Gisèle Pelicot waived her right to anonymity so that “shame could change sides”. Alongside Dominique Pelicot, guilty verdicts were returned on Thursday for all the accused men including a nurse, a soldier, a journalist, a prison warden and delivery drivers, aged from 26 to 74. Forty-seven were convicted of rape, two of attempted rape and two of sexual assault. Dominique Pelicot, 72, a retired electrician and former estate agent, was given the maximum sentence of 20 years for drugging and raping his then wife and inviting men to rape her when she was in a comatose state. The court heard that he crushed sleeping tablets and anti-anxiety medication into her mashed potato, coffee or ice-cream and invited dozens of men to rape her over a nine-year period from 2011 in the village of Mazan, Provence, where the couple had retired. After videos of the rapes by him and other men were found meticulously categorised on his computer hard drive in a file labelled “abuse”, Dominique Pelicot admitted the charges in court, telling judges: “I am a rapist.” He was also convicted of placing hidden cameras in bathrooms and bedrooms in his own home and that of his family to make and distribute naked images of his adult daughter and the wives of his sons.

Teh Gruaniad

I believe there were more than 51 participants in the rape of this woman.

It is shocking that so many men, professionals, husbands, fathers would participate in such an act. But should I be really shocked? Is this new?

Note two things:

1) This happened in France. That's very far from most of us.

2) There is only one such case being reported.

This is news specifically because it's very rare. There probably have been other such cases in the past that didn't get the worldwide attention. It's not that bad things actually happen more frequently, it's that the news of bad things spreads further. We hear bad things from farther away than we used to usually hear much of anything. "How far away was it" is actually a useful test of rareness. Events which are not rare are not reported far from where they happen.

 

[Rhea]

2) There is only one such case being reported.

This is news specifically because it's very rare.

OFFS.

There are many cases, reported all the time. You don’t notice them.
You must have slept through the entire #metoo movement when women all around you were telling you all over and over how NOT rare this depravity is.

Every man wgho was payinb any attention at all responded with, “holy shit, I had no idea how many women I know have been sexually assualted, and by family members”

But yeah, keep on with “this is rare.”

#metoo

 

[bilby]

2) There is only one such case being reported.

This is news specifically because it's very rare.

OFFS.

There are many cases, reported all the time. You don’t notice them.
You must have slept through the entire #metoo movement when women all around you were telling you all over and over how NOT rare this depravity is.

Every man wgho was payinb any attention at all responded with, “holy shit, I had no idea how many women I know have been sexually assualted, and by family members”

But yeah, keep on with “this is rare.”

#metoo

Nah, he's right*. Women having the courage to speak up is fairly rare; Having the extreme courage to reject the anonymity usually offered them by the legal system is rarer still; And having a legal system that investigates thoroughly and brings the perpetrators to justice is even rarer again.

Note that in this case, many of the defendants argued that, while what they had done was not in dispute, it was not rape under French law, because the law defines rape as "a penetrative act or oral sex act committed on someone using violence, coercion, threat or surprise", and does not mention "consent" at all. That is, they argued that what they did wasn't against French law, and that despite having victimised Mme Pelicot in the most vile of fashions, they should not be considered criminals.

That their lawyers thought that such a defense was even worth attempting, illustrates just how difficult it is for victims of rape to successfully bring charges against their attackers.

The system is structured to make effective complaints by victims as difficult as possible, and to keep those few cases which do result in conviction as confidential and unpublicised as possible (ostensibly to protect the victims). It should surprise nobody that the result is that such effective complaints are rare, and that news of them is rarer still.

The offence of rape is common. Victims who are not silenced, marginalised and ignored are very rare indeed.








* While at the same time being hopelessly wrong

 

[Loren Pechtel]

2) There is only one such case being reported.

This is news specifically because it's very rare.

OFFS.

There are many cases, reported all the time. You don’t notice them.
You must have slept through the entire #metoo movement when women all around you were telling you all over and over how NOT rare this depravity is.

Every man wgho was payinb any attention at all responded with, “holy shit, I had no idea how many women I know have been sexually assualted, and by family members”

But yeah, keep on with “this is rare.”

#metoo

Metoo is not about cases like this. This is an extreme we don't normally see.