Gisèle Pelicot: Judge rules public can view French mass rape trial video evidence

We need serious sex-ed with consent at the pinnacle of it. (And, even then, we need some major cultural changes)

So, a few things:

• many of the men accused have stated that the husband pitched the idea as "this is a kink she really enjoys, being drugged and then having sex with strangers". (Of course they never pretend to have met her in person beforehand to get her consent for the whole thing in the first place)
• there are some that have said "what's the big deal? It's his wife, he gets to decide to lend her out to his friends." (!)

I don't know how many of the first group are being honest, but the existence of both can give you an idea of how bad our culture used to be towards rape, and still is to a large extent.

There's a pretty striking moment of archival footage, from the 60s or 70s I think, of some french dude being asked in the street "and you, have you ever raped a woman?" And his response is a very matter-of-fact "well, of course!".

People don't want to believe that rapists are, in many ways, just ordinary people. So they both refuse to see it in others, and refuse to see themselves as capable of even contributing to the problem. Hopefully this can be the wakeup call many men here in France need to realize they must push back when their friends make rape jokes, for ex.

1 in 2 women have experienced sexual harassment in some form.

1 in 4 have been sexually assaulted.

One could cry ‘not all men!’ and that is most certainly true. But it is still doubtful it is a small minority running about perpetrating all these acts. Even if it is not 1 in 4 men committing the assaults, those numbers are still far too high.

He probably lied and said she wanted it....duh.