Gisele Pelicot, the alleged victim of rape by dozens of men in France, has told a trial she is determined that making her case public should help other women and bring change in society.

The 72-year-old took the stand for the first time on Wednesday since the trial began in the southern city of Avignon on September 2.

Ms Pelicot's case involves her husband, Dominique Pelicot, who has admitted to inviting dozens of strangers to their house over nearly ten years to rape her after he had drugged her. 

Another 50 men also stand accused of raping her.

Shaking with emotion, she told the court she was a woman "totally destroyed" by what happened to her and said how "unbelievably violent" it was for many of the accused saying they thought she agreed to the rapes or was faking sleeping.

"I've decided not to be ashamed, I've done nothing wrong," Ms Pelicot said.

She said she had insisted the trial be held publicly, and not behind closed doors, as is often the case to protect rape victims, in the hope it would help other rape victims.

"They [the alleged rapists] are the ones who must be ashamed," she said, adding that having videos, filmed by her husband, of some of her rapes shown during the trial was "very difficult but necessary".

"I'm not expressing hatred or hate, but I am determined that things change in this society."

Ms Pelicot has become a symbol of the fight against sexual violence, with protests held across France in support for her.

"It's not courage. It's determination to change things," she said. 

Despite video evidence against them, at least 35 of the defendants have denied the rape charges, claiming Mr Pelicot tricked them into believing they were taking part in a sex game, or that Ms Pelicot was feigning sleep.

Only a few have admitted to raping Ms Pelicot, and some have apologised.

"I hear those apologies, but they are inaudible," she told the court. "By apologising, they are trying to excuse themselves."

She added her husband's betrayal of her trust was beyond measure, adding "my life has tumbled into nothingness".

France may introduce changes to its rape law to include consent for the first time, with consent at the heart of the matter.

Justice Minister Didier Migaud recently said he was in favour of updating the law, as has President Emmanuel Macron, after France blocked the inclusion of a consent-based rape definition in a European directive in 2023.

"I believe it is beyond understanding for our fellow citizens to refuse to include consent in the definition of rape," Mr Migaud told politicians earlier this month.

A 2023 survey by one of France's main polling institutes, IFOP, found nine out of 10 people polled wanted France to support the EU directive.

Consent-based rape law already exists in Sweden, Germany, Spain, the United Kingdom and more than a dozen other European countries, with the rise of the feminist #MeToo movement prompting legislative reform in some jurisdictions since 2017.

However, French criminal law defines rape as a penetrative act or oral sex act committed on someone using "violence, coercion, threat or surprise". 

It makes no clear mention of the need for a partner's consent and prosecutors must prove the intention to rape to secure a guilty verdict, five legal experts told Reuters.

France has been reluctant to move away from this definition and it's a hotly debated issue. Some legal experts and women's rights activists said consent puts scrutiny on the victim's behaviour and words, rather than the accused, and that a person can say "yes" without wanting to.

Parliament's Delegation for Women's Rights, a cross-party working group of 36 lawmakers, has reopened work on a bill that would redefine the legal definition of rape, two of its members told Reuters.

Marie-Charlotte Garin, a Greens MP and vice-president of the group said she was hopeful the bill could be passed by the National Assembly as early as March 2025 with cross-party support.

Reuters