A man, a husband, drugs his wife without her knowledge to offer her for sex on the Internet to 50 men. Drugged for sex: The Pelicot rapes. This case has captured the world’s attention in France. This gross act of betrayal is heinous on so many levels. It brings up instinctive reactions within many of us. The sexual abuse committed upon Gisele Pelicot by her husband and his scores of customers is outlandishly foul by any standards. It demands the most dreadful punishment possible on the French judicial books. The last person there to be guillotined was in 1977.
“France abolished death penalty in 1981.”
Gisele Pelicot Drugged & Raped By 51 Men
Dominique Pelicot ran his own cottage industry pimping business utilising his wife, without her knowledge, by drugging her for sex with strangers. There is no mention of money changing hands but providing a service like this must have value in and of itself. This is another example of the wonders of the Internet, where like minded individuals can gather to share their interests. In this instance, it was raping a stranger via the consent of her husband who was complicit in the transaction. Dominique Pelicot raped another man’s wife under similar conditions via their online sex forum initiating their contact. Drugged for sex: The Pelicot rapes.
French Men & The Pelicot Case
The French are famous for their Latin lover cultural identity. French movies and TV are loaded with narratives in thrall to the sexual frisson between characters. The stereotypical Latin has love affair at the top of his or her list of things to do. No boring Protestant work ethic will inhibit this wilful joie de vivre. How realistic this portrayal actually is of French life is another question altogether. We all exaggerate our cultural proclivities in our stories and media. The Picot case shines a different light on French sexuality. Human life is complex and the Internet is, perhaps, revealing that to a greater degree. Questions are, however, being asked about how the French and their justice system views rape and key issues like consent. A number of the 51 men who raped Gisele Picot are claiming that that they had her husband’s consent to have sex with her despite her drugged state. This seems a pretty poor defence to me. It also highlights social norms in the 21C and whether the sexual revolution ever really changed the attitudes of many French men, especially in rural areas.
The Thing About Sex
Sex is at the core of many murders and dreadful crimes, just ask any police officer or criminal lawyer. Sex crimes like rape have been with humanity for eons. The ancient Greeks used to steal brides from other tribes and city states. Women have been treated brutally and as chattels of men for millennia. As much as we like to focus on how wonderfully advanced we are by sending rockets to the moon etc. The truth is many of us remain violently rooted in the simian behaviour of our ancestors at times during our lives. Our institutions look away from this reality and we lock up those who criminally offend and are brought to justice. These folk are in the minority, however, as sex can trigger even Supreme Court judges to offend. I am not making excuses for these instances, these individuals, but rather pointing out that we do not keep this stuff front of mind but conveniently skirt over it again and again. A woman dies at the hands of her partner or former partner every week in Australia. Think about it.
The Tower Analogy
I would use a multi-storey apartment building as an analogy for modern human beings. We live mostly near the top on those floors, where we engage with each other via the friendly and commercial banter of everyday life. There are other floors we visit for various things during the course of our lives, often, regularly. Hard work may call upon a trip down a few floors to galvanise ourselves to find the necessary diligence factor. Dreaming and old memories may, also, mean visiting different floors of consciousness where such states of being are available. Imagine that the elevator shaft gets a pretty constant workout over the course of a day or week. Sex, sexual feelings, these states are definitely located down toward the bottom of the building. Especially, when intimacy calls upon us to shift gears into a much more primal way of being. Erections for men are base level room stuff and involve shutting out the more sophisticated chatter from way upstairs. Indeed, really good sex can mean giving oneself over to the mindless beat and thrust of below carpark level concerns. Brainstem dominant procreative urges loudly beat those drums. A satisfying fuck with orgasm can leave one somewhat released of tensions. The trip back up the elevator to higher floors may be accompanied by an inner glow. However, some can get addicted to the feelings and surges residing on the bottom floors. Women and men can get caught up in wanting to stay down there as much as possible. It can feel more real, more alive, and less contrived. Intimacy lives just above the primal level and many experience the authenticity down there as something inherently good. Arousal becomes like a fireman’s pole to the bottom floor where powerful primal urges abound. I suppose, the definition of a healthy modern human being is someone who can traverse this tower skilfully without getting stuck in sticky situations between floors. Pressing buttons on the elevator control panel and not getting the flashing light indication of the desired response. Drugged for sex: The Pelicot rapes.
The Crimes Of Dominique Perot
Dominique Perot and his online pals, who like to rape strangers, even those drugged into a state of oblivion, are lost boys stuck in a sick realm where their sexual appetites run riot over another human being’s agency and dignity. It is a gross violation of human rights at the most basic of levels. In a just world the sword of Athene would come down hard on these men. Obviously, a message must be sent right around France and the world that this kind of thing will not be tolerated. Imagine being drugged by your intimate partner for ten years and pimped out to be raped by a succession of 51 men. The betrayal by your most trusted partner, your husband, is beyond the pale. In times gone by, they would burn this bloke at the stake or deliver some other ghastly means of torture and execution. Locking up this old man hardly seems a fitting punishment for the crime, but we do not punish more excessively anymore.
The Other 50 Men Accused Of Rape
“The 50 men accused of rape and assault alongside Dominique Pelicot are aged between 26 and 74. They include a nurse, a journalist, a prison warden, a councillor, a soldier, lorry drivers and farm workers. They each face up to 20 years in prison.
Some of the accused men have admitted rape but said they did not set out with this intention, and have apologised in court to Gisèle Pelicot, 72, a grandmother and former logistics manager. Others have denied the charge of rape, saying they believed they were taking part in a game by the couple.
Gisèle Pelicot was unknowingly sedated and raped by her former husband, Dominique Pelicot, 71, who crushed sleeping tablets and anti-anxiety medication into her food and drinks and invited men to rape her over a nine-year period from 2011 to 2020.”
How important is getting your end away, fucking, and how should that be viewed up against the rights of women and wives? The Pelicot case in France seems to put this into sharp focus. Sex underpins the lives of us all. We are made from it after all. Men are driven by their sexual needs, apparently, if the lives of these 50 men are to be believed. Many of them had female partners, wives and girlfriends, but wanted an exotic meal away from home or something, it seems. The fact that this woman was drugged unconscious did not, in the end, bother most of them too much. A root is a root, as we say in Australia. Pretty poor spoils from the table of love, however, it must be said.
The globe is watching the French judicial system and it will be instructive to see what eventuates. Whether this will lead to changes in laws and, just as importantly, customs and attitudes we will all have to wait and see. The role of the Internet in fostering this collection of French men in their intention to have sex with a strange woman. Sex which turned out to be rape, as the woman Gisele Pelicot was drugged unconscious and had no knowledge of what was happening to her. It must be said, what is it with these men and having sex with an unconscious human being? What does it say about them and their ideas about sex? No mercy, I say, do the crime and serve the time. Wake up out of your own whacko wet dream and realise that you have been fucking with somebody else’s life.
Robert Sudha Hamilton is the author of America Matters: Pre-apocalyptic Posts & Essays in the Shadow of Trump.
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