100 French women denounce wave of #MeToo 'puritanism'
January 9, 2018
French star Catherine Deneuve and other artists wrote in an open letter published in daily Le Monde that the wave of "denunciations" in the wake of the #MeToo movement is a threat to sexual freedom and a "witch-hunt."
Image: Getty Images/C. Bilan
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An open letter has been published in the daily Le Monde on Tuesday, attacking feminist social media campaigns like #MeToo and its French equivalent #BalanceTonPorc (Call out your pig) for allegedly unleashing a "puritanical... wave of purification."
Its around 100 signatories include French actress Catherine Deneuve, author Catherine Millet, publisher Joëlle Losfeld and German film actress and singer Ingrid Caven.
"Rape is a crime, but trying to seduce someone, even persistently or cack-handedly, is not — nor is men being gentlemanly a macho attack," the letter says. "Men have been punished summarily or forced out of their jobs when all they did was touch someone's knee or try to steal a kiss."
A French #MeToo gathering in Paris, in October 2017: "Shame on Catherine Deneuve" says one protester's signImage: Imago/Le Pictorium
A 'witch-hunt'?
The signatories of the letter claim that "a legitimate protest against the sexual violence that women are subject to, particularly in their professional lives," has turned into a "witch-hunt."
"Instead of helping women, this frenzy (...) actually helps the enemies of sexual liberty — religious extremists and the worst sort of reactionaries. As women, we do not recognize ourselves in this feminism, which, beyond denouncing the abuse of power, takes on a hatred of men and of sexuality."
Oscar-nominated French star Catherine Deneuve had previously expressed her annoyance at social media campaigns that shame men accused of harassing women.
Referring to the #MeToo and #BalanceTonPorc hashtag, she said that she found the method "excessive." "After 'Calling our your pig' what are we going to have, 'Call out your whore?'" she said last year.
Deneuve had also sparked an outcry last March, when she expressed her support for filmmaker Roman Polanski, who is still wanted in the United States for the statutory rape of a 13-year-old girl in 1977. The actress had said in a TV interview that she "always found the word 'rape' excessive" in the circumstances.
Time's 2017 Person of the Year: The Silence Breakers
Giving power to the #MeToo movement, the people who came forward with their stories of sexual harassment have been named Time's 2017 Person of the Year. Here are some of the most high-profile "Silence Breakers."
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Ashley Judd
In 1997, upcomer Ashley Judd was invited to meet star-maker Harvey Weinstein at an LA hotel, whereupon he tried to coerce her into bed. Judd escaped but refused to be silenced. Many in Hollywood then said the producer's sexual misconduct was an "open secret." "There wasn't a place for us to report these experiences," said Judd, the first to call out Weinstein in the New York Times in October.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/J. Samad
Rose McGowan
When actor Rose McGowan first told people that Harvey Weinstein had raped her, she says some in Hollywood threatened to end her career. "They threatened [me] with being blacklisted. I was blacklisted after I was raped, because I got raped, because I said something," she said in a January interview first published in the Observer. But that didn't stop her from later speaking out.
Image: picture-alliance/empics/The Canadian Press/AP/Invision/R. Shotwell
Taylor Swift
When Taylor Swift alleged that Denver radio DJ David Mueller reached under her skirt and groped her, he took her to court after it lead to his firing. "I'm not going to let you or your client make me feel in any way that this is my fault," she told his lawyer. Swift also told Time magazine that if Mueller was "brazen enough to assault me... imagine what he might do to a vulnerable, young artist."
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/J. Szenes
Selma Blair
Blair claims that writer/director James Toback invited her to his room and asked her to remove her clothing while she read a script before asking her for sex. When she refused, he blocked her way and masturbated against her leg. He then threatened to kill her if she dared to talk. "I didn't want to speak up because, it sounds crazy but, even until now, I have been scared for my life," said Blair.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Images/J. Strauss
Alyssa Milano
"Me Too" was first used in 2006 by gender equality activist Tarana Burke as a rallying cry for young sexual harassment and assault survivors. Actor Alyssa Milano was sent a screenshot of the phrase in October and later tweeted: "If you've been sexually harassed or assaulted write 'me too' as a reply to this tweet." She woke to find that over 30,000 people had used #MeToo and burst into tears.
Image: Getty Images/D. Kambouris
Wendy Walsh
After Bill O'Reilly and Fox News spent millions on lawyers to settle, and silence, sexual harassment claims, Wendy Walsh, a psychologist and Fox contributor spoke out about O'Reilly after initial reluctance for fear of retaliation. "I felt it was my duty," Walsh told Time, "as a mother of daughters, as an act of love for women everywhere and the women who are silenced, to be brave."
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/A. McCartney
Megyn Kelly
TV news anchor Megyn Kelly has accused Fox host Bill O'Reilly of sexual harassment. "What if we did complain?" she said to Time, "if we spoke our truth in our strongest voices? What if that worked to change reality right now?" Perhaps that change has already started to come. "I always thought maybe things could change for my daughter," said Kelly. "I never thought things could change for me."
Image: Getty Images/K. Winter
Susan Fowler
An Uber engineer, Fowler felt powerless with "a harasser in the White House" and decided to out sexual harassers at Uber in a blog post. Uber CEO Travis Kalanick was subsequently forced to resign and 20-odd employees were fired. "There's something really empowering about standing up for what's right," said Fowler, who has been described as a whistle-blower — which she calls "a badge of honor."
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/S. Van Tine
Terry Crews
The actor and former American football star is one of a number of men who have said "me too." Crews has taken out a sexual assault lawsuit against talent agent Adam Venit, who he accuses of groping him at a party in Hollywood in February 2016. Also among Time's Silence Breakers is actor Blaise Godbe Lipman, who's accused talent agent Tyler Grasham of sexually assaulting him when he was a teenager.
