One hundred and twenty four Italian actresses have spoken out against sexual harassment, doing the unusual by signing a joint declaration.

It was the first major reaction by the women, since the Weinstein scandal blew open.

La Stampa said the women have taken the line of action because they believed they can speak out on behalf of other  women  who live the same condition at their workplace”.

The actresses called  sexual harassment “a system”, and called for various measures against men who harass the women.

Full statement below: 

Common Dissent 

Starting with the Weinstein case, for a few months now, in many countries, actresses and showgirls have taken the floor and begun to reveal a truth that is so ordinary it is dreadful. This statement is not only an act of solidarity with all the actresses who, in Italy have had the courage to speak and who, for this reason have been attacked, harassed and sued, but also a due act of witness… We thank you because we know that what each of you says is true and we know this because it happened to all of us in different ways. We support you, and will support you and all those who choose to tell their experiences.

When speaking of harassment, there is first an attempt to limit the problem around a single harasser who is then pathologized and acts as a scapegoat. Along comes a momentary wave of indignation concerning a single director, producer, judge, doctor, in short, one single man of power. As soon as the tide of indignation comes to a halt, our common sense begins to question the truthfulness of what the “harassed” have said and we begin to ask questions about who they are, how they behave, what interest have brought them to speak. The shared common sense begins to wonder about the free and healthy game of seduction and the clear artistic, professional or commercial merits of the harasser who, in the long run will end being reintegrated into the system. In doing so, this “attitude to removal” would like to keep us silent and make us think twice before talking, especially if certain things have happened in the past and are therefore no longer worthwhile.

In short, let us not waste any more time wondering about the truth of the words of those harassed: let us put them immediately in jail, if not in jail let us outcast them, if not outcast then let us place them in convent, if not in convent, let us at least keep them locked at home. This, and only this will stop them from talking! But talking is revealing how sexual harassment is reproduced by an institution. How it becomes culture, common sense, a set of practices that we should accept because this is the way things have always been, and will always be. The choice before which every woman is placed at her workplace is: “Get used to it or leave”. We are not interested in media pillory. Ours is not and will never be a moralist speech. Sexual harassment has nothing to do with the “game of seduction”. We know our pleasure, the boundary between desire and abuse, freedom and violence.

Why cinema? Why actresses? For two reasons. First, is that the body of an actress embodies collective desire, and since in this system, collective desire equals male desire, shared common sense perceives them as narcissistic creatures, fickle and vain, willing to use their body as a bargain chip in order to appear. As they are publicly exhibited bodies, actresses unmask a system that goes beyond our specific world but concerns all women in the workplace and not only.

The second reason why this act of accusation starts from the actresses, is because we have the strength to speak, our visibility is our sounding box. Actresses have the merit and duty to act as spokespersons for this battle for all those women who live the same condition at their workplace and whose word do not have the same voice or strength.

Sexual harassment is a cross-cutting phenomenon. It is a system. It is part of an arrangement that is before everyone’s eyes, a system which contemplates the absolute male majority in the places of power, the gender gap, the constant and permanent sexualization of working spaces. Gender inequality in workspaces makes women, all women, at risk of harassment because they are always subjected to implicit blackmail. It happens to the secretary, worker, immigrant, student, intern, domestic helper… It happens to us all. To name sexual harassment as a system, and not as pathology of a single individual, is to threaten the reputation of this culture. We shall not be the victims of this system. We are the ones who now have the strength to unmask and overturn it. We are not pointing the finger just at one single “harasser”. We are challenging the whole system.

This is the time when we stop being afraid.

1.Alessandra Acciai

2.Elisa Amoruso

3.Francesca Andreoli

4.Michela Andreozzi

5.Ambra Angiolini

6.Alessia Barela

7.Chiara Barzini

8.Valentina Bellè

9.Sonia Bergamasco

10.Ilaria Bernardini

11.Giulia Bevilacqua

12.Nicoletta Billi

13.Laura Bispuri

14.Barbora Bobulova

15.Anna Bonaiuto

16.Donatella Botti

17.Laura Buffoni

18.Giulia Calenda

19.Francesca Calvelli

20.Maria Pia Calzone

21.Antonella Cannarozzi

22.Cristiana Capotondi

23.Anita Caprioli

24.Valentina Carnelutti

25.Sara Casani

26.Manuela Cavallari

27.Michela Cescon

28.Carlotta Cerquetti

29.Valentina Cervi

30.Cristina Comencini

31.Francesca Comencini

32.Paola Cortellesi

33.Geppi Cucciari

34.Francesca D’Aloja

35.Caterina D’Amico

36.Piera De Tassis

37.Cecilia Dazzi

38.Matilda De angelis

39.Orsetta De Rossi

40.Cristina Donadio

41.Marta Donzelli

42.Ginevra Elkann

43.Esther Elisha

44.Nicoletta Ercole

45.Tea Falco

46.Giorgia Farina

47.Sarah Felberbaum

48.Isabella Ferrari

49.Anna Ferzetti

50.Francesca Figus

51.Camilla Filippi

52.Liliana Fiorelli

53.Anna Foglietta

54.Iaia Forte

55.Ilaria Fraioli

56.Elisa Fuksas

57.Valeria Golino

58.Lucrezia Guidone

59.Sabrina Impacciatore

60.Lorenza Indovina

61.Wilma Labate

62.Rosabell Laurenti

63.Antonella Lattanzi

64.Doriana Leondeff

65.Miriam Leone

66.Carolina Levi

67.Francesca Lo Schiavo

68.Valentina Lodovini

69.Ivana Lotito

70.Federica Lucisano

71.Gloria Malatesta

72.Francesca Manieri

73.Francesca Marciano

74.Alina Marazzi

75.Cristiana Massaro

76.Lucia Mascino

77.Giovanna Mezzogiorno

78.Paola Minaccioni

79.Laura Muccino

80.Laura Muscardin

81.Olivia Musini

82.Carlotta Natoli

83.Anna Negri

84.Camilla Nesbitt

85.Susanna Nicchiarelli

86.Laura Paolucci

87.Valeria Parrella

88.Camilla Paternò

89.Valentina Pedicini

90.Gabriella Pescucci

91.Vanessa Picciarelli

92.Federica Pontremoli

93.Benedetta Porcaroli

94.Daniela Piperno

95.Vittoria Puccini

96.Ondina Quadri

97.Costanza Quatriglio

98.Isabella Ragonese

99.Monica Rametta

100.Paola Randi

101.Maddalena Ravagli

102.Rita Rognoni

103.Alba Rohrwacher

104.Alice Rohrwacher

105.Federica Rosellini

106.Fabrizia Sacchi

107.Maya Sansa

108.Valia Santella

109.Lunetta Savino

110.Greta Scarano

111.Daphne Scoccia

112.Kasia Smutniak

113.Valeria Solarino

114.Serena Sostegni

115.Daniela Staffa

116.Giulia Steigerwalt

117.Fiorenza Tessari

118.Sole Tognazzi

119.Chiara Tomarelli

120.Roberta Torre

121.Tiziana Triana

122.Jasmine Trinca

123.Adele Tulli

124.Alessandra Vanzi