As we mark five years of #MeToo these days, we are publishing three excerpts from the book What’s left of #MeToo? of the journalist To have to Ameli Pineda.
Journalist Améli Pineda describes behind the scenes of her investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct alleged against Gilbert Rozon, at the time president of the Just for Laughs Group. In this clip, she meets some of the women who speak out against him, hoping to get face-to-face interviews and get their stories published.
This morning, we are, together, witnesses of this first meeting where they confide in what they would have experienced. What strikes me in their testimonies is the similarity of the unfolding of events, the pattern that repeats itself, while the allegations are spread over three decades. The frequency of gestures is striking.
In turn, Lyne Charlebois, Geneviève Allard-Lorange, Pénélope McQuade and Salomé Corbo express themselves with energy, ardor and nervousness. Lyne Charlebois paces from one end of the table to the other, vaping. Salomé Corbo swings with concentration. Penelope McQuade and Geneviève Allard –
Lorange are constantly called on their cellphones by other journalists. Lyne Charlebois’ post on Facebook continues to generate comments and other women are coming forward in her private messaging. She informs them that a meeting is in progress.
The four women recount being inhabited by shame and strangled by a feeling of guilt. What is happening in the United States with Harvey Weinstein has shaken them all and it has stirred in them a deep desire to speak out and open the discussion on behavior that has been trivialized for too long.
“There are other names floating around,” one of them told us.
– Oh yes?, we answer almost in chorus.
— The Press works on Éric Salvail too, she reveals.
I understand that something is about to burst.
Around noon, a fifth woman comes to the shop. I see her come in with a bang, like when you rush to the emergency room of a hospital. For a split second, I feel like I’m watching a reunion. One of the women already present gets up and they hug each other, visibly happy to be together. ” It has been a long time ! they exclaim. Then, we see them freeze, eye to eye, under our gaze. They both burst into tears. “No, no, no, not you too. They nod.
The publication of this survey is based on the trust placed in us by these women. Their fears are palpable. They want to talk, but they are afraid.
A year before #MeToo, Alice Paquet had publicly declared that she had been sexually assaulted by a Liberal member of the National Assembly, Gerry Sklavounos, whom she had not named. The case caused a scandal. In this excerpt, Alice Paquet, interviewed by Améli Pineda, reflects on the repercussions of the #MeToo movement on the media’s treatment of public denunciations of sexual assault.
#MeToo has changed the journalistic treatment of denunciations of sexual assault, which have increasingly become subjects of investigation and in-depth reporting.
In 2016, Alice Paquet claimed to have lost control over her story in an open letter published in The duty.
“While I had been presented first as a confused girl, then as an ex-prostitute, everything was done to erode the strength and credibility of my word. What shocks me is that my private life was searched for details that only served to divert public attention from the assault I suffered and to cover up the main issue — in this case the systematic trivialization and minimization of sexual violence against women.
An article from Quebec newspaper does indicate that “disturbing revelations” about me have come to light as a result of research by a blogger. We learn in particular that I have already been an escort, as if such information had an impact on the breach of consent of which I was the victim, like so many women. This intrusion into my private life does not only appear to me as inappropriate voyeurism, but constitutes the extension of a long tradition of denigration of women who dare to speak about subjects such as rape or harassment, in public as in private. I have become – somewhat in spite of myself – the spokesperson for the current feminist response, but I remain a spectator of a steep slope that terrifies me and that does not even seem to belong to me anymore: my private life. »
Six years later, Alice Paquet tells me that if she had spoken out in October 2017, her allegations would have been treated differently by journalists. She may not be wrong, but there are other factors to consider, such as the political storm that her denunciation caused within the Liberal Party of Quebec, the fact that she was not ready to manage his relationship with the media, the fact that his reputation has been called into question.
“What frustrates me is the absence of consequences for the journalistic violence that certain people are subjected to. The way I was treated, I have flashbacks of my dad opening the newspapers, my sister hearing horrible things about me that she shouldn’t have heard. There should have been consequences because you can’t treat someone like that and expect them to live a normal life afterwards. Me, I find myself all the time on the BS [l’aide sociale]. […] I’m disabled for life, I’m PTSD [trouble de stress post-traumatique] at the end, everything triggers me. »
One thing is certain, her denunciation, she paid the price.
Hosts Pénélope McQuade and Julie Snyder speak out during the #MeToo movement alleging they were sexually assaulted by Gilbert Rozon. In this excerpt, they describe the effect of the movement on Quebec society five years after the first wave of denunciation.
For host Pénélope McQuade, one of the legacies of the movement is the transformation of judicial institutions. “The biggest repercussion of #MeToo in Quebec, in my opinion, is what is happening with the specialized tribunal, which is, in my opinion, a direct consequence of the reflections that we have had globally on the mistrust of certain victims. towards the system. That is extremely positive because if we look at what seems to be happening in Spain [avec les tribunaux spécialisés], this testifies to the fact that there are not only more denunciations, but also more convictions. »
” [Avec #MoiAussi], the women said to themselves: “It can’t be a sword in the water”, there is something that has become bigger and the fact that it has become global, I think we will not be able to never say we don’t know again. We can choose to believe or not, but we can never again say that it doesn’t exist, that it’s fads, that it’s revenge, that it’s false testimony, because the weight of numbers makes so that it’s just impossible not to believe anyone and to tell yourself that there isn’t something of such magnitude, which has become obvious. »
The year 2017 led to significant social transformations, according to host Julie Snyder. “There is a before and after #MeToo and like in any revolution, there are positives and things to improve. I think that we have changed the codes of society and it has been a great liberation for many victims, men too, and even if for many the justice system has not been able to do them justice, today when these people talk about it with those around them, they don’t get told “just stop it” or “it’s not that bad” or “you’re fighting with the guys”. We don’t get told things like that anymore. »
The legacy of this movement is very concrete, says Julie Snyder. “There has really been a change and I will be able to remember that I experienced the before and after #MeToo, as my daughter turns 13 and she grew up with it. She enters adolescence carried by this wave. My daughter, her feminism is super assumed, something that we weren’t able to experience. We apologized for being. »