Canadian author Margaret Atwood has written an op-ed criticizing some aspects of the #MeToo movement and explaining her reasons for demanding due process in the case of a former UBC professor who was fired after an investigation that has not been made public.

Canadian author Margaret Atwood has written an op-ed criticizing some aspects of the #MeToo movement and explaining her reasons for demanding due process in the case of a former UBC professor who was fired after an investigation that has not been made public.
Photo Credit: MARK BLINCH

Margaret Atwood faces social media backlash over #MeToo critique

Celebrated Canadian author Margaret Atwood is facing a