A horrifying, monthslong mass rape and drugging trial concluded in France Thursday, with Dominique Pelicot and 50 other men all found guilty of the rape or sexual assault of his former wife Gisèle Pelicot. Dominique Pelicot, 72, who solicited dozens of strangers to rape Gisèle while she was unconscious, received the maximum sentence of 20 years for aggravated rape. Forty-eight other men on trial were found guilty of aggravated rape, with two guilty of sexual assault. The trial – which has shocked France and has pushed the country to examine a culture struggling with pervasive misogyny and systemic sexual assault – has galvanized women to demand a change in the way it approaches gender-based violence. They were able to do so because of the unusual decision Gisèle Pelicot took in waving her anonymity to make the trial public – an act many have called heroic. For months, Gisèle faced her…
