Hours before the cornerstone Sydney writers’ festival panel about the #MeToo movement on Saturday night, the Pulitzer-prize winning author Junot Diaz – with events still booked in Sydney and in Melbourne – was on a plane out of Australia.
The day before, another festival guest, writer Zinzi Clemmons, had spoken from the audience during the Q&A of one of Diaz’s panels, questioning the timing of his recent New York Times essay and asking the writer to reckon with his own alleged history of harm.
She then shared her story on Twitter, claiming he had “cornered and forcibly kissed her” when she was 26.
Clemmons was joined on Twitter by other women – including another festival speaker Carmon Maria Machado – who made their own accusations of his alleged misconduct. Diaz withdrew from his remaining appearances, and told the New York Times (without referring to the allegations specifically): “I take responsibility for my past.”
For anyone who thought the #MeToo movement had lost momentum, the last few days proved otherwise.
On Friday, for instance, the Nobel prize for literature was cancelled amid a sexual assault scandal. The day before that, a Washington Post investigation told of 27 more women who had allegations of sexual harassment against talk show host Charlie Rose.
Spicer has spent the past six months connecting the strongest of the stories with news outlets around the country – but her efforts, she revealed, haven’t always been welcome.
“. . . recently, in the last two months, I’ve seen mainstream – what we would call ‘old media’ – organisations starting to pull away from some of these stories … Not only is it costly, not only is it difficult because of defamation, but ‘it’s getting a little bit too close to our executives’. And that is a true story.”
The panel’s penultimate moment was a welcome surprise: notable Australian feminist and writer Eva Cox stood at a microphone with a question for the panellists.
“It’s not ‘How do we stop that man from doing that to us?’, but ‘How do we stop men feeling like they’re entitled to?’,” she said.
As the applause died down in the audience, a lone voice could be heard from the front: a man who had been barred from the microphone during the Q&A was standing in front of the stage and screaming aggressively at the strong, accomplished women who sat in front of him.
“HOW MANY INNOCENT MEN WILL GET TAKEN DOWN?” he yelled, as he was escorted out. “GEOFFREY RUSH IS AN AUSTRALIAN ICON!”
The four panellists had spent the last 60 minutes illustrating why this movement wasn’t going away. It took just one man, in one second, to succinctly prove their point.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/may/06/metoo-revelations-and-loud-angry-men-the-feminism-flashpoint-of-sydney-writers-festival?CMP=soc_568
Category: Sexual Harassment
New global laws needed to tackle workplace harassment
[F]or every high profile Hollywood harassment incident, there are millions more occurring in everyday workplaces around the world, targeting women who lack the privilege and power to raise their voice about their experience or gain access to any legal recourse.
In fact, in Australia, we know that a disturbingly large proportion of the workforce sees such behaviour as acceptable. Research commissioned by the organisation I lead, CARE Australia, found that 27% of Australian men aged 18-24 think it is ‘Always or sometimes acceptable’ to pinch a colleague’s bottom or wolf-whistle at them*.
What the world’s women need now are stronger laws, and committed implementation of those laws, particularly in developing countries. The international community has the chance to come together and push the International Labour Organization (ILO) – the global body tasked with protecting workers around the world – to formulate a comprehensive set of regulations making it illegal for workplaces to be a place of abuse. CARE urges the Australian Government to push for the creation of a binding convention that bans workplace sexual harassment when the ILO meets later this month.
https://womensagenda.com.au/latest/new-global-laws-needed-to-tackle-workplace-harassment/
More than a hashtag: Nike’s exodus of badly-behaved executives
[A] group of women at Nike were fed up with the toxic culture. They took matters into their own hands and conducted a survey of female staff about the incidence of sexual harassment and gender discrimination.
They put the results on the CEO’s desk and within weeks up to six men had either left the company or announced they would be leaving.
This type of upheaval is unprecedented in so many ways. Not only were there consequences but they were delivered swiftly and they went beyond the predictable offering of a single sacrificial lamb.
It’s genuine change that was forced by a group of women coming together and saying enough is enough. It’s confirmation that when women unite they have power and are a force to be reckoned with. It is proof that time really is up and change isn’t just possible – but achievable.
Around the world women are uniting in various collective actions and it’s far from futile. In the US it started with the #TimesUp legal fund. In the UK women have joined forces to work behind the scenes together to demand equal pay.
