From: ididit@getaway.car   
      
   Brigitte Bardot Lashes Out at the "Hypocritical and Ridiculous"   
   #MeToo Movement   
      
   January 18, 2018   
      
   A little over a week after 100 prominent French women signed a letter    
   calling the #MeToo movement a “witch hunt” against men, actress Brigitte    
   Bardot has decided to weigh in with her own thoughts on the push against   
   sexual harassment.   
      
   Rather than join the ranks, Bardot decried the movement, slamming the    
   women who have come forward to share their stories.   
      
   “The vast majority are being hypocritical and ridiculous,” she told the    
   French magazine Paris Match, as translated by France 24.   
      
   Bardot, who is 83, noted that “lots of actresses try to play the tease    
   with producers to get a role. And then, so we will talk about them, they   
   say they were harassed . . . I was never the victim of sexual    
   harassment. And I found it charming when men told me that I was    
   beautiful or I had a nice little backside.”   
      
   This isn’t the first time Bardot has shared a controversial, harmful    
   opinion. In the past, she has been fined for provoking discrimination    
   and racial hatred against the Muslim community in France.   
      
   Over the last few months, many actresses have shared stories about the    
   unequal power dynamic in the film industry, and several have revolved    
   around meetings with producers that amounted more or less to an    
   aggressive flirting session.   
      
   Ellen Pompeo summed up the problem well in a recent piece for The    
   Hollywood Reporter, saying that she once took a meeting with    
   now-disgraced producer Harvey Weinstein where she largely batted her    
   eyelashes and tried to charm him.   
      
   It’s part of a sordid tradition for aspiring stars, she claimed: “You    
   think, ‘Not only do I have to show that I’m a good actress, but that    
   director also has to in some way fall in love with me and at least    
   become enamored with me.’ That never felt right or good to me.”   
      
   In addition, many of the women who have come forward with claims against   
   Weinstein were told he would offer roles in exchange for inappropriate    
   sexual favors.   
      
   He allegedly tried to entice women by sharing which big-name stars he    
   had supposedly slept with previously.   
      
   Through a spokesperson, Weinstein has denied all allegations of    
   non-consensual acts.   
      
   Similarly, two women who have come forward against director and producer   
   Brett Ratner have claimed that Ratner propositioned them in exchange for   
   bit parts on Rush Hour 2.   
      
   Ratner, through his attorney Martin Singer, has denied the charges.   
      
   Bardot’s comments arrive just days after 100 French women shared their    
   controversial stance on the #MeToo crowd and its effects on men.   
      
   “Rape is a crime but insistent or clumsy flirting is not, nor is   
   gallantry a macho aggression”, the letter read. “Men have been punished    
   summarily, forced out of their jobs when all they did was touch    
   someone’s knee or try to steal a kiss.”   
      
   It was signed by prominent French stars, including actress Catherine    
   Deneuve. However, it seems Deneuve has already had a change of heart.   
      
   After the outpour of backlash, in addition to sudden support from people   
   she considers reprehensible, the actress published a letter in the    
   newspaper Liberation apologizing to victims of sexual harassment.   
      
   “I fraternally salute all women victims of odious acts who may have felt    
   aggrieved by the letter in Le Monde,” she wrote. “It is to them, and    
   them alone, that I offer my apologies.”   
      
   The actress acknowledged that, over the course of her long career, she    
   has witnessed uncomfortable situations and has heard stories of    
   filmmakers abusing their power, creating “traumatic and untenable    
   situations.”   
      
   Deneuve also spoke out specifically against French radio host and former   
   porn star Brigitte Lahaie, one of the women who signed the original    
   letter, who later said that some women can enjoy being raped. (She later   
   apologized, saying, “What I meant to say,— because I know matters of    
   sexuality by heart—, is that sometimes the body and the mind do not   
   coincide.”)   
      
   Deneuve said Lahaie’s comments were “worse than spitting in the face of    
   all those who have suffered this crime.“   
      
   She also distanced herself more broadly from some of the supporters of    
   the original letter: “That is why I would like to say to conservatives,    
   racists, and traditionalists of all shades who decided it was strategic    
   to give me their support that I am no dupe. They will have neither my    
   gratitude nor my friendship. To the contrary. I am a liberated woman and   
   I will stay that way.”   
      
   https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2018/01/brigitte-bardot-me-too-comments   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)