Trump? No, Pelicot has to be the Person of the Year

The woman at the centre of France's mass rape trial should be celebrated for her sacrifice and courage, says Laura Bates

- Laura Bates

Gisèle Pelicot believes that change is possible. Speaking outside the courtroom in Avignon yesterday, where her ex-husband Dominique Pelicot was jailed for 20 years for drugging her and recruiting strangers to rape her, she said she “never regretted” her selfless decision to waive her right to private legal proceedings. She believed it was important for “society to see what is happening”. That visibility, she realised, despite the enormous personal cost, was vital in order for real change to happen. “I do it on behalf of all women,” she has said.

France’s worst-ever mass rape trial saw 51 men convicted for a total of 428 years. Dominique Pelicot was jailed for the maximum term of 20 years, having drugged his wife so he and strangers could abuse and rape her while he filmed it. Police found some 20,000 images of the abuse on his computer, as well as pictures of his daughter and his two daughters-in-law.

In a case that sent shock waves around the world, Gisèle Pelicot emerged as an almost unimaginably courageous symbol of feminist resistance against rape culture. Her insistence that shame must “change sides” has reverberated internationally, challenging deeply misogynistic assumptions about sexual violence in France and far beyond, galvanising feminist movements, inspiring male allies to speak out and, above all, providing solace and strength to fellow survivors.

So great has the impact been, that since Time magazine announced Donald Trump as its Person of the Year, social media has been flooded with posts, mainly created by women, suggesting that the title should have been awarded to Gisèle Pelicot instead.