BACKLASH AGAINST #METOO.
PARIS • An open letter signed by movie star Catherine Deneuve and dozens of other French women about men being unfairly targeted by sexual misconduct allegations has prompted a backlash in the French press and on social media.
In the letter, published in Le Monde newspaper, Deneuve and about 100 actresses, writers, scholars and artists argued that the “legitimate protest against sexual violence” stemming from the Harvey Weinstein scandal has gone too far and threatens hard-won sexual freedoms. They said men should be free to hit on women and advocated against “puritanism.”
“Rape is a crime. But insistent or clumsy flirting is not a crime, nor is gallantry a chauvinist aggression,” the letter begins. “As a result of the Weinstein affair, there has been a legitimate realization of the sexual violence women experience, particularly in the workplace, where some men abuse their power. It was necessary. But now this liberation of speech has been turned on its head.”
They contend that the “#MeToo” movement has led to a campaign of public accusations that have placed undeserving people in the same category as sex offenders without giving them a chance to defend themselves. “This expedited justice already has its victims, men prevented from practicing their profession as punishment, forced to resign, etc., while the only thing they did wrong was touching a knee, trying to steal a kiss, or speaking about ‘intimate’ things at a work dinner, or sending messages with sexual connotations to a woman whose feelings were not mutual,” they write.
Writer Abnousse Shalmani, one of those who signed the open letter, said: “I consider myself to be a grown up. I am capable of receiving a sexual proposition and even more capable of saying no.”
On Wednesday, French women’s rights activists denounced the letter as “a bit like the awkward work colleague or annoying uncle who doesn’t understand what’s happening.”
The activists, including feminist Caroline De Haas, wrote on the Franceinfotv website that Deneuve and other signatories are making sexual violence appear “normal.”
Marlene Schiappa, France’s junior minister for women’s rights, told France Culture radio: “There are in this open letter some things that are deeply offensive and false.”