Like many, we at NCALL have been following the story of Gisèle Pelicot, the French woman who was drugged and raped by her husband and dozens of other men over the course of a decade. Yesterday, at the conclusion of a trial that found all 51 men guilty, her now ex-husband was sentenced to 20 years in prison, the maximum allowed under French law.
Gisèle Pelicot waived her right to anonymity and pushed for evidence to be heard in open court in order to draw attention to chemical-assisted sexual abuse. In doing so, she placed the shame where it has always belonged: on the perpetrators. Her case has ignited a reckoning around sexual violence in France and across the world. And, it has shone a light on the reality that sexual abuse occurs across the lifespan.
When we think about sexual abuse survivors, our minds often conjure images of younger victims. This unconscious ageist bias has created dangerous blind spots in how we recognize, prevent, and respond to the sexual abuse of older adults. In fact, sexual violence can affect people at any age, and our failure to acknowledge this has left many older survivors feeling unseen and unsupported.
The intersection of ageism and sexual violence creates unique barriers for older survivors. For example, they may face dismissive attitudes from healthcare providers who attribute trauma symptoms to age-related cognitive decline. In Ms. Pelicot’s case, “[d]octors failed to identify the years of drugging and sexual assaults committed against Gisele Pelicot, who was tested for Alzheimer’s and brain tumors in an attempt to find the cause of the mysterious blackouts she suffered at her home in the southeastern village of Mazan,” despite the fact that her symptoms abated when she was not at home.
As this case illustrates, systematic invisibility has devastating consequences. The path forward requires confronting our ageist assumptions about sexual violence. We must recognize that sexual abuse can happen at any age and that older survivors deserve the same belief, support, and justice as younger victims. This means training healthcare providers, law enforcement, aging network professionals, and anyone else who works with older adults to recognize signs of sexual abuse and drug-facilitated crimes. It means ensuring that rape crisis centers and survivor support services are accessible and welcoming to older adults. Most importantly, it means listening to and believing older survivors when they break their silence.
Written by Ann Laatsch, J.D., NCALL Justice System Coordinator