“Dirty female dog”, “feminazi”, “you’re ugly”, “eat my seed”. Many of them take the brunt of these insults launched online every day, which directly attack their body, their sexuality or their integrity for the sole purpose of silencing them. This hatred has a name: it is misogyny. With their feature documentary I salute you bitchthe directors Léa Clermont-Dion and Guylaine Maroist wish to show, without any filter, the violence of this phenomenon and its consequences in the lives of the women who are its victims.
“We want people to understand, but above all that they feel what these women are going through, that they put themselves in their shoes, that they live their nightmare”, drops Guylaine Maroist straight away, met by the To have to with Léa Clermont-Dion, a week before the official release of their film in cinemas on September 9.
This immersion is done above all through the poignant story of four women, with very different backgrounds, but all of whom have experienced misogyny online for years and seen this hatred cross the screen to disrupt their daily lives.
Among these women testifying on the screen, we find the former president of the Italian Parliament Laura Boldrini, constantly threatened with death and rape, and who even received a bullet from a pistol one day. There is also ex-African-American politician Kiah Morris, who, after years of harassment and threats online by members of the far right, had to resign and move on. French feminist and YouTuber Marion Seclin has received more than 40,000 sexist messages and rape and death threats after posting a video about street harassment. And Laurence Gratton, a Quebec teacher, was harassed for five years by a former classmate.
” The truth “
Through their stories, we understand that these insults and threats they received on a daily basis plunged them into a continual fear of being attacked anywhere, anytime, in real life. “These women, they live like in a horror movie”, points out Guylaine Maroist. It is moreover in this atmosphere that the duo of directors wanted to plunge the spectators, by abundantly using shocking images, obscene words and distressing music.
“Why preserve the public when we see so many hate messages like that? It would be hypocritical on our part, underlines Léa Clermont-Dion. It’s the truth that we went looking for, that we want to show. »
In addition to these four main testimonies, the documentary gives voice to Glen Canning, whose daughter, Rehtaeh Parsons, took her own life after being raped and seeing the images of her attack go viral on the Web.
To better document the phenomenon, the directors also went to meet various experts, including none other than the author and specialist in online misogyny Donna Zuckerberg, who is also the sister of Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook. The latter, who is rarely seen on screen, does not hesitate to criticize the lack of action of digital platforms, including that of her brother, in terms of cyberbullying and hate messages.
Because this is one of the main problems: the leaders of digital platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, YouTube or Twitter promote the idea that one can express oneself freely on their social network, thus turning a blind eye to the explosion of online hate. As for the police forces, the laws rarely give them the possibility of taking action to put an end to it and arrest the culprits.
Why preserve the public when we see so many hate messages like that? It would be hypocritical on our part. It’s the truth that we went looking for, that we want to show.
“For things to change, people need to be made aware of this serious phenomenon. We want our film to be used as a tool for prevention and education to counter the trivialization of online misogyny,” hopes Léa Clermont-Dion.
long-term work
Delighted to finally see their documentary released on the big screen, the two women do not hide having done a titanic job to get there. “The genesis dates back to 2015, explains Léa Clermont-Dion. I saw there was growing discomfort online with women speaking out. I myself had experienced sexist attacks because I spoke out on political issues. I wanted to dig into the question and I approached Guylaine. »
Seven years were necessary for the project to succeed. The longest part, explains the duo, was to convince the speakers to participate. “Making a documentary like that doesn’t seem like much, but it takes time, it’s energy for the workers. We follow them for a long time, we enter into their intimacy, we do business, underlines Guylaine Maroist. There is also the reluctance to be considered just a victim, some do not want to be associated only with this event in their life. »
The directors also had to face numerous refusals and withdrawals at the very last minute from some women who feared for their safety.
” We understand. We too were a little scared at one point, ”says Léa Clermont-Dion, explaining that the duo received strange anonymous calls when the project was announced publicly.
Both women have also experienced misogyny online in the past, which at the time had the effect of stopping them from speaking out publicly.
“Stories like that, we have all experienced them, says Guylaine Maroist. One only has to watch the news to see the increase in cases of cyberviolence, she notes. And more and more, this violence crosses the screen, we saw it with the case of Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland lately. This is worrying, and it makes our feature film even more relevant than ever. »
I salute you bitch opens in theaters September 9.