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Podcast | 20 February 2026

The Women Leaders podcast: Gisèle Pelicot and opposing objectification

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Gisèle Pelicot’s memoir has just been published, and the Jeffrey Epstein files continue to become public. While the admirable Ms Pelicot has become a modern heroine, the two stories have forced a strong focus upon a core common reality: women remain the ultimate objects, to be subjugated by men.

Ms Pelicot, the survivor of multiple rapes while rendered unconscious by her husband, recovered her own agency by refusing to remain anonymous, and by demanding that shame shift to the other side, to the perpetrators, to the men who raped her. The survivors of the Epstein abuse have not been so lucky: attention has been largely upon the powerful and famous men involved in this long running story of rape and abuse of minors, of young underage women.

Many women, and men, feel deep outrage about both these appalling events, but it isn’t always easy to talk about them. However, Katrin Bennhold of the New York Times and Elisa Braun of Euractiv, both senior investigative reporters and experienced journalists, explain so much about how these stories are reported, and express measures of disgust that enhance our own deep-felt emotions in the face of these criminal misogynistic abuses.

A fascinating, flowing and necessary discussion.

This episode was recorded on 19 February 2026

Chapters

  • Contrasting stories: Pelicot vs. Epstein
  • Civil courage and accountability
  • When Justice is denied
  • Investigative journalism: trust and trauma
  • Conspiracy theories and institutional trust

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Credits

The European Leadership Network itself as an institution holds no formal policy positions. The opinions articulated above represent the views of the authors rather than the European Leadership Network or its members. The ELN aims to encourage debates that will help develop Europe’s capacity to address the pressing foreign, defence, and security policy challenges of our time, to further its charitable purposes.

Image credit: Florence Ferrando

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