Why this story matters:
The Hollywood producer disappeared from the public eye, the British minister resigned and the Hungarian director at least said sorry to the women he harassed. Why do not we hear such stories in Slovakia?
According to the experts, it is not because such cases do not occur here. Women prefer to remain silent and not share their experiences. It is too personal, too intimate for them. And they may fear that the backlash to their stories would be worse than the incident itself.
If you read the comments under the articles about the #metoo campaign, you would be horrified. The victims of sexual harassment are often called hysterical attention whores devoid of any sense of humor. Who would dare to say “me too” to this?
Details from the story:
- About half of the women in Slovakia have experienced sexual harassment.
- The #metoo campaign was ignored by the Slovak women.
- "In Slovakia, we often react in a bizarre way when a woman confesses she was abused or experienced sexual harassment. We tend to not trust her, question her words or put the blame on her for having caused the incident," claimed Ľubica Rozborová from the Department of Gender Equality and Equal Opportunities of the Ministry of Labor.
- It was difficult to find real stories of sexual harassment in Slovakia. Finally, two stories are mentioned in the article. The first one is about a professor of journalism, Fraňo Ruttkay. Another one mentions a poet, Vojtech Mihálik. Both of them are already dead.
