00:00Solidarity with women. That's the rallying call at demonstrations in France. Thousands
00:09of people joined marches across the country this weekend for protests against sexual violence
00:15and sexual discrimination.
00:20There's lots of things to change. There's the education of young boys throughout life.
00:25We have to change things. It will be hard, but it's possible. The state should really
00:30put itself to it. I was a teacher. I know what it means to educate children. There's
00:35a whole family culture, and everyone should get to it. Not just the state. Everyone.
00:45This year's demonstrations to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against
00:50Women took on a new meaning because of an ongoing mass rape trial that's shocked the
00:56country and the world. The woman at the centre of it, Gisèle Pellicot, has become a symbol
01:02of France's fight against sexual violence and the ongoing problem of drug-induced assault.
01:11This trial obviously came as a shock to the entire French population. It was a shock because
01:17of the fact that it wasn't a surprise for us, for women, gender minorities, activists,
01:23because the reality of this trial is something we've been denouncing for some time in the
01:27feminist movement.
01:30More than 50 men are on trial accused of raping Gisèle Pellicot while she laid unconscious,
01:36repeatedly drugged at the hands of her now former husband.
01:41Miss Pellicot waived her rights to anonymity, and she has attended the trial in person and
01:46in doing so she's become a feminist icon in the fight against sexual abuse.
01:52The Pellicot trial is set to conclude next month, with the defendants facing up to 20
01:57years in jail if found guilty, though activists hope the consequences for French society will
02:04last much longer than that.
02:06Ross Cullen, CGTN, Paris.
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