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CANNES

Actress Asia Argento: Cannes was Weinstein’s ‘hunting ground’

Asia Argento, the Italian actress who has said she was raped by disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein at the Cannes film festival, said he would never be welcome there again.

Actress Asia Argento: Cannes was Weinstein's 'hunting ground'
Italian actress Asia Argento gestures on stage during the closing ceremony of the 71st edition of the Cannes Film Festival. Photo: VALERY HACHE / AFP
“Shoplifters”, a heartwrenching family tale by Japanese veteran director Hirokazu Kore-eda, may have won the Palme d'Or top prize at the Cannes film festival on Saturday, but the most stunning moment of the night came when Argento, who has said she was raped by Weinstein at Cannes in 1997, took the microphone and vowed to fight for justice for other victims.
 
“This festival was his hunting ground,” said Argento, who says she was 21 when Weinstein attacked her in his hotel room. 
 
“Even tonight sitting among you there are those who still have to be held accountable for their conduct against women. We know who you are and we are not going to allow you to get away with it any longer,” she said to cheers from the audience.
 
Minutes before the actress took the stage police in Paris said they had opened a criminal probe against one of France's best-known directors, “The Fifth Element” maker Luc Besson, for allegedly raping an actress.
 
The #MeToo movement permeated this year's awards. Hollywood stars including Blanchett, Kristen Stewart, Helen Mirren and Salma Hayek and directors Ava DuVernay and Patty Jenkins joined a red-carpet protest to demand equal opportunities for women and a “safe workplace”. Two days later, festival organisers signed a pledge to encourage more diversity in its selection by 2020. 

METOO

‘When I said no’: Danish women in campaign against sexual assault victim blaming

Women in Denmark have joined a social media movement responding to victim blaming of women who have suffered sexual violence and harassment.

'When I said no': Danish women in campaign against sexual assault victim blaming
Illustration file photo: Issei Kato/Reuters/Ritzau Scanpi

Using the hashtag #dajegsagdefra, which translates loosely to ‘when I said no’, women have described assault, attacks, violence, harassment and humiliation against them which occurred or continued after they rejected the advances of an attacker.

The hashtag began to trend in response to social media comments suggesting women can avoid being assaulted simply by firmly ‘saying no’ (ved at sige fra). Such comments have been criticised as an attempt to place responsibility for sexual assault, violence and harassment with victims.

The discussion is linked to Denmark’s #MeToo debate, which remains a prominent issue in the country after thousands of women shared stories of sexual harassment in late 2020.

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 In the hashtagged tweets, the women describe situations of sexual assault or harassment which escalated after they told the aggressor to stop.

Kirstine Holst, the chairperson of support organisation Voldtægtsofres Vilkår, is among those to have shared personal accounts.

“When I said no I was held by the throat and raped”, Holst’s tweet reads.

Another voice in the Danish debate, Khaterah Parwani, is also among those to have tweeted using the hashtag.

Parwani is director of Løft, an organisation which works against negative social control.

She described several incidents in which she was subjected to violence and abuse after saying no to an aggressor, including being “unrecognisable at hospital” after an attack and “beaten up in a car and lying bleeding on a wet pavement”.

A number of Twitter uses in Denmark also highlighted on Tuesday a report issued by police in North Zealand of an incident in which a 22-year-old man punched and kicked a 15-year-old girl after she asked him to stop whistling at her and friends, and told him her age.

That incident occurred in the town of Espergærde.

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