The bravery of Gisele Pelicot.

Thank you, JaneJudge. We are all just hoping that her abuser receives an appropriate sentence when he is back in court next month. The one saving grace is that he did plead guilty (albeit right at the last minute), meaning she didn't have to give evidence in court, which would have been extremely distressing for her.

I wish her well, she is a true heroine. And her daughter. So many would have shrunk from bring them all to justice.

Yes she is a true heroine and yes I think many would not be so brave.

So agree Oops JJ just me being sensitive I guess There are so many strands to abuse so many reasons, from genetics to childhood happenings some abusers were abused some abused would never dream of harming another its a huge huge subject
This man sounds totally without any conscience at all
What is the biggest worry of all is the 70/80 men who went along with it they included married men a police or was it fire chief, neighbours some young men of 22 what on earth would they want with a woman of 60 or so it beggars belief that there were so many men over this period willing to pay money (presume they paid) for this ‘thrill’

Aveline

Beyond sickening. Only 3 men refused as she was unconscious. 3 decent men.

Three decent men.????? How are they decent when they turned up at a strangers home to have sex with a woman they did not know but then said no and walked away just because she was unconcious.

If they were decent they would have gone straight to the police and reported her husband but they were afraid for themselves and did nothing. Shame on them.

Please let us have an edit button I am fed up of clicking the wrong button before I have finished commenting.

Evil beyond compare... no other words.

They obviously thought it would be consensual. Fair enough. That sort of thing happens.

Quite important that we take crimes such as upskirting very seriously, it's how he was caught, these crimes very frequently are an indicator of very serious criminality, the same with flashing.

Retread

Sago of course rape wouldn’t be the first thing that would come to mind, but if it was ongoing, or kept happening, I’d definitely have spoken to someone (e.g. my doctor) about it. She didn’t. It is simply a puzzling aspect of this case.

I do feel very sorry for her.

I do not find it puzzling that she did not consult a doctor.

I have not read anything about the case, but presumably she was having sexual intercourse with her husband?

If so she probably assumed that any soreness or other symptoms were just part of normal married life, and she may have been too embarrassed to go to a doctor.

There are still women who know very little about their bodies and presumably the husband in this case is a very plausible person.

How else would he suceed in drugging his wife, and prostituting her without her knowledge or consent?

What I cannot understand is how not one single man reported the husband to the Police, who would then have made a sting operation. Not one single man thought this was bad, degrading, criminal, obscene.

ExDancer

What exactly does 'gaslighting' mean? I'd thought it was an expression young people used when a girl/boy friend suddenly started ignoring them.

That’s ghosting.

Tanjamaltija

What I cannot understand is how not one single man reported the husband to the Police, who would then have made a sting operation. Not one single man thought this was bad, degrading, criminal, obscene.

He didn't drag these men off the streets.

The men were willing participants

grandtanteJE65

Retread

Sago of course rape wouldn’t be the first thing that would come to mind, but if it was ongoing, or kept happening, I’d definitely have spoken to someone (e.g. my doctor) about it. She didn’t. It is simply a puzzling aspect of this case.

I do feel very sorry for her.

I do not find it puzzling that she did not consult a doctor.

I have not read anything about the case, but presumably she was having sexual intercourse with her husband?

If so she probably assumed that any soreness or other symptoms were just part of normal married life, and she may have been too embarrassed to go to a doctor.

There are still women who know very little about their bodies and presumably the husband in this case is a very plausible person.

How else would he suceed in drugging his wife, and prostituting her without her knowledge or consent?

If you'd read this whole thread, you would understand how this could happen.

Did she not go to a doctor for the HIV test and the STDs she suffered?

Rekarie

Did she not go to a doctor for the HIV test and the STDs she suffered?

Again, if you read the whole thread, it explains how her husband always accompanied her to the doctor and explained away her symptoms, including putting it down to dementia.

I agree, this case is absolutely horrific and disturbing.
BUT we clearly don't know the full sordid facts yet. We may not want to.
Would we have no
realization, or suspicion, if we had been heavily drugged over a significant number of years?

Ah, my mistake. Sorry, MissInterpreted

I must learn to read the whole thread!

BlueBelle

So agree Oops JJ just me being sensitive I guess There are so many strands to abuse so many reasons, from genetics to childhood happenings some abusers were abused some abused would never dream of harming another its a huge huge subject
This man sounds totally without any conscience at all
What is the biggest worry of all is the 70/80 men who went along with it they included married men a police or was it fire chief, neighbours some young men of 22 what on earth would they want with a woman of 60 or so it beggars belief that there were so many men over this period willing to pay money (presume they paid) for this ‘thrill’

It's ok Bluebelle, its a sensitive subject at the best of times. I think most women are upset by the case even if they've never been abused by a partner.

Her husband lied that she must have had an affair. That's what these evil men do: victim blame. Meanwhile society sees them as " a good man" who takes his wife to the Dr and such.

I actually think no doctors visit should allow a partner to be present ( obviously with dementia etc this may be different) I have very serious concerns for examples for women who have husbands present to translate for them, there is no opportunity for them to speak to professionals privately.

Again, if you read the whole thread, it explains how her husband always accompanied her to the doctor and explained away her symptoms, including putting it down to dementia

Sorry Missinterpreted the symptoms associated with dementia have no connection with STD s do they? I ve never known anyone with dementia to have symptoms connected with a sexually transmitted disease The husband could perhaps fool a doctor with his wife’s lack of memory or feeling woozy each morning etc but surely the doctor would not connect four different STD s with dementia
Didn’t she and the doctors have any red flags as to where these STDs were coming from ?
It just seems a horrifically weird case

It's interesting you say that Galaxy. Perhaps there needs to be some charity that would provide a female chaperone who could translate, if needed?

I realise it may be confusing because I've mentioned an abusive ex in my past, previously in this post, but I've been married to a very kind man for a few decades.

Because I've been seriously ill this year and unable to walk, he has taken me to every medical appointment and a few times he's pushed me in a wheelchair from the car. He's been able to listen and help me make sense of things when perhaps I might struggle on my own.

Perhaps the Dr should ask the woman if she wants him to leave the room? I would say I wanted him there in most cases, but if others didn't want him there they should have that chance. If they had asked me when my ex (abuser) was there I would have welcomed the chance to talk without him hearing.

I don't know, BlueBelle - none of us were present to know what exactly was said at those doctor's appointments. He was obviously a very manipulative and cunning person, so perhaps he came up with some kind of story to mask what was actually happening. He tried to claim that she'd had affairs, for example. However, that doesn't take away from the horror of what actually happened to her.

BlueBelle

*Again, if you read the whole thread, it explains how her husband always accompanied her to the doctor and explained away her symptoms, including putting it down to dementia*

Sorry Missinterpreted the symptoms associated with dementia have no connection with STD s do they? I ve never known anyone with dementia to have symptoms connected with a sexually transmitted disease The husband could perhaps fool a doctor with his wife’s lack of memory or feeling woozy each morning etc but surely the doctor would not connect four different STD s with dementia
Didn’t she and the doctors have any red flags as to where these STDs were coming from ?
It just seems a horrifically weird case

This evil abuser basically just overshadowed her every move to try and solve her health issues and stood in the way of a diagnosis or support.

What if the Dr was one of the men who was involved? So much gas lighting! The poor lady must have felt she was going mad and maybe she really thought she had dementia, so frightening and wrong. The sexual abuse is bad enough but the mental trauma is just as bad.

This story shocked me to the core .
I am full admiration for this brave lady .
I'm not only truly appalled by her husband's complete lack of respect for ,but also I can't understand the attitude of the participating men .