“Hail, Bitch”… A title that does not go unnoticed to draw attention to the online harassment of which women are victims throughout the world. A film without makeup or false modesty by Léa Clermont Dion and Guylaine Maroist.
AlloCiné: How was born Hail Bitch: Misogyny in the Digital Age ?
Léa Clermont Dion : I received death threats because I spoke in public space in Quebec. I’m a feminist and I didn’t think that demanding gender equality would arouse such hatred. This was the catalyst for this quest to understand the extent of misogyny online. Alongside the film, I completed a doctoral thesis in political science focusing, among other things, on cyberviolence against women.
Guylaine Maroist : When Léa asked me to investigate online misogyny with her and to co-direct a documentary, I immediately said yes. At the time, in 2015, the suicides of two young girls, Amanda Todd and Rehteah Parsons, had been widely publicized in Canada and the United States. I was, like everyone else, shocked. I had the impression that it was a phenomenon that affected young girls more but quickly, in the research process, I realized that cyberviolence affects women of all ages, particularly those who speak out loud. and strong in public space. The goal of harassers is to silence women, to “send them back to the kitchen.” A very effective strategy: more and more women are deciding not to pursue a public career for fear of being attacked online and stalked. The impact of this new form of violence against women is extremely devastating, but nothing is being done. We made this film so that we stop trivializing it.
You have chosen a universal approach to develop your point. Why didn’t you just focus on Canada?
Léa Clermont Dion: Because it is an issue that has no borders. Like a virus, hatred of women online spreads with virulence.
Guylaine Maroist: By following four women from different backgrounds and different cultures in their daily lives, we understand that online misogyny is a phenomenon that affects the entire West, even countries considered ahead in terms of women’s rights.
Were you surprised by the scale of the phenomenon?
Léa Clermont Dion: Yes really. I didn’t believe this phenomenon was so widespread. I didn’t expect to find that hatred of women is growing. Since the pandemic, it’s worse. Studies show that misogyny is reaching unprecedented levels.
Guylaine Maroist: In 2015, when we started the project, I was already dismayed because of what was being conveyed on social networks. We had the impression that we were facing a “far web” that would quickly become regulated. The worst part was seeing the phenomenon grow exponentially during the pandemic.
What did you learn from making this documentary? Did you expect such a deluge of violence? In what emotional state do we emerge from such a documentary?
Léa Clermont Dion: I learned that violence against women is united by certain characteristics. They target women’s bodies and their sexuality, which is directly linked to a desire to control discourse. To reduce them to a state of object rather than subject is to want to exercise domination over them. Furthermore, I learned that this hostility towards women takes a new form today thanks to digital tools. The violence can be graphic, audible and spreads at great speed. I discovered a whole section of anti-feminist groups who want to see women’s rights rolled back. They do not hide from this ideology and see feminism as a threat. I was extremely affected during the creation of this film. I dreamed of the horrors I read… I had to take breaks from so much hatred. My children gave me hope.
Guylaine Maroist: The biggest shock was to realize that there is a real threat of a rollback of women’s hard-won rights. Observing everything that happens on the Internet, this uninhibited misogyny that is rampant there, is one thing. To then see young men adopting these behaviors and women’s rights going backwards in certain countries, starting with the United States, it’s scary. But I experienced, during the numerous film debates surrounding the film’s release, an equally strong feeling of hope and mobilization. from women but also from men. We made this film to make people stand up. And this is what is happening more and more.
How did you choose the different witnesses?
Léa Clermont Dion: We selected the participants after carrying out extensive research bringing together more than a hundred experts and victims. The idea was to construct the best narrative thread to understand the phenomenon. We also retained the protagonists who had the words to say it.
Guylaine Maroist: Our main challenge was to find women willing to be filmed in their daily lives while they were still victims of cyberviolence. We followed them, on camera, in real time to allow the viewer to experience, up close, the horror of their situation, to give the measure of what the victims feel: a state of terror.
We imagine that you had very (too) rich material and that you had to make choices. Are you considering making a sequel to I salute you, bitch ? Has a version as a documentary series been considered?
Léa Clermont Dion: Not on my side! I always wanted to make a film.
Guylaine Maroist: Me too ! There will be no sequel, I would be incapable of diving into this hatred again. But the film is not without sequels: it begins its life in theaters in France and in several countries. People, in associative or personal mode, create a host of initiatives around the screenings of the film. It warms our hearts.
How did you come up with the title of your documentary?
Léa Clermont Dion: I’ll let my colleague answer you, because the idea came from her.
Guylaine Maroist: We needed a title that was shocking, uncomfortable, disturbing like the hatred poured out on women online. We worked for 6 years with the working title “Misogyny 2.0.” I was inspired by Jean-Luc Godard’s title, Hail Mary. By replacing Marie’s name with Slut, we had both the most common insult to women, and at the same time, the reappropriation of the insult. This title is also a salute to all those women who are cyberharassed and refuse to remain silent.