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Sue Maslin is one of Australiaās most successful screen producers and has seen āall manner of affirmative action programs come and goā during her time in the film and television industry. But in over 35 years, she has never seen anything like the #metoo and #timeforchange movements.
At a recent forum presented by Women in Film and Television Victoria (WIFT VIC) at Arts Centre Melbourne, Maslin observed that #metoo āfeels like a game-changerā ā but why?
Journalist Tracey Spicer has been spearheading the investigations into sexual harassment and sexual assault in the Australian arts, media and entertainment sectors, together with a team of investigative journalists at Fairfax Media and the ABC.
Appearing alongside Maslin at Timeās Up ā A Forum For Change, Spicer said: āI think a lot of it is in reaction to the Trump presidency. Weāve got to have some kind of common enemy. A āpussy-grabberā as the American President? If thatās not motivating force enough I donāt know what is.ā
She added: āI think this has been a long time coming. Weāll be able to achieve enormous things in the next 10-12 years.ā
Fighting back is the next step
The Harvey Weinstein case in the USA opened the floodgates, encouraging women around the world to speak out about their experiences of sexual harassment and assault.
After #metoo flooded social media, one of the next initiatives in the USA was the Timeās Up campaign; a fundraiser which has raised millions of dollars to support women legally, as well as providing them with counseling and other options, in order to progress their complaints about serial abusers and harassers.
In response to Maslinās query if similar actions are underway locally, Spicer said: āIāve been working for a couple of months with wonderful women from Women in Media, Women in Film and Television, Women in Theatre and Screen, to do a similar thing to Times Up America but much broader, with a much longer term focus.
āI canāt give any more details at the moment because we hope to launch in a couple of weeks, but when we do launch weād love your support, whether itās time volunteering, whether itās a little bit of money as part of the crowd funding thing ā we want it to be pretty broad so weāre going to go to government, weāre going to unions ā we want this to be a really non-partisan, not for profit, collaborative collective that is both grassroots and also includes the powerful people at the top.
āBecause thereās a lot of really important legislative changes that we need in this country. Itās all well and good to tell women to tell their stories, but if the structure is still against them ā if they end up with a black mark against their name ā then thatās not going to achieve much long-term. We need structural change,ā Spicer explained.
Changing the law
Laws around the statute of limitations ā the period of time in which a plaintiff must commence a civil proceeding ā are one of the issues which Spicer and her colleagues are keen to address.
Speaking as āa mere journalistā rather than a legal expert, Spicer said that when she visited a police station to report a troll just after the Harvey Weinstein case had broken, she met with a female police officer who specialised in sexual assault.
ā[The officer] said, āIām really surprised that more women in Australia arenāt coming forward about this,ā and I said I was too. And she said, āLook, itās probably due to the statute of limitations.ā
āWith the criminal statute of limitations people can come forward much later than a civil statute, where they only have six months or a year, a very short period of time when it comes to sexual harassment and indecent assault. Now when someoneās gone through something like that it takes a long time to process it ā it takes years to be able to talk about it. So one of the first legislative things we need changed is an extension on that statute of limitations,ā said Spicer.
Trolls, bots and sock puppets
In terms of practical advice for women campaigning online, Spicer recommended setting certain boundaries in order to protect oneās mental health.
āNo social media before bedtime, that sort of thing. Donāt feed the trolls ā a lot of muting and blocking ā but sometimes it does become too much and thatās where solidarity is important.ā
She gave the practical example of connecting with friends and colleagues via private messenger on Facebook as a means of showing solidarity and providing support when you or someone you know is under attack. This has the added benefit of allowing multiple people to report the same trolls, which adds weight to complaints made to Facebook and other social media sites.
āI donāt know if anyoneās tried to report on social media but itās unnecessarily difficult ā so if youāve got a supportive group you can do that and slowly but surely we can put a few chinks in the armour of those who are trying to attack us,ā Spicer said.
She added that spin-doctors can harness the power of bots to make their pile-on attacks more effective, and so learning to tell the difference between a real troll and a bot could be beneficial ā both in fighting back, and for oneās mental health.
Social media accounts with no profile pictures, with only one or two followers, or which were only set up days or weeks ago, are easily identifiable as bots, Spicer explained.
āItās been really powerful to be able to say to some of my female friends and colleagues, and the young women that I mentor, āSee that? Thatās a bot. See that? Itās got one follower ā thatās a bot. See that egg? Itās a bot.ā And when you find out that a lot of them arenāt actually people, that itās just a coordinated campaign, it makes it a little bit easier.ā
There are also good guides online for spotting bots and sock puppets, Spicer added.
The extent of the problem
To date, Spicer has received over 1700 messages about sexual harassers and serial perpetrators in Australia.
āI was surprised not only by the level of response but by how open women were being,ā she said.
