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9
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Sexual Harassment in the Film Industry: Female Workers Become Targets
Writer
Reza Rizaldy
Published on
The shadow of sexual violence in the film world does not only haunt artists as in the #metoo era. Female film crews in the production line of film or video production industries such as videographers, production designers, and makeup & wardrobe are at risk of sexual violence. The root of the problem lies in the fact that this creative industry is dominated by men who are still patriarchal and have weak human resource management.
Requirements to Be Art Director: Must ‘Sleep Over’ with the Producer
El (a pseudonym) has experienced sexual violence three times while pursuing a career in production house. The first case of sexual harassment that El experienced was when she was 19 years old.
The perpetrator was a video editing mentor at El's internship who she had trusted and admired. The perpetrator sent non-consensual intimate images.
“No context at all, suddenly he asked me what my fetish was. When I ignored it, that night he asked to exchange nude photos. I refused, but he sent 7 dick pics. I was shocked and I immediately slammed my phone,” said El.
After the incident, El tried to report her colleague's behavior to the company's HR. The result was unexpected; the company immediately fired the perpetrator dishonorably.
Another opportunity came, she was invited to be a crew production designer in another production house for a web series. In one team, El was the only woman. While El was sleeping at the shooting location, one of the 'bosses' of that production house came and lay next to her, whispering in her ear, “Let’s just be my wife,” said the perpetrator.
It did not stop there; the perpetrator even kissed El's forehead without consent. El fought back, and the perpetrator left.
The next day, El told the producer, the person who invited her to work, about the incident that night. The producer was surprised that her work partner would do such a thing.
As a result of the incident, El grew closer to her producer, someone she trusted and felt safe with because he knew about the case affecting her.
Once again, El got a chance to advance her career in the film world. Her producer offered El to work as a production designer on a film project.
Unexpectedly, one of the requirements to become an art director was that El had to ‘sleep over’ with her producer, someone she had trusted. El's trust in her producer was gone.
Related to Power Relations in Work Status
El had experienced psychological trauma that required her to frequently visit a psychologist for recovery. She had considered reporting the case to law enforcement, but ultimately did not because she feared it would be considered trivial. In the last two incidents, El could not do much to report to the HR of the production house. This was due to El's status as a freelance worker in a project.
Indeed, the imbalance of power relations in work status is one of the factors leading to sexual violence in the workplace. 10% of workers survivors of sexual harassment while WfH (work from home) are freelancers (Never Okay Project & SAFEnet, 2020).
El is not alone; sexual harassment in the film industry is like an iceberg. Female artists and crew are often easy targets within this boys club in the film industry. This industry is still dominated by men, leading to a predominantly patriarchal culture.
If Reporting Can Cost Honor
Actor and singer Mian Tiara once experienced a bitterly similar experience in the film industry. She faced harassment from a senior actor during the shooting process. While doing a reading of the script with that actor, he deliberately grabbed her thigh. Mian was shocked and felt uncomfortable during filming.
Source: Tweet @miantiara (2020)
Initially, Mian did not want to discuss this because she feared it would jeopardize her film career. However, she realized that if she remained silent, this cycle of violence would continue in the creative industry. She decided to tweet about her case on Twitter and network with other actors and media colleagues.
One of the actors who helped Mian was Hannah Al Rashid. Hannah was concerned about the cycle of violence in the film industry. She was aware that the handling of such cases is still weak in the film community. When victims report incidents, there is a fear that actors will lose their careers midway.
“These people are strong and there are no protocols, so we use a warning system,” said Hannah, quoted from tirto.id (2020).
Almost All Female Film Activists Experience Sexual Violence
Sexual violence in the film industry is not a trivial complaint from female actors. Research by USA Today and The Creative Coalition, Women in Film and Television (2018) found that 94% of 843 women working in the entertainment world have experienced sexual violence. Not only actors but all production lines, including scriptwriters, producers, editors, and supporting crew.
What forms does sexual violence take? Certainly, various types can be found. Comments or porn jokes are the most commonly committed acts, with 87% of respondents reporting they have experienced it. 75% of respondents have witnessed immoral behavior, and 69% have been sexually touched.
There are also cases of harassment taking the form of spontaneous nudity commands during auditions. 10% of respondents admitted to experiencing this.
Source: How common is sexual misconduct in Hollywood?, USA Today, 2020
From this research, it can be inferred that very few women report their cases. Only 25% of victims report sexual violence to the authorities. Only 28% of those reports are followed up upon and lead to changes in the working system.
How can victims not report? The fear of career stagnation is just one reason; more severely, 40% of them do not trust the system for handling sexual violence in the film industry. Most film industries do not have human resources departments, and there are no protection mechanisms. The majority of film activists are contract workers for a single film project.
Forced to Engage in Sexual Activities for Career Advancement
“Because I get work through client referrals, I’m reluctant to speak about sexual violence because I'm afraid of losing clients,” said one respondent in the USA Today report.
