Shame must change sides: Tamar, Gisèle Pelicot, and the courage to bring injustice into the light

Writer Michelle Tant reflects on the courage of women who refuse to carry misplaced shame, drawing a powerful line between ancient Scripture and contemporary calls for justice. In this piece, she weaves together the story of Tamar in Book of Genesis and the public stand of Gisèle Pelicot to argue that, both biblically and today, shame must finally change sides.

When French survivor Gisèle Pelicot stood outside court, having waived her right to anonymity, and stated that “shame must change sides”, she connected with a biblical truth which has been obscured for far too long. Through medieval suspicion, Victorian prudishness and even the purity movement in the evangelical church, shame for sexual sin has predominantly been laid at women’s feet. But contrary to those persistent beliefs and practices, you don’t need to look too far to see that the injustice of this has in fact been laid bare since Genesis. 

In the story of Tamar in Genesis 38, we read of a woman who has been mistreated by family and dishonoured in the worst way possible. It finishes with Judah confessing that “she is more righteous than I”. However, if we skip to that part, we miss the facts and the receipts of the narrative. That Tamar was a brave disruptor of the false piety both of the age, and of her father-in-law.