āSome of them were women Iād worked with many years ago and weād never shared our stories of being grabbed on the arse or breast, of being propositioned over drinks, of being threatened with the loss of our jobs if we didnāt sleep with one of the bosses. But now, the power of connectivity and collective action mean that women can share their stories and say “Oh my god, I thought I was the only one.āā
A protection racket
Maslin raised the idea of a āprotection racketā operating in the film and television sector that to date had protected abusers, and referred to a culture, ānot of open collusion but a systemic cultural basis that is protecting this kind of behaviour.ā
Spicer agreed, saying that men had been conditioned to be silent. āI know a lot of these blokes ā my husbandās a cameraman ā and I said them to them, why did you do this [i.e. remain silent]? They said: āWe were frightened to speak out ā we were frightened someone would laugh at us if we called out sexual harassment or indecent assault.ā
āSo first of all thereās this clubby aspect where men are frightened to speak out ā we need to teach men how to be good bystanders. Thereās a lot of men who want to help out with this movement; we need to give them the tools to be able to do that.
āBut with regard to the protection racket at the very top, a lot of itās got to do with money. You know, āthe show must go onā. Look at the amount of jobs that can be lost if someone is called out. Whereas I always say: look at the generations of women that have been lost to this industry and other industries because theyāre sick of being sexually harassed in their workplace ā they have not been safe in their workplaces. So the protection racket is gender based and power based,ā Spicer said.
Not just a womanās problem
Maslin stressed that the entrenched bullying and sexism in the screen sector and elsewhere doesnāt just impact on women.
āThis is not a womenās problem ā this is all of our problem,ā she said. āWe wonāt solve this until men and women equally recognise that we are doing a disservice ā a disservice to our children, to our audiences, to our culture, unless we really, really address this.ā
Spicer added: āFor every single person who has complained about sexual harassment in the workplace as part of our investigation, Iāve had other people come forward from the same workplace who say, āNot only was that guy a sexual harasser of women, he was bullying men as well ā men who didnāt fit that classic āalpha maleā stereotype.ā
āSo thatās why this [campaign] is good for women, itās good for men, itās good for workplaces, itās good for society,ā Spicer stressed.
How can we support women who come forward?
āThere are so many ways that you can support women and please do that,ā said Spicer.
āPlease support them on social media. Please send a card or a letter to their place of work. When women are going through this, it feels like the mob is piling on, and I cannot overestimate the importance of them knowing that theyāre not alone.ā
Why the backlash?
As the momentum of #metoo and related campaigns has continued, there has been a backlash in some sectors, with men in positions of power ā and some women ā decrying the rise of āwitch huntsā.
In response, Spicer noted that the history of feminism is not linear.
āIt comes in fits and starts ā and every time there is a surge forward there is a backlash from those who are possibly going to lose their power. My friend Jane Caro said the best thing a few years ago and it really stuck with me: āWhen thereās a backlash you know that youāre getting somewhere, because if youāre not getting somewhere people wonāt be fighting back.āā
Screen culture specifics
Maslin asked: āIs there something about the way we conduct our business, our culture, our industry that the power imbalances are endemic? [Does] the way we greenlight productions and the way that productions are cast and the way that the hierarchical structures operate ā make our industry different?ā
Spicerās answer: āDefinitely. You look at the broader media and entertainment industry ā youāve got a small amount of men with massive power, and huge numbers of women in lower paid, lower profile, lower power roles.ā
In turn she asked Maslin if the situation in the screen sector had changed much over the past 30 years.
āWell, women in key creative roles have remained consistently under-represented for a very long time ā writing, directing, producing ā and then thatās extended into heads of department and more traditional roles,ā replied Maslin.
āBut the areas Iām most interested in are in key executive and leadership roles ā that is amongst the people who shape screen culture. So looking at the commissioning editors, the distributors, the producers, the directors ā overwhelmingly itās a very male culture. And the key people who sit around tables deciding what goes on our screens and what stories get told overwhelmingly are male.ā
Maslin said in her many years in the industry she had seen āall manner of affirmative action programs come and go,ā and they have not changed the screen industry ā it is still strongly male dominated.
āIāve come to the conclusion that the best way to shift it is to shift the culture of leadership at the top, and have more women at the table making those decisions. That will be the key, because a lot of the flow-on from that power imbalance will start to be shaped by having at least a more diverse representation.ā
In conclusion
The pairās conversation finished with Maslin saying: āWe can take some comfort in knowing that this is not just happening here; this is a worldwide phenomenon ⦠and to echo my opening comments, I feel like it is a game-changing moment. This is a once in a generation opportunity to really shift the culture, and part of that is because right across the board, all of our industries are going through massive disruption at the moment.
āIt has also coincided with the fact that the Baby Boomers ā myself included ā thankfully are on the way through and out. So thereās going to be an opportunity for young women ⦠who will probably do things a hell of a lot differently going forward,ā she said.
Spicer urged people, especially younger people in the screen, arts, cultural and media sectors to remember that, āYou are the change-makers of tomorrow … I urge all of you to use a combination of data and storytelling ā I know weāve got a lot of storytellers in the room ā but thatās what changes societies. Thatās whatās going to change our future.ā
Acknowledging the slogan on her t-shirt, Spicer added: āYou are stronger than you think.ā
This article is based on discussions which took place at Timeās Up ā A Forum For Change, presented by WIFT VIC and held at Arts Centre Melbourne on Monday 26 February 2018.