Okay, so get this—there’s this totally vile guy in France, Dominique Pélicot, who’s like 71 years old, and he’s just been exposed for doing something so beyond awful that it’s hard to even wrap your head around it. So, for more than a decade—yeah, over ten whole years—this dude was secretly drugging his poor wife, Gisèle, and letting random strangers come into their home to sexually assault her. And she had absolutely no idea this was happening. Can you even imagine how horrible that is? I mean, it’s like straight out of a nightmare!
So, like, how did all of this finally come out? Well, it turns out that Dominique was caught filming upskirt videos at a supermarket, which is gross enough on its own, right? But when the police started looking into him, they stumbled upon something even more disturbing. They found videos that he had made of all these terrible assaults, which he had apparently been filming and keeping as some kind of sick trophy. Ugh, so disgusting!
Anyway, this whole mess has now landed him in court in Avignon, and the trial is, like, totally rocking the country because it’s just so shocking. Dominique’s wife, Gisèle, who’s now in her sixties, had no idea any of this was going on. I mean, she was living her life, totally unaware that the person she trusted most in the world was betraying her in the most horrifying way possible. He gaslit her into thinking she had Alzheimer’s and accused her of cheating when she had an STI—like, seriously?! When she found out the truth, she was just, like, in complete disbelief. She even said in court, “I had no idea I was living with a monster.” Like, can you imagine how traumatizing that must be?
But wait, it gets even worse! Apparently, Dominique was posting ads online, inviting these strangers over to their house to do this horrible stuff while his wife was out cold from the drugs. And we’re not talking about just one or two people. Oh no, there were over 90 men—and counting!—involved, and they’re all facing charges now too. This whole thing has just blown up, and it’s sparking a lot of conversations in France about domestic abuse and how something so awful could go unnoticed for so long.
So now, Dominique is sitting in jail, and if he’s convicted, he could be facing life behind bars, which honestly seems like the least he deserves. This trial is going to be a major event, and people all over are going to be watching closely to see what happens next. It’s just so scary to think that someone could be living with a person they trust completely, only to find out that they’ve been betrayed in such an unimaginable way.
When we think about why women feel unsafe, it’s stories like this that make it clear. It’s not just the threat of random violence—it’s the horrifying reality that the people closest to them can be the ones who cause the most harm. This case is so extreme, but it’s far from the only one. Take, for example, the tragic story of Gabby Petito, who was murdered by her fiancé, Brian Laundrie, in 2021. Or, the shocking case of Shannan Watts, who was killed by her husband, Chris Watts, along with their two young daughters. These are just a couple of high-profile cases, but the sad truth is that intimate partner violence is all too common.
In fact, studies show that nearly one in three women globally has experienced physical or sexual violence, most often at the hands of an intimate partner. In the U.S. alone, according to the CDC, 1 in 3 women will experience some sort of sexual violence against them in their lifetime. Even worse, 1 in 4 women will experience physical violence by their intimate partner at some point during their lifetimes. It’s this kind of violence that makes it so hard for women to feel truly safe, even in the places where they should feel the most secure.
Then think about Gisele’s case—her own husband and over 90 of her neighbours who lived in the same town, including an ex-firefighter and an actual neighbour who lived next door, violating her when she was unconscious, and then saying “bonjour!” to her on the street the next day.
Is it any wonder that most women answer “bear” when asked if they’d rather encounter a bear or a strange man in the woods? I mean, as Dr. Charlotte Proudman tweeted:
Not all men, but Gisèle Pélicot’s husband who reportedly drugged and raped her for over 10 years. Not all men, but 90+ male strangers, most living within 1km of her home. Not all men, but men with STDs and HIV who didn’t use condoms. Not all men, but her ‘polite’ neighbour.
Not all men, yet her husband was able to find 90+ men who lived nearby who were willing to rape her, and nobody that he reached out to thought to report it to the police.
Not all men, BUT… a scary lot of them!
XOXO,
Valley Girl News
p.s. This is our first opinion column on a newsworthy topic—eek, so excited! Look out for more in the future when we see a topic we feel passionate about.
