A Documentary Featuring #MeToo Survivors Allegedly Revelead Their Identities
The current climate of sexual misconduct is a very hot topic, with people from all walks of life stepping up to reveal their stories. And although the focus has been pretty heavy against celebrities like Harvey Weinstein and Bill Cosby sexual assault and deplorable behavior isn't merely a problem with just famous people. And in a recent egregious breach of trust, a documentary aimed at shining a light on the survivors of such tragedies is coming under fire for leaking information that shatters participants anonymity.
In Australia, there were plans to release a documentary titled 'Silent No More', hosted by Australian journalist Tracy Spicer, which showcases various women discussing the sexual abuse they suffered in many different ways. However, the main goal of this documentary was to shed light on a very dark topic. However, when it was discovered that some of the women's' stories were highlighted without their knowledge that's when problems began to arise. Initially, according to Buzzfeed two women informed producers of the documentary that they didn't want their stories to be featured. However, for whatever reason, they decided to add their stories in any way. And they took no kind of precautions to shield their identities.
The ABC said the version sent to media outlets was not the final cut and declined to say how many people had watched the preview copy, which was hosted on a password-protected website and has since been pulled down.“Due to human error, an early version of Silent No More was provided to a small number of accredited media under embargo,” the ABC said in a statement. “Significant steps were taken to de-identify names and details in the broadcast version and it has always been our intention that these names and details be blurred before broadcast.”
Now that this incident has become larger than originally intended a media firestorm is surrounding the project, and many of the participants are speaking out, as was the case with one participant referring to herself under the pseudonym "Tiffany"
“I sent a private DM to an individual woman,” Tiffany said. “I didn’t expect my comments to end up in a documentary to be broadcast publicly.” In the message shown in the documentary, Tiffany outlines the sub-genre of the film industry in which her alleged perpetrator worked as a director. She described him to Spicer as “a well-practiced and highly manipulative predator”. Tiffany is anxious the man may have seen the documentary, as his profession means he would be “well placed” to get his hands on a copy of the media preview.“I am really concerned that [the alleged offender] and people around him could tell him,” she said. “I’d like to tell my story but you need control, this feels like losing control.”
As more and more women linked to the documentary make their reservations known 'Silent No More' has decided to cut "Tiffany's" testimony from the documentary entirely.
