Gisele Pelicot on Cornell's Jane Doe: 'You Should Listen to Her'

Gisèle Pelicot, whose testimony against her husband and dozens of men helped ignite a reckoning over sexual violence in France, is now throwing her support behind the anonymous woman suing Cornell University. The 73-year-old, who waived her legal right to anonymity and won a landmark conviction against her ex-husband and 50 co-defendants, tells USA Today that "we have to help women everywhere" and says of the Cornell accuser: "Maybe she will speak out in her own name. Maybe later, [but] you should listen to her and follow her."

Pelicot's comments came as she and her daughter, Caroline Darian, were this week awarded the Equality Now Trailblazer Award. "I chose to waive my right to anonymity and to a trial behind closed doors because I firmly believed I had nothing to be ashamed of and no reason to hide," Pelicot said in her speech. The mother-daughter duo are publicly fighting drug-facilitated sexual abuse, notes the CBC, and with other similar cases making headlines, "I think now no one can ignore what chemical submission is," Darian says. The Cornell plaintiff, identified as Jane Doe, alleges she was gang raped by Chi Phi fraternity members after being pressured to take ketamine in October 2024. Her lawsuit and a letter accusing Cornell President Michael Kotlikoff of failing to support her have triggered a criminal probe, campus review, and an "I Am Jane Doe" campaign.