Warning: This article discusses distressing themes and sexual assault.
Gisele Pelicot, the French woman at the centre of the rape trial of her ex-husband and 50 other men, has said she was honoured to wear a scarf sent to her by an Australian women’s organisation.
“I’m very honoured to wear it,” Pelicot said on leaving the court in Avignon in France.
The court has heard how her then-husband, Dominique Pelicot, crushed sleeping tablets and anti-anxiety medication into her food and invited dozens of men to rape her over a nine-year period from 2011 to 2020 in the village of Mazan in Provence.
The Guardian reported that Stéphane Babonneau, Gisele Pelicot’s lawyer, said: “She was very touched to receive the scarf and see that on the issue of violence against women, even in Australia on the other side of the world, women feel the same way, and that there is a connection that unites women across the world in standing up against violence against women, and particularly sexual violence.”
The scarf was designed by Martu artist Mulyatingki Marney.
The art on the scarf depicts a cluster of saltwater pools, known for their healing qualities and frequented by Martu people to bathe cuts and sores.
Several members of The Older Women’s Network told the Guardian they collected donations among themselves to send the silk scarf.
Yumi Lee of the Older Women’s Network said she and the other members wanted to show their solidarity with Pelicot and send her something that symbolised strength, resilience and resistance.
It is symbolic of the fact that First Nations women have endured hundreds of years of violence and suffering, including sexual violence – and yet, they persist to fight for the future.
“We want her to have something which is linked to the 60,000 years of history – that unbroken connection with the human spirit which we want her to feel nurtured by,” said Lee.
Pelicot, who waved her anonymity and insisted on a public trial, took the stand in court on 23 October and told the court she wants women who have been raped to know that “it’s not for us to have shame – it’s for them.”
“I want all women who have been raped to say: Madame Pelicot did it, I can too. I don’t want them to be ashamed any longer,” she said.