Even more tragically, 20% of women are forced to engage in sexual activities to advance their careers in the film world. 65% of respondents know of film activists who have advanced careers due to sexual transactions.
Who are the perpetrators? Similar to a broken record, it's always the same. The perpetrators are men who exploit their power in film. 29% of perpetrators are directors, agents, producers, and other positions of power. 24% are other colleagues, and 20% are supervisors. Among famous actors, the percentage reaches 10%. Essentially, anyone can potentially be a perpetrator within this boys club.
Boys Club and Toxic Work Systems
The film industry has been predominantly male for years, from conceptualizers to crew members. This was evidenced by research conducted by a British screenwriter in 2014 (The Guardian, 2014). Between 1994 and 2014, 75% of male workers were involved in the making of 2,000 famous films. Female workers only accounted for 22% of film production.
The 22% representation of women in film is also very insignificant. Most of them are placed in makeup, wardrobe, and casting departments, which are closely associated with femininity. Women in visual effects make up 17.5%, 16% in the music department, and 5% in camerawork and electrical work.
In the minimally physical creative lines, women are few. From surveys of workers in 2,000 films, female film editors comprise only 13%, writers 10%, and directors 5%.
Stephen also feels uneasy about gender inequality in the film industry and hopes for more female representation in the future. “I don’t think film institutions are sexist, I just can’t believe this issue has become a conversation, and I hope the gender separation in films will change,” he said, quoted from The Guardian.
The Stronghold of Male Dominance in the Film Industry
This male dominance creates an environment that is very much a 'boys club'. Can you imagine if a hangout is filled with men and only one woman is present? You can guess the jokes and topics of conversation that are highly likely to be lewd, sidelining the existence of that woman. This is reinforced by the statement of American legal advisor Emily Martin. “This is a male-dominated industry, which always poses a significant risk for harassment,” she said, quoted from Huffington Post (2018).
Women’s vulnerability to being victims of harassment is exacerbated by toxic work systems. The work systems in most film industries, both in Indonesia and Hollywood, remain chaotic.
For instance, in Hollywood, there are many stakeholders involved in the making of a film. There are funding studios, production houses writing scripts, animation, audio, or visual effects production houses, and crew suppliers for camera, makeup, and other support divisions. Imagine in one project, there are several people in charge whose bosses differ as well. The bond among workers is weak, which may lead to a passing of responsibility regarding privacy issues.
American entertainment and media analyst, Kate Fortmueller, argues that although the crew is tightly controlled within a project, it does not guarantee individual security due to the large number of parties involved. Moreover, the recruitment system for film workers is based on word of mouth, thus prioritizing personal reputation and making sabotage likely to occur.
“The current industry structure, which values flexibility, competitiveness, and the ability to find newer and cheaper partners and employees, is at odds with any kind of clear reporting structure,” she stated.
Another toxic system, according to film analyst Adrian Jonathan Pasaribu, is the recruitment of volunteers and interns. Of course, if these volunteers are employed and guided well, the results will be beneficial. However, in many cases, volunteers, the majority of whom are film students, are exploited by their mentors or supervisors for sexual purposes. They are promised permanent work on the condition that they must satisfy their mentors sexually.
“So what often happens is when there is a power relationship, almost all of the victims are women,” Adrian remarked in NOBAR NOP issue on Sexual Harassment in the Film Industry (4/7/2020).
American legal observers, Martin, stated that labor unions also do not help much if the leadership's commitment is weak. Even though there are various laws to protect workers' rights, it can be weak if people only focus on the mindset of just get it done and released. “Assuming your labor union behaves properly, it definitely can make rights far more tangible and enforceable,” she emphasized in Huffington Post (The Huffington Post, 2018).
References:
Adam, A. (2020, February 16). Sexual Harassment in the Film Industry and Mian Tiara's Clear Voice. tirto.id. Retrieved October 18, 2021, from https://tirto.id/pelecehan-seksual-di-industri-film-dan-suara-nyalang-mian-tiara-ey1Q.
Fallon, Claire & Emma Gray. (2018, 15 March). For Women Behind the Camera, Sexual Harassment is Part of the Job. The Huffington Post. Retrieved October 16, 2021, from https://www.huffpost.com/entry/women-film-crew-member-sexual-harassment_n_5aa81eeee4b001c8bf147bf8.
Petersen, H. E. (2014, 22 July). Gender Bias in the Film: 75% Blockbusters Crew are Male. The Guardian. Retrieved October 18, 2021, from https://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/jul/22/gender-bias-film-industry-75-percent-male.
Puente, M., & Kelly, C. (2018, February 23). How common is sexual misconduct in Hollywood? USA Today. Retrieved October 18, 2021, from https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/people/2018/02/20/how-common-sexual-misconduct-hollywood/1083964001/.
Writer: Reza Rizaldy
Editor: Muhammad Firhat
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Mengapa Saksi Sering Memilih Diam?
