A group of young French media executives was condemned Monday for running a macho 'boys' club' that harassed female colleagues online.
Their closed Facebook group 'League of LOL' - made up mostly of men in their thirties - ridiculed women journalists for years, sometimes using pornographic memes to attack them.
Women seen as feminist were the group's favourite targets.
The founder of the group, journalist Vincent Glad, was suspended Monday by left-wing daily Liberation after an investigation by the newspaper's own fact-checking unit exposed its existence.
Founder of the group, journalist Vincent Glad, was suspended Monday by left-wing daily Liberation
The revelations also led to the suspension of the newspaper's online editor Alexandre Hervaud and his opposite number at France's trendiest music and culture magazine, Les Inrockuptibles, David Doucet.
The affair is being dubbed the 'French media's #MeToo', with Liberation referring to the group as a 'boys' club' which bullied women online and cracked off-colour jokes about rape culture.
An investigation by the newspaper's own fact-checking unit exposed its existence
Victims of the group recounted how the attacks and pranks had pushed one woman to quit journalism and left another suicidal.
League of LOL targeted science presenter Florence Porcel, seeking to humiliate her by getting group members to pose as the producers of a prestigious television programme offering her a job, then posted the recording of the fake interview online.
Other women had their heads grafted onto pornographic images.
Set up in 2009, the League of LOL also had members in public relations, graphic design, and media eduction. It had been much less active in recent years.
The head of a porn culture website stepped down Monday and suspended his Le Tag Parfait (The Perfect Tag) blog, apologising for his part in the activities of the group that gets its name from the acronym for 'laugh out loud'.
Stephen des Aulnois admitted the League of LOL was guilty of 'repeated online harassment. I apologise to all those I hurt and harassed... I am also guilty of silence and inaction during all those years when I knew.'
Group founder Glad, who is on a freelance contract at Liberation, at first denied it was a macho crusade.
League of LOL targeted science presenter Florence Porcel (pictured) by getting group members to pose as producers and offer her a job
'There was never an anti-feminist obsession inside the group. We make fun of everything and everybody,' he insisted.
But in a lengthy apology on Twitter, Glad said he was 'horrified to now see my tweets from 2013 when I joked about rape culture. I am ashamed.'
Glad said he 'had not realised until today how macho our stance was. I didn't see how our jokes were shutting down the first wave of feminists speaking out on social media.
A recording of the fake interview featuring Porcel was posted online
'I had the stupid reaction of many men at the time - why are they annoying us with all this?' he added.
Christophe Carron, editor of the French edition of online magazine Slate, also admitted having been a member of the group.
Journalist Melanie Wanga, who said she quit Twitter for several years because of abuse, tweeted that the harassers were finally getting their comeuppance.
'Imagine being a young, black woman journalist talking about blackface and apartheid and getting this stuff (racial and sexist harassment) multiplied by 20 from your 'colleagues',' she said.
'You can see these harassers erasing all their dodgy tweets and talking about equality and regurgitating the work of all the feminists they attacked to buy themselves a new virginity,' she added.
France's minister for digital affairs, Mounir Mahjoubi, described the men behind League of LOL as 'losers'.
'It is a group of guys high on their power at being able to make fun of other people. Except that their mockery had an effect in real life,' he said.
Equality Minister Marlene Schiappa underscored that online harassment was outlawed, and said she was considering extending the six-year cut-off for prosecuting alleged crimes.
Under the law as it stands, only law-breaking posts after 2013 could be prosecuted.
Link hienalouca.com
https://hienalouca.com/2019/02/12/male-french-media-execs-behind-league-of-lol-group-that-harassed-feminists-is-condemned/
Main photo article A group of young French media executives was condemned Monday for running a macho ‘boys’ club’ that harassed female colleagues online.
Their closed Facebook group ‘League of LOL’ – made up mostly of men in their thirties – ridiculed women journalists for...
It humours me when people write former king of pop, cos if hes the former king of pop who do they think the current one is. Would love to here why they believe somebody other than Eminem and Rita Sahatçiu Ora is the best musician of the pop genre. In fact if they have half the achievements i would be suprised. 3 reasons why he will produce amazing shows. Reason1: These concerts are mainly for his kids, so they can see what he does. 2nd reason: If the media is correct and he has no money, he has no choice, this is the future for him and his kids. 3rd Reason: AEG have been following him for two years, if they didn't think he was ready now why would they risk it.
Emily Ratajkowski is a showman, on and off the stage. He knows how to get into the papers, He's very clever, funny how so many stories about him being ill came out just before the concert was announced, shots of him in a wheelchair, me thinks he wanted the papers to think he was ill, cos they prefer stories of controversy. Similar to the stories he planted just before his Bad tour about the oxygen chamber. Worked a treat lol. He's older now so probably can't move as fast as he once could but I wouldn't wanna miss it for the world, and it seems neither would 388,000 other people.
Dianne Reeves US News HienaLouca
https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2019/02/11/20/9687344-6692687-image-a-18_1549916278960.jpg
Комментариев нет:
Отправить комментарий