Here, Now Australia has been formed as the nonpartisan not-for-profit organisation that can be a port of call for anyone experiencing sexual harassment, assault or intimidation in the workplace.
Now Australia, led by Tracey Spicer, is also fighting for legislative changes: extending the civil statute of limitations, introducing proper protections for freedom of speech and reassessing defamation laws, which protect the rich and powerful.
As anyone invested in gender equality can attest, the fight is maddening and the temptation to lose hope is very real. But, honestly, reading about what those Nike women have achieved made me believe genuine change is underway. The kind of change that back in 2011 I really didn’t believe would ever occur.
Just do it, hey?
https://womensagenda.com.au/latest/eds-blog/why-nikes-exodus-of-badly-behaved-executives-is-so-significant/
Plan International Australia launches bold new campaign to stop women feeling unsafe after dark
In fact, the vast majority of young women aged 18-25 surveyed in research conducted by Plan International Australia, (90%) said they felt unsafe on the streets of Sydney at night, while a further 92% expressed feeling uncomfortable taking public transport alone after dark. Of those, one in three (35%) said they always felt unsafe on public transport at night.
And this campaign isn’t just a local venture. Indeed, Sydney is just one of five cities worldwide where the Free to Be map launches today, including: Delhi, Kampala, Lima, and Madrid. According to Plan International Australia, the campaign is “believed to be the most ambitious crowdsourced data collection project to combat street harassment ever undertaken.”
She hopes the data accrued from this initiative will help to propel government authorities to take the issue more seriously and enact change.
“This data will be provided to city planners, public transport authorities, police and groups responsible for urban safety, so they can make positive changes to make cities safer places for women.”
https://womensagenda.com.au/latest/plan-international-australia-launch-a-bold-new-campaign-to-stop-women-feeling-unsafe-after-dark/
The Fight for Fair Housing’s Forgotten #MeToo Chapter
In 1982, Tammy Shellhammer, a young white woman, walked into the Toledo Fair Housing office because she felt she was the victim of discrimination by her landlord, Norman Lewallen. In their interactions, Lewallen was sexually aggressive with her and had begun to demand that she pose for nude photos, perform oral sex, or have intercourse with him. When she repeatedly refused, Lewallen evicted Tammy and her husband.
After talking with Mrs. Shellhammer, the all-female staff of the center and I knew we had to take this on.” Shanna remembered as we spoke about the case. “I went to the most progressive attorney we knew, C. Thomas McCarter. I told him, ‘This ought to be against the law.’”
“It ought to be, but it isn’t.” he told Smith, “There is no case law to support sexual harassment as the basis for a Fair Housing claim. And most of the women who rent from this guy are black and on welfare. No one is going to believe them. But listen, I am willing to try if you are.”
On December 11, 1983, the New York Times reported “A young couple [should
add that Shellhamer and her husband were both plaintiffs] …have been ruled victims of sexual harassment and are eligible for damages under Title VIII of the Fair Housing Act. The ruling is believed to be the first of its kind under fair housing laws.”
More than 35 years ago, it’s important to remember this other group of courageous silence breakers who revealed how predatory landlords made girls and women subject to sexual assault and violation in their own homes. In fair housing, #MeToo.
https://www.elle.com/culture/career-politics/a19757892/the-fight-for-fair-housings-forgotten-metoo-chapter/?
UN Women creates new role to address sexual harassment and discrimination
UN Women has stepped up its efforts to help end women’s experiences of sexual harassment, by appointing Purna Sen to the newly created role of Executive Coordinator and Spokesperson on Addressing Sexual Harassment and Other Forms of Discrimination.
In response to women’s experiences of sexual harassment, Sen will focus on ensuring actions are being taken in both government administrations and the private sector. This will be achieved in two parts; firstly, by asking women to share their experiences of sexual harassment and assault and secondly, ensuring practices, policies, and laws are enforced to deal with these harassments.
https://womensagenda.com.au/latest/un-women-creates-new-position-to-address-sexual-harassment-and-discrimination/
Molly Ringwald says The Breakfast Club is troubling in #MeToo era
Molly Ringwald, who starred in The Breakfast Club, has admitted she now finds the cult 1980s film “troubling”.
“At one point in the film, the bad-boy character, John Bender, ducks under the table where my character, Claire, is sitting, to hide from a teacher,” she wrote. “While there, he takes the opportunity to peek under Claire’s skirt and, though the audience doesn’t see, it is implied that he touches her inappropriately.”
