Rise of "Me-Too" in Iran's Cinema
A new wave of "Me-Too," the movement spreading from Hollywood in 2017, has started in Iran's cinema. Following the allegation of sexual harassment against an Iranian actor, more than hundreds of actresses and women directors in Iran's cinema have confirmed systematic violence in an unprecedented statement.
A while ago, Somayeh Mirshamsi, an assistant director, narrated her experience of sexual assault and harassment in her work with the #MeToo hashtag on Twitter. She has explained her experience in her Twitter threads and accused Iranian actor Farhad Aslani of sexual harassment behind the scenes of a movie directed by Hatef Alimardani. Before publishing this narrative, another Iranian actress had posted the story of her sexual assault and harassment by Farhad Aslani anonymously through a Me-Too Movement account (@me_too_iran) on Twitter. Somayeh Mirshamsi's tweets went viral among Iranian users on social media. Following her experience, numerous sexual-abuse narrations against Farhad Aslani were published on Twitter in March 2022.
This is the first time that a narrative about sexual harassment has faced vast reactions from the Iranian film industry. Women in the Iranian cinema have released their statements in media outlets and claimed the establishment of an independent and trained committee to investigate harassment behind the scenes and support the victims…
