Strength Beyond Trauma

Gisele Pelicot, 71 and grandmother, has become a quiet and unlikely icon of strength and grace across the world to millions

Gisele Pelicot told her grisly story to the world and to the courthouse in France; in both, she comes out the winner. As the French court concluded that her former husband Dominique Pelicot and nearly 46 other rapists, who had been recruited by him to assault and rape her unconscious body after he had drugged or sedated her, were indeed guilty, Gisele Pelicot allowed herself a smile. He was awarded 20 years in prison and one of their children screamed at him that "he would die like a dog in jail". Gisele Pelicot, 71 and grandmother, has become a quiet and unlikely icon of strength and grace across the world to millions - especially women - who have been following the horrific rape case that spanned decades.