During the fall of 2017 the world was shaken by the testimonies of #metoo. Several brave women spoke out, and turned the spark that Tarana Burke lit 10 years ago into a roaring forest fire.
Last fall, over 700 Swedish actresses stood together to tell our stories about the sexual harassment we’ve experienced and witnessed in our industry. Two weeks later we told our stories on stages across the country.
#tystnadtagning opened the floodgates for testimonies from hundreds of thousands of women, and movements where women from all walks of life came together to share their experiences. 64 hashtags were created by women in diverse industries. Lawyers, construction workers, teachers, doctors, nurses and chefs finally said ENOUGH. The movement sparked both political action and international attention, and changed women’s lives forever.
My name is Eva Röse. I’m an actress and a member of the Swedish movement #tystnadtagning – silence, action. That was footage from The Swedish Film Awards a few months ago, where tystnadtagning read parts of our manifesto, and presented our hopes for a better future.
I’m here today to talk about the future, about the next steps, and why we have to take them. #tystnadtagning has inspired similar movements in Denmark, Norway, Finland, France and the US and many other countries and industries. We can’t stop, we won’t stop, and we will not be quiet.
Armed with facts and our experiences, #tystnadtagning stood united, and spoke with one voice. All testimonies about our collective experience were published anonymously. One for all and all for one. We wanted to show that the specifics of exactly what happened to whom is less important than the fact that these things happen all the time, to all of us.
We wanted to shine a light on the systemic oppression of women. We also wanted to turn on the light to scare the monsters away. We wanted to show ourselves, and each other, that we have nothing to be ashamed of. Our goal is that we’ll have nothing to fear.
If we want to put an end to this and take the next step we need to focus on the structures, not on individuals. We believe that we have to reflect on our industry, and the world, as a whole, not single out specific people and take false comfort in the notion that the problem is “some people”. “Those guys”. “Them, not us”.
#tystnadtagning has not and will not publicly shame specific individuals.
And we will not be quiet. Inequality is a lived experience. The need for equality is not a matter of opinion, it’s not an ideology, and it’s not negotiable. Let me be very clear: this is not a battles of the sexes. This is not women against men.
This is a global movement for human rights. This is about creating a better world for all of us – regardless of gender,age, regardless of where we came from, what we look like,who we love and how able our bodies are. A world where we all can be freer, less afraid, and more ourselves.
We demand zero tolerance for all forms of sexualized and gender based oppression. We demand that the responsibility is placed where it belongs: with perpetrators and their enablers. We will speak truth to power.
”Good intensions” are not enough, and unless we stand up and speak out against inequality , we are part of the problem.
We have to talk about power and money.
We have to talk about power structures and the force of habit.
We have to talk about all those things we’ve taken for granted for so long, but that just won’t work anymore.
Let’s face it: even so called “creative geniuses” will have to operate in an environment that’s safe for others. Times up. You don’t have to be a jackass to make great art.
There is a new dawn coming and we have to hit the reset button. We’ll have to imagine a world that none of us have experienced yet. A world where respect, consent and compassion are paramount. We haven’t lived it, but we’ve imagined it, we dreamed of it, and we fought for it for centuries. We can make it happen.
Some of us in this room hold a lot of power. As we all know: with great power comes great responsibility. Please. Use it wisely. Get woke. And use your platform for change. You are all in this room – we are all in this room – because we want to see change. We have to create change at every step of the way. With every decision we make.
How can each and every one of us contribute to a more equal world?
Do our actions contribute to the status quo – financially, structurally, emotionally – or do we break new ground?
Which material gets produced, by whom, and which parts of the cultural canon do we uphold? Who´s stories do we tell , and who gets our support? Do we demand that women are being paid as much as men? If not,why?
Are we creating new classics or holding on to the past?
Culture and entertainment are reflections of our time, but it also has the power to shape our world, to determine who has a voice, and who is voiceless, powerless and unseen.
WE are the storytellers. We are here in Cannes to celebrate stories beautifully told. I’d like to encourage all of us to make this moment the beginning of a new story.
It’s not a small step, it’s a giant leap.
Let’s do it together.
No more Silence – just Action!
Thank you.