Clodagh Finn: Gisèle Pelicot gave us a mission for 2025 — ‘Shame must change sides’

While waiving her anonymity, Gisèle did much more than expose the pervasiveness of rape culture: She gave us a rousing catchphrase and sharpened our collective determination to use it

Gisèle Pelicot speaking after the guilty verdicts on her husband and dozens of other men who raped her while she was drugged unconscious. Her message that ‘shame must change sides’ has rung out around the world and could contribute to real change. Picture: Miguel Medina/AFP/Getty

Time Magazine has, again, chosen Donald Trump as its person of the year. I get it. His presidential comeback was momentous. And the magazine does explain it picked the individual who, for better or [take note] for worse, did most to shape the world and the headlines over the past 12 months.

I would have chosen Gisèle Pelicot, the 72-year-old French woman who turned her own unimaginable suffering into a powerful plea to shape a better world.