The Icelandic icon details her experience with a Danish director
Björk has published a post on her Facebook page, in which she speaks up about the normalisation of sexual harassment in the film industry. Following the rape and sexual assault allegations against director Harvey Weinstein, women on the internet have been sharing their stories of a similar nature online. The Gaslamp Killer has been accused of raping two women in 2013, and model Cameron Russell has been publishing anonymous posts from various models detailing their experiences of assault in the fashion industry.
Inspired by “the women everywhere who are speaking up online”, Björk highlights how there is “a wave of change in the world” and speaks up about her own experience. Her statement reads: “because i come from a country that is one of the worlds place closest to equality between the sexes and at the time i came from position of strength in the music world with hard earned independence , it was extremely clear to me when i walked into the actresses profession that my humiliation and role as a lesser sexually harassed being was the norm and set in stone with the director and a staff of dozens who enabled it and encouraged it”.
“i became aware of that it is a universal thing that a director can touch and harass his actresses at will and the institution of film allows it”.
She continued: “when i turned the director down repeatedly he sulked and punished me and created for his team an impressive net of illusion where i was framed as the difficult one . because of my strength , my great team and because i had nothing to loose having no ambitions in the acting world , i walked away from it and recovered in a years time”.
“i am worried though that other actresses working with the same man did not . the director was fully aware of this game and i am sure of that the film he made after was based on his experiences with me . because i was the first one that stood up to him and didn’t let him get away with it,” she adds.
Ending her post on a note of hope, she writes: “and in my opinion he had a more fair and meaningful relationship with his actresses after my confrontation so there is hope”.
“let’s hope this statement supports the actresses and actors all over”.
Read her full statement below.
