In her own words, Gisèle Pelicot wrote that if Dominique - her ex husband and abuser - hadn’t been arrested for upskirting in 2020, she was sure she wouldn’t have survived his abuse. The 51 other men who were arrested and convicted for raping her wouldn’t have been caught either.

I read this admissions from the printed pages of a hand-bound copy of her memoir she’d sent me ahead of its publication release.

I sat in silence, tears streaming, squished into the middle seat of a plane as my partner stroked my hand. I was realising, in real time, how my law change had helped save Gisèles life, led to Dominique’s arrest and assisted in revealing 51 other rapists.

Dominique been previously arrested for upskirting years earlier, but it hadn’t been a sexual offence at the time. Gisele didn’t know. He’d been fined, but nothing more.

I fought to make upskirting a sexual offence in England and Wales and won, changing the law. In 2018, French ministers changed France’s laws, using our work as a blueprint and citing it.

On the plane I began penning a letter to Gisèle, I wrote directly from my heart. She responded.

Two everyday women with entirely different stories, of different ages, from different countries, indirectly connected by violence but also hope. It makes me want to cry.

Maybe I’ll write more about it here soon. Maybe I won’t. I don’t know.

❤️‍🩹