Female animators publish letter demanding an end to sexual harassment at work

Date
23 October 2017

Last Thursday, 217 women and gender non-conforming people working in animation sent an open letter to executives at more than 12 animation studios including Disney, Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon and DreamWorks Animation demanding an end to sexism and harassment of a sexual nature in the industry.

As the impact of the Harvey Weinstein scandal continues to unravel across not only Hollywood but now in the fashion industry as well as via a trail of #metoo hashtags used by millions of women across their social media accounts to record real life instances of sexual harassment and abuse by male perpetrators, animators are now adding their own experiences to that narrative.

The letter’s authors include My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic creator Lauren Faust, Bob’s Burgers co-executive producer Wendy Molyneux, Steven Universe creator Rebecca Sugar and Danger & Eggs creator Shadi Petosky alongside hundreds of others. In the letter, the contributors state that the industry is only 23% women, a percentage which led to them previously keeping their experiences quiet.

According to the Buzzfeed article which first published the letter, women from the animation industry had spoken to the publishing platform anonymously regarding instances of mistreatment and harassment at work before the Harvey Weinstein story broke.

“As we came together to share our stories of sexism, sexual harassment and, in some cases, sexual assault, we were struck by the pervasiveness of the problem,” the letter states. “Every one of us has a story to share, from tossed-off comments about our body parts that were framed as ‘jokes’ to women being cornered in dark rooms by male colleagues to criminal assault.”

The letter is structured around three demands: that studios put sexual harassment policies in place and take reports of violations seriously, that their male colleagues contribute to the conversation, and that the Animation Guild make an Anti-Harassment and Discrimination Guild.

Thursday also saw the suspension of Chris Savino from Nickelodeon, who created Loud House, after “numerous harassment claims”.

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Found via Buzzfeed

About the Author

Bryony Stone

Bryony joined It's Nice That as Deputy Editor in August 2016, following roles at Mother, Secret Cinema, LAW, Rollacoaster and Wonderland. She later became Acting Editor at It's Nice That, before leaving in late 2018.

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