Gisèle Pelicot's daughter believes online pornography played role in rape case
There is 'no way' that Gisèle Pelicot would have been raped more than 200 times without the existence of pornography websites, her daughter has said.
Caroline Darian said there were 'so many social problems like online porn' that can lead to instances of abuse.
Pelicot survived nearly a decade of rapes by dozens of men, including her then husband Dominique Pelicot, Darian's father, who drugged his wife and facilitated the abuse. Pelicot rose to international fame last year for waiving her right to anonymity in the trial of her ex-husband and other defendants. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Darian was at the Hay festival in Wales promoting her book, I'll Never Call Him Dad Again. Asked by a male audience member how men can 'step up' and be part of breaking cycles of abuse, she said 'you need to talk between guys' about pornography, because it is 'part of the system' of misogyny and violence.
The actor and activist Jameela Jamil, who was chairing the event, said that 'there are so many men in my life, even, who don't know all of the facts of this case in the way that women do'.
What we 'desperately need' men to do 'is to check your mates' and challenge their misogynistic comments and behaviour, she said.
Darian is a pen name, a combination of her brothers Florian and David's names, because she wanted to honour the fact that they have been so involved in the process of telling her story.
Caroline Darian spoke with great compassion and admiration about her mother Gisele Pelicot (pictured). File photo: Christophe Simon/AFP via Getty Images
The author spoke with great compassion and admiration about her mother, but explained that they were not currently on speaking terms. In her book, she wrote that they reached a 'point of no return' in their relationship after her mother did not believe Darian when she claimed her father had raped her.
Darian told the Hay audience that she thinks her mother's reluctance to support her was a 'way for her to protect herself'.
It's 'quite difficult' to accept that your child has been abused, she said. 'I think my mum is not able to recognise it because otherwise I think she's going to die.'
Dominique Pelicot's actions have 'really impacted the whole family, and everyone from her family had a different position', she added. 'But I just have to be grateful for what [Gisèle Pelicot] did.'
Telling her son, who was six at the time, about her father's actions was particularly hard, Darian said. She felt a responsibility to tell him the truth but 'it was a shock' as he had previously had a good relationship with his grandfather and 'loved him very much'.
Her son saw a psychiatrist for almost four years after finding out the news, and Darian said she was 'trying to educate him about what is consent'.
Raising a young man in a positive way was 'a question of open dialogue', she said, and 'a question of education'.
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Extra.ie
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Irish Post
4 hours ago
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'The Irish take their ghost stories with them': Uncanny creator Danny Robins tells us about his Irish roots ahead of terrifying new tour
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Whitby / Getty Images) "The family legend is that my grandad's mum was this eccentric character who was an opera singer and who was apparently the first ever female driver in Cork," he says. "She used to career around in a very old-fashioned car, perhaps slightly under the influence of sherry, so I'm told!" Robins reveals that his mother's family are all from Cork — 'a mixture of O'Sullivans and O'Learys' — while his grandparents were 'movers and shakers on the Cork social scene'. His grandfather played rugby for Munster and his grandmother was picked to play hockey for Ireland but never turned out due to the onset of the Second World War. His grandfather fought in the conflict after the couple emigrated to England and later set up a GP practice. "They went from being part of quite gentile, well-off Cork society to living in a really quite rough and poor part of Manchester," says Robins. 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Robins will be joined on the upcoming Uncanny: Fear of the Dark tour by the show's regular experts Dr Ciarán O'Keeffe, representing Team Sceptic, and Evelyn Hollow, representing Team Believer (Image: Sama Kai / Dave Benett / Getty Images) "It's what set up the whole world of Uncanny really, the fact that you had a very ordinary and very sceptical person who didn't believe in ghosts telling you that they felt they might've seen one," says Robins. "I always think of Belfast because it does feel like a place that's synonymous with Uncanny. There's quite a few different Irish people that come into the Uncanny picture at various points and I know in the next series that comes out in the autumn, we've got a really good Irish story as well." He adds: "Uncanny is still entertaining but it tries to take the subject a little bit more seriously. It also keeps an open mind so it's not just preaching to the converted. We're there, saying, 'It might be a ghost but it might not'. You hear from sceptics and believers and that has made it easier for a lot of people to talk. "There's a lot of people who wouldn't have felt comfortable going on some of those slightly louder, brasher more fantastical paranormal shows. I just felt there was a massive amount of people, you could almost say a kind of silent majority out there, who've had strange experiences and who didn't know how to talk about it. A lot of the emails I get are from people who say, 'I haven't even discussed this with my partner', people who didn't know how to talk about it, didn't know where to talk about it, were worried they'd be judged, that they'd be laughed at, ridiculed, even have their mental health questioned. Uncanny's created a safe space, it has legitimised being able to say this out loud." 