Marion Seclin “AI works with Michel Sardou, but they say we have no tools against cyber harassment”

To miss. How were you integrated into the Hail Bitch film project?

Marion Seclin. I was contacted by the director, Léa Clermont-Dion. She came to France and we met, we talked about the project. She then came back for a week to shoot. It was a small team, very calm and attentive.

We manage to be victims and we also have analytical thinking to say: here, I understood how we could make the world better.

It wasn’t a voyeuristic project at all. I had already testified in the media which had relatively benefited from the coverage that my story had not had do not moderate comments. There I felt really safe in testifying. I also knew that there were other testimonies and that above all I was not only there for my experience but also for my expertise. The idea is not right to say “I experienced it” but explain to me what I get from it. The other testimonies in the film are extremely brilliant. We get to be victims and have it too an analytical reflection to say: here, I understood how we could make the world better.

Can you tell us what happened to you during the summer of 2016?

SM.. During the summer of 2016, I was a woman and I made a video about feminism on the Internet. Really uncontrolled absolutely what I was saying. I was saying women are people, come or leave us alone For example when we exist. I have come very, very far politically and I angered many, many guys who said I was wrong. And they didn’t just say I was wrong: they wanted me to die, they wanted to rape me, they wanted me to kill myself and my parents to get cancer.

Have your attackers been punished?

SM. NO. My attackers are many, there are many, from all political parties… on the other hand, they are not of all genders. Surprisingly, among them we found only one genre, but I won’t say which one otherwise, there will be more tears in the comments.

At first we imagined that these mean people on the Internet were living in a basement under their parents’ house, that they had no life… but many of my friends on YouTube realized that these people were also part of of their community. In fact, it really was everyone.

You have observed gender violence as a feminist activist, but you have also experienced it as a woman. In your opinion, are there specifics to online violence that distinguish it from irl violence?

SM. I think thatThe Internet functions like any public space where, as women, we do not feel safe, whatever we say, whatever we do. On the Internet I started with very harmless humor, texts that I hadn’t even written myself. However, I still received it “I’ll fuck you”, simply because I was insulted to exist.

When you download movies illegally I can tell you that you will be punished, but you can threaten anyone with death and rape anyone you want, nothing will happen and they will tell you that we don’t have the tools.

The difference with online violence is that it exists this mass effect which gives permission to everyone to do so. The law has absolutely nothing to do with it. He thinks it’s not the real world. The advice I received at the time was literally “Stop thinking about it. »

In 2018, you said in an interview that the law was not created to help women who are victims of online harassment. Five years later, do you think things have improved?

SM. The observation is absolutely the same as five years ago. Fundamentally, laws are not made to protect women. We still are “a subject”We still are debated. To me, this issue needs to be legislated by people who have the knowledge and who made the Education to be able to manage it. But the state does not have the means to do so.

Should training for police officers, simpler procedures, use of firewallsimagining for example thatYou can’t use the word “rape” too many times.. You have to see how well it works with Hadopi! When you download movies illegally, I can tell you that you will be punished, but you can threaten death and rape whoever you want, nothing will happen and we will tell you that we don’t have the tools. If I summarize, artificial intelligence works with Michel Sardou, but let’s say we have no tools against cyber harassment.

Not them I just don’t want to. Because in this case, the outrage has clicks across the internet. As soon as something brings money, strangely, they no longer have means.

So, like 2018, it sucks. And I just think about the teenager who is going through all of this, who is looking for help, who comes across an old site that recommends chat with a police officer. I have chatted with a police officer. I was told: “Don’t open emails. Thank you. »

Have you ever thought that violence on the Internet calls into question the possibility and importance of online activism?

SM. I never thought that because I really think that the Internet it’s made for that. If there are no laws for abusers, there are no laws for us either. It’s a space where I could express myself without asking permission, without paying. There are no other places like it, since we’re not given much say anywhere else. Let’s give the floor to women, but only to those who are fully adapted to this system. To tell us then “you complain when there are women who talk. » If we don’t do it on the Internet, I don’t see where we will do it.

Despite the disproportionate violence you suffered, you always said that you would never remain silent. You ask us to continue speaking, to mobilize, to denounce. How do you find this courage?

SM. I don’t know if it’s courage or simply survival. I feel like women have been surviving since the dawn of time. I don’t believe in rhetoric at all “I managed to build a pretty tough shell”. The truth is that this violence is the standard. It has never been otherwise. It’s wrong to think “I’ve gotten stronger, I’m used to it” : we never get used to it, it’s always violent. I just don’t know anything else. But when I see your generation, I remember that it’s worth it.

Listen to Laisse-moi kiffer, Madmoizelle’s cultural advice podcast.