Shame Changes Sides (Gisèle Pelicot)
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She is the woman who demanded a public trial, in which her husband and 50 other perpetrators were convicted. Gisèle Pelicot declared publicly: shame must change sides. («Que la honte change de camp.») It is not the woman who should feel ashamed, but the perpetrators. Her words stand for a long overdue reorientation in how we deal with sexual abuse, where to this day the blame is often reversed onto the victim ("Well, what was she wearing?"). Perpetrators are perpetrators.
Her face has stayed with me. Her calm, open gaze in the face of the appalling acts dealt with in the trial astonishes me again and again. For me – and for many others – Gisèle Pelicot is an icon of freedom and justice.
Ink drawing based on a photograph from around the time of the trial.
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