Iranian female filmmakers protest against the "trend" of violence and sexual harassment; the cinema house should "form an independent committee"
Dozens of women working in cinema in Iran issued a statement on Thursday protesting the prevalence of "sexual violence and harassment" in their workplace and calling for punishment for violators.
The statement, signed by figures such as Niki Karimi, Hedeyeh Tehrani, Pouran Derakhshandeh, Taraneh Alidoosti, Hanieh Tavassoli, Tahmineh Milani, and Mitra Hajjar, says that in the Iranian cinema system, "any person with power and fame" can "exploit their position to bully, threaten, insult, humiliate, and assault women, without legal institutions, cinema guilds, filmmakers, and critics forcing them to answer and accept responsibility for their work."
Referring to the social movement "Man Ham", the signatories of the statement have listed a list of harassment against women in Iranian cinema, including "insults with sexual and gendered language", "abuse of silence and tolerance by taking the right to work for pay hostage", "sexual violence by threatening the victim's job position", "unwanted physical contact", "insisting and forcing sexual acts", and finally "physical violence and rape".
The aforementioned statement considers sexual violence against Iranian female filmmakers to be "systematic" and emphasizes: "Not only is there no mechanism to prevent those in power from committing violence, but in an unwritten agreement, violence against women in the workplace has been normalized and there are no serious consequences for the perpetrator."
The statement then goes on to state the main demand of its signatories, which is “to work in a safe environment free from bullying, violence, and sexual blackmail.” To this end, the signatories of the statement have emphasized the need to form an independent committee within the cinema to investigate crimes of sexual and gender-based violence.
A support mechanism through trade unions to encourage victims of violence to come forward, foreseeing these mechanisms in employment contracts, considering cash fines, and suspending the activities of violators are other things that female filmmakers have called for.
The statement ultimately emphasizes the resistance of Iranian female filmmakers to stop this violence and says that the aforementioned proposals are an initial step towards putting an end to sexual violence in the workplace.
Other signatories of the statement include Vishka Asayesh, Fereshteh Hosseini, Parinaz Izadiar, Leili Rashidi, Shaghayegh Dehghan, Katayoun Riahi, Negar Javaherian, and Setareh Eskandari.
Source: Radio Farda
