Born: 7 December 1952, Germany
Died: NA
Country most active: France
Also known as: Gisèle Guillou
The following is excerpted from Infinite Women founder Allison Tyra’s book The View from the Hill: Women Who Made Their Mark After 40.
Gisèle Pelicot was in her late 60s when police revealed that her husband of 50 years had been drugging, raping, and allowing other men to rape her for almost a decade. The horrific details, including those gleaned from videos her husband had made of the assaults and saved in a folder titled “Abuse,” made headlines around the world when the case went to trial in 2020. Each of the more than 50 men were found guilty of rape, attempted rape, or sexual assault.
“They were so casual, it was as if they were there for snatching a handbag,” she later said, describing it as “the trial of cowardice and denial.” “I think they hadn’t understood the scale of their crimes. That’s when you realised this was all about the triviality of rape. They looked me up and down as if to say: ‘Why is she troubling us with all of this?’”
Pelicot has been lauded for her bravery in not only facing her attackers in court—a traumatic experience for anyone who has been victimized—but also waiving her right to anonymity, which thrust her into the international spotlight. By declining the option of a closed-door trial with full anonymity and no media, she ensured that the dozens of men who assaulted her would have to face the public, at the cost that she would as well. She used this newfound platform to speak for victims and work to change attitudes around rape culture in France and beyond, including publishing her memoir, A Hymn to Life, in 2026.
“I have never regretted my decision, not once,” she later said. “It was also a message to all victims who don’t dare to do the same… It could give them some of the strength I found in me… Within us we have resources that we don’t even suspect. And if I was able to do this, all victims can too. I am convinced of this.”