On Sunday, Hollywood offered a show of support for the #MeToo movement on the Golden Globes red carpet and stage. But the next day, a famous French actress joined 100 women in denouncing the movement, as well as its French counterpart, #Balancetonpore, or “Expose Your Pig.” Catherine Deneuve and women from the entertainment, publishing and academic fields argued that the movements, in which women and men have used social media as a platform for describing sexual misconduct, have gone too far by publicly prosecuting private experiences and created a totalitarian climate, writes The New York Times. The letter states that while rape is a crime, being “insistent or clumsy flirting is not a crime, nor is gallantry a chauvinist aggression.” They say that #MeToo movement has led to a campaign of public accusations that put undeserving people in the same category as sex offenders, and those accused have no chance to defend themselves. They also claim that the movement goes against sexual expression and freedom.
“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,” the letter, which was translated from French to English by The Times, states.
The letter has received harsh criticism online.
Catherine Deneuve and other French women tell the world how their interiorized misogyny has lobotomized them to the point of no return https://t.co/AuH0aZdnCq
— Asia Argento (@AsiaArgento) January 9, 2018
In March, Deneuve defended Roman Polanski, the director who pleaded guilty in 1977 to having sex with a 13-year-old girl and was accused by two other women of forcing himself on them when they were underage.
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