France may introduce changes to its rape law to include consent for the first time, after a mass rape trial shook the country, challenging the limits of existing legislation and prompting some leading politicians to call for change.

Gisele Pelicot, the 72-year-old victim of mass rape whose ordeal has shocked the world, told a trial in southern France on Wednesday that she was determined that making her case public should help other women and change society.

Her husband is accused of inviting strangers to sexually assault her while she was drugged and unconscious. The trial has transformed the way France discusses sexual violence.