Sexual violence 'is rife in French music and film industries'

Sexual violence and harassment are "endemic" in the entertainment industry in France, a damning report by politicians has found.

- Angelique Chrisafis

They concluded that women and children in cinema, fashion and music were still routinely being preyed on despite the #MeToo movement.

Sandrine Rousseau, a Green MP, and Erwan Balanant, of the centre-right Democratic Movement, said sexual violence, harassment and bullying were "systemic, endemic and persistent" in everything from television and cinema to theatre, radio, comedy, advertising, rock and classical music.

After a five-month inquiry, in which the pair described receiving "overwhelming" testimony from almost 400 people, including actors and industry workers, they said mentalities in France were "barely evolving" many years after the #MeToo movement began.

The parliamentary inquiry heard accounts of rape, sexual assault and sexual harassment. The politicians said numerous alleged assaults had happened recently.

They said a decades-old culture of silencing victims was getting worse in France, amid a sense of "collective denial". They described an "ambient sexism" as well as racism in the country's entertainment sector.