A group of Quebec feminists have launched a new campaign, in response to the #MeToo movement which continues to call out sexual abusers, and the rebuttal letter to it published in a French newspaper by French actress Catherine Deneuve, which suggested the #MeToo movement is straying into man-hating vengeance.
It's called #EtMaintenant (#AndNow), and it seeks to strike a balance between those two positions — insisting that campaigning against sexual assault and harassment is a search for justice, not vengeance.
It acknowledges that there is nuance involved in relationships between men and women, and that an off-colour remark isn't the same as sexual assault.
But it also stresses behavior doesn't have to be illegal to be inappropriate and worthy of being called out, and that no woman should be insulted, assaulted, or have her career opportunities limited for saying 'no' to a sexual advance.
Two members of the group, Aurélie Lanctôt and Léa Clermont-Dion, introduced #EtMaintenant on the popular Sunday night TV talk show Tout Le Monde En Parle, and an online manifesto has received more than 10,000 signatures in a matter of hours.
On the program, Clemont-Dion suggested the #EtMaintenant movement is also planning some unspecified actions for International Women's Day on March 8.