The #MeToo campaign has received an incredible amount of traction in recent months, directing the music industry’s gaze towards the harassment and inequality among its female cohort. Stories of inappropriate touching, of abusive comments and the obvious misogyny within the workforce have spread like wildfire, from anonymous comments on blogs and social media, to artists like Stella Donnelly and Isabella Manfredi speaking out about their experiences.
The interesting thing about the #MeToo Campaign is that it does not aim to bring down men, or to place blame on males with the industry.
Rather the movement, as Manfredi commented in her recent speech on Q&A, is imploring women to come forward with their stories, open the conversation to men and other women, and in doing so instigate men to take responsibility.
Late last year Manfredi made a powerful Facebook post, calling for girls to share their stories with her. Providing a private email address, she was flooded with responses, and so it became apparent that there was a lot more to the claims of unequal opportunity and objectification than just a couple of complaints.
Since then hundreds of Australian women have come forward and shared their stories of groping, inappropriate comments and requests as well as flat our being denied opportunities or silenced because they were female.
Isabella Manfredi: How would you say this campaign has impacted your career in the music industry? #QandA pic.twitter.com/gy03ZpHi91
— ABC Q&A (@QandA) February 15, 2018
Q&A called on Manfredi to come onto the renowned panel to discuss the issues for a live audience, and her eloquent and moving speech captured the mood around the #MeToo campaign to a tee. Without blaming or denigrating the men around her, Manfredi calmly stated that there is a difference between responsibility and fault. Her wish is that men are included in the conversation
“The greatest thing is to lean forward to men and go, ‘We really need you guys to take some responsibility for this as well.’ That doesn’t mean that it’s your fault. In fact, fault and responsibility are two different things.”
“We seem to equate them with the same thing in our society, that for some reason taking responsibility means accepting blame or accepting fault. In fact, it doesn’t. The true meaning of responsibility means to respond to a situation, to be responsive.”
This article was originally found here.