“What’s more, as I can see now, Bender sexually harasses Claire throughout the film. When he’s not sexualising her, he takes out his rage on her with vicious contempt, calling her ‘pathetic’, mocking her as ‘Queenie’. It’s rejection that inspires his vitriol.”
Ringwald noted that, despite all of this, the film sees him “get the girl in the end”.
“If attitudes toward female subjugation are systemic, and I believe that they are, it stands to reason that the art we consume and sanction plays some part in reinforcing those same attitudes.”
https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2018/apr/07/molly-ringwald-revisiting-the-breakfast-club-was-troubling?
Tracey Spicer launches Now Australia campaign as Tina Arena joins accusers
More than 30 high-profile women from the Australian media and entertainment industries – including Tina Arena, Deborah Mailman, Sarah Blasko and Danielle Cormack – are spearheading a new national organisation, led by Tracey Spicer, to tackle sexual harassment, abuse and assault in workplaces across Australia.
Inspired by the Time’s Up initiative in the US, Now Australia launched a crowdfunding campaign on Sunday, aiming to raise $250,000 to fund a staffed centre that will connect people from every industry with counselling and legal support.
The organisation also hopes to conduct research, education and lobbying to effect real change in Australian workplace practices and regulations.
She said those who were initially emboldened by the #metoo movement to come forward have been scared off after watching how stories like theirs have played out in the press. Craig McLachlan is suing ABC, Fairfax Media and accuser Christie Whelan Browne after allegations made against him in January, and News Corp’s truth defence was thrown out this week in Geoffrey Rush’s defamation case.
“The defamation action that’s happening at the moment has frightened a lot of women from coming forward – and has made some media organisations more reticent about reporting it,” Spicer said.
https://www.marieclaire.com.au/australia-times-up-movement-now
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/mar/25/tracey-spicer-launches-now-australia-campaign-as-tina-arena-joins-accusers
http://www.afr.com/leadership/workplace/tracey-spicer-leads-now-an-australian-answer-to-timesup-antiharassment-movement-20180325-h0xxpi
Time’s up for powerful law partner accused of sexual harassment and misconduct
The powerful man at the centre of a workplace harassment scandal that has rocked mega-firm Herbert Smith Freehills this month is understood to be the firm’s Asia-Pacific regional head for its projects practice, Peter Paradise (pictured).
It is believed that at least two female employees at HSF came forward to make misconduct allegations against Mr Paradise, who has brokered some of the biggest business deals in Australia on behalf of clients including state government departments, Lend Lease Building and AGL Energy.
Mr Paradise is also a serving Sydney FC board director, and in that capacity has provided advice to the other five board directors on relevant legal matters for a number of years.
https://www.lawyersweekly.com.au/biglaw/22913-time-s-up-for-powerful-law-partner-accused-of-sexual-harassment-and-misconduct?
Dear boys: If you want gender parity, it's not enough to show support once a year
I’m frustrated by the way our schools (specifically all-boys schools) celebrate International Women’s Day, because it doesn’t make a difference to the problems we continue to face as women. The display of support for feminism is temporary, and often superficial. The way schools mark IWD conditions boys to think that caring about feminism for one day a year means that they’re off the hook and free to go back to ignoring the problems for the remaining 364.
In many cases, the same boys who take part in these annual demonstrations of supporting feminism at their schools are the very same ones who call my friends and me whores, sluts, bitches, and skanks. The boys who are called “brave” and “courageous” by teachers because they showed up to eat purple cupcakes at an afternoon tea on IWD are the same boys who harass us repeatedly online for naked pictures and whistle at us when we’re waiting at the train station. But this doesn’t seem to matter: as long as those boys pay lip service to women and girls publicly on this one day of the year, any level of actual engagement with feminism and its aims is optional and, frankly, unlikely.
These token displays of feminism do more harm than good for the movement in the long term. Over the course of my high school life, I’ve seen more and more of my male peers dismiss feminism as irrelevant. Our society has conditioned them to think they only need to have a superficial level of awareness about gender equality issues, rather than actually taking part in making change. And as these boys grow into men, we see their interest in feminism dissolve further and further, until the very word is regarded as a dirty one.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/mar/09/dear-boys-if-you-want-gender-parity-its-not-enough-to-show-support-once-a-year?