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Just Pretend to Be Good: About the Well-being of Lecturers in Indonesia
Lecturers so far seem to have no problems, maybe it’s because we are in denial. We pretend to be okay. So it’s like (we need) awareness that we are not okay, awareness that something needs to change, awareness that we are the working class who are very likely to be oppressed in our work fulfillment relationships.” – Nabiyla Risfa Azzati, representative of the Lecturer Welfare Research Team (2023)
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Survey by the Lecturer Welfare Research Team (UGM-UI-Unram, 2023) shows that 42.9% of lecturers earn below Rp3 million. About 35% of them feel that their monthly income does not match their workload and qualifications as lecturers. Moreover, nearly one-third of respondents reported spending monthly living costs of Rp3-5 million.
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The representative of the Lecturer Welfare Research Team, Nabiyla Risfa Azzati, stated that this research shows the fact that many lecturers are not prosperous. The labor law lecturer at UGM noted that more than 40% of lecturers earning below Rp3 million is a red flag.
“This speaks about a profession that on one hand requires very high qualifications to enter, therefore its barrier is very high, while on the other hand, this profession also becomes the backbone of knowledge creation,” emphasized Nabiyla when met by the Never Okay Project (NOP) team.
Issues of Lecturer Welfare Rarely Discussed
Nabiyla revealed that the welfare of lecturers is rarely raised. This is why this research was conducted: to make this issue mainstream so that the parties concerned can be more open and acknowledge that there are problems.
“Because if we can acknowledge that there is a problem, we can start from there, we can look for solutions together. If we don’t even admit there’s a problem, it’s very difficult, right?” she said.
Nabiyla realizes that discussions about salaries are still considered taboo, especially for the teaching profession, which is considered noble and carries a certain social status. She also acknowledges that it is not difficult to find prosperous lecturers. However, that does not mean we should turn a blind eye to the 42.9% of respondents who earn less than Rp3 million.
“If my life is used as an example, lecturers are fine. But there are many other lecturers who are not okay,” she said.
Lecturers No Longer an Attractive Career Choice
The results of this research also seem to answer an assumption that being a lecturer is no longer an attractive choice. “How can we attract quality individuals to work in a profession that in its early stages cannot provide welfare. Like it’s impossible,” she said.
Nabiyla also mentioned the high resignation rate from CASN (Civil Service Candidates) lecturers. This indicates that something is wrong.
“This actually shows that there’s something wrong, we do not value people who actually want to dedicate their time to knowledge creation in Indonesia,” she explained.
Read also: Violence Against Journalists: From Sexual to KBGO
Ideal Salary Standards for Lecturers
Discussing ideal salaries for lecturers is quite complicated. This is because the benchmark for fair wages in Indonesia refers to the minimum wage, which in this context is the standard of Decent Living Needs (KHL). However, this context is considered less suitable when talking about lecturer salaries.
“Why? Because first, the barrier to becoming a lecturer is high, so this should be seen as a profession that should not be valued at bare minimum,” explained Nabiyla.
She compared it to other countries that generally do not value lecturer salaries at minimum wage. The reason is that lecturer salaries there are negotiated. In Indonesia, sector-based negotiations are nearly non-existent, so the Lecturer Welfare Research Team cannot answer how to provide an ideal standard for lecturers.
Comparing Lecturer Salaries with Neighboring Countries
The Lecturer Welfare Research Team attempted to compare lecturer salaries in Indonesia with comparable neighboring countries, namely Malaysia and Thailand. The results are quite shocking. The average lecturer salary in Malaysia is Rp 20-25 million and in Thailand is Rp 38-42 million. Nabiyla revealed that initially, the team felt those figures were not suitable for this job because they were too high. However, the main problem is that Indonesia does not have a standard for lecturer salaries.
“The comparison with Malaysia and Thailand should not be a very far comparison, but seeing that we currently do not have a standard, if we were to present at the Ministry of Education and Culture, we’d face ridicule. It’s strange how we don’t have standards; we are even afraid to mention a figure that isn’t too high at all, it’s actually quite normal,” said Nabiyla.
Lecturers are Workers Too: Fighting Not to be Oppressed
The survey results from the Lecturer Welfare Research Team also show that the lecturer profession is a labor profession. Therefore, it is necessary to fight to not be oppressed.
“Call us professional workers, call us white-collar workers, call us knowledge producers, whatever the name, at the end of the day, we are workers, we are laborers,” said Nabiyla.
Source:
Lecturer Welfare Research Team. (2023, May 4). How much do lecturers earn? Here are the results of the first national survey mapping the welfare of academics in Indonesia. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/berapa-gaji-dosen-berikut-hasil-survei-nasional-pertama-yang-memetakan-kesejahteraan-akademisi-di-indonesia-203854 accessed on May 21, 2023.
Interview with the representative of the Lecturer Welfare Research Team, Nabiyla Risfa Azzati. May 17, 2023.
Writer: Yanti Nainggolan
Editor: Imelda
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