'The Irish are natural storytellers' As well as Room 611, there are other Irish tales featured on Uncanny, all told by level-headed, rational, down-to-earth guests. They include The Ghost who Hated Parties, which recounts how an imposing presence terrifies visitors to a student house in Waterford in the 1980s. An Angel Called Bernie sees a software engineer and former Irish soldier tell how his grandmother intervenes from beyond the grave on numerous occasions to save people's lives. The Beast of Langeais hears from two men from Belfast, a teacher and a former police officer, who encounter a devilish hoofed creature during a school trip to France in 1983. Meanwhile, The Haunting of Tanfield House sees the daughter of staunch Catholics who emigrated from Ireland recall a terrifying childhood exorcism after she encounters poltergeist activity in a student house in Surrey. With yet another Irish tale included in the next series of Uncanny, Robins isn't surprised at the proliferation of stories from the Emerald Isle. "I think Ireland is a place with a really, really rich tradition of ghost stories, some fantastic ghost stories stretching back into folkloric things, tales of fairies and banshees and all those kind of things and I feel like we've only touched the tip of the iceberg in terms of exploring stories from Ireland on Uncanny," he says. Uncanny began life as a podcast before being adapted for television in 2023 and a first live show, I Know What I Saw, in 2024 (Image: Uncanny / Facebook) "One of the things I love about coming across is when we ask people for their local ghost stories and the things that have happened to them. Last time when we came to Dublin, we had some fantastic stories and I'm looking forward to hearing more again. There's loads of ghost stories but there's also just loads of brilliant stories. I think it's a way that people in Ireland express themselves. I think the Irish are natural storytellers, they have a gift of the gab, a wit and enjoyment of language and I think some of the greatest literature ever written has been written by Irish writers. Growing up and reading things by a whole host of different Irish writers, I definitely felt a kinship with it. I love that enjoyment of language that you see in a lot of work that's emanated from Ireland." Likewise, Robins sees that love of storytelling kept alive in the English cities where Irish people flocked to over the centuries, just as his own grandparents did. "I see a huge interest [in the paranormal] in Ireland," says Robins. "I sometimes say that there are a certain parts of the country that seem to love their ghost stories more. A part of the country that I always find I get great ghost stories from is Liverpool and of course [there was] a massive influx of Irish people and the same true of Manchester. Places over here in the UK where Irish people have settled, you get a lot of ghost stories. It's like the Irish take their ghost stories with them. It's one of the great things the Irish have given to the world, this huge treasure trove of stories that have emanated from this island." 'A really big, epic night out' So popular is Uncanny within those Irish hubs in Britain that the upcoming Uncanny: Fear of the Dark tour has had to add extra shows at venues in Greater Manchester and Liverpool to meet demand. The extensive tour gets underway in Salford on September 18 and takes in other cities with traditionally large Irish populations, including Birmingham and Glasgow. Dublin and, of course, Belfast are also on the schedule. However, while the tour will no doubt seek to replicate the successful format of the Uncanny podcast and TV show, Robins promises it will be so much more, an immersive experience utilising the full capabilities of its theatrical venues. He promises this will not merely be a normal Uncanny podcast episode recorded on stage in front of an audience. "This is way more theatrical in that this really brings these real-life ghost stories to life in a very theatrical way using video projection, amazing sound effects and illusions," he reveals. "You'll see things flying across the stage like poltergeist activity, so it's a proper theatrical show that embraces all the magic that you can achieve in a theatre. The first live show, I Know What I Saw, featured two real-life cases that were brand new and had never been heard on the pod or the TV series before. We examined them together and got the audience involved in contributing their theories. Fear of the Dark has taken that one step further. We're featuring a whole selection of new cases and will be looking at not just ghosts but UFOs, cryptozoology — that idea of strange beasts that may or may not exist, like the yeti and the Loch Ness Monster and Bigfoot — and examine these cases doing some experiments live in the theatre to test sceptic theories. We'll be looking at some classic cases of paranormal history as well, so very much like the TV series come to life on stage in front of you. Robins with the Best New Play Award for 2:22 A Ghost Story at the 2022 WhatsOnStage Awards (Image: David M. Benett / Dave Benett / Getty Images) "It's going to be a really big, epic night out where, whether you're interested in the paranormal or not, there's going to be so much to talk about — these fascinating human interest stories, amazing science, amazing history and hopefully a night that will really get you talking. That question, 'Do you believe in ghosts' or 'Do ghosts exist', it's the one question you could ask of anyone, anywhere in the world and spark a great debate. There'll be a chance for the audience to tell us their own ghost stories, we'll probably dive into some local stories and then you can ask us your questions." And for Robins, who listened to those stories of his own Irish heritage with awe and wonder, returning to the Emerald Isle will be like coming full circle. "It feels in a weird way like coming home, there is a huge cultural lineage for me stretching across the generations," says Robins, who obtained his Irish citizenship last year. "My mum was the first one of her family to not be brought up in Ireland and it's a place I feel a deep connection with and I can't wait to get there again. I've got lots of family in Dublin as well and I feel like I'm connecting, plugging into my family origins when I come that way. When we head to Belfast, I feel like I'm tapping into the very birthplace of Uncanny with the Room 611 story, so they're both destinations on the tour that have huge significance for us." For tickets and more information on Uncanny: Fear of the Dark, please click here. To book tickets for 2:22 A Ghost Story, please click here. All Uncanny podcast episodes can be found on the BBC website by clicking here and are also available on the BBC Sounds app, while the Uncanny TV series is available on iPlayer by clicking here.
The Journal
6 hours ago
- The Journal
Seven killed after two bridges collapse in Russian regions bordering Ukraine
SEVEN PEOPLE WERE killed and dozens injured after bridges in two separate Russian regions bordering Ukraine collapsed overnight, officials have said, with rail authorities blaming at least one incident on 'illegal interference'. In Russia's Bryansk region bordering Ukraine, a road bridge collapsed onto a railway line late on Saturday, derailing a passenger train heading to Moscow and killing seven people. A separate rail bridge in the neighbouring Kursk region also collapsed overnight, derailing a freight train and injuring the driver, officials said. Authorities did not say what caused the collapses, nor provide details on the incidents, but prosecutors said they had opened an investigation. Videos posted on social media from the Bryansk region showed rescuers clambering over the mangled chassis of a train belonging to national operator Russian Railways, while screams could be heard in another video. 'There are seven dead as a result of the collapse of a bridge onto railway tracks,' Alexander Bogomaz, the Bryansk region's governor, wrote on Telegram. At least 66 others were injured, including three children, he said, giving a revised toll. In a separate incident in the Kursk region, a rail bridge collapsed onto a road, derailing a freight train. 'Last night… in the Zheleznogorsk district, a bridge collapsed while a freight locomotive was passing. Part of the train fell onto the road below the bridge,' Kursk region governor Alexander Khinshtein said on Telegram. 'One of the locomotive drivers suffered leg injuries, and the entire crew was taken to hospital,' he said. Advertisement 'Illegal interference' There was no immediate comment from Russian investigators on the cause of either collapse. Moscow Railways, a state-owned railway operator, had blamed the incident in the Bryansk region on 'illegal interference in the operation of transport' in a post online. But it later appeared to have removed the reference to 'illegal interference' from its post. Ukraine, which Russia has blamed for previous incidents, did not immediately comment. An AFP reporter in central Moscow saw ambulances parked at Kievsky railway station awaiting the arrival of injured passengers. In one video posted from the Bryansk region social media account, someone could be heard screaming as eyewitnesses rushed to find help. 'How did the bridge collapse? There are children there!' a woman can be heard shouting in the video. Russia's emergency ministry said a team was on site in the Bryansk region, while Russian Railways said it had dispatched repair trains to the scene. Russia has been hit by dozens of sabotage attacks since Moscow launched its offensive against Ukraine in 2022, many targeting its vast railroad network. Kyiv says Russia uses railroads to transport troops and weaponry to its forces fighting in Ukraine. The incidents came on the eve of a possible meeting between Russian and Ukrainian officials in Istanbul, amid a US-led diplomatic push to end the conflict. - © AFP 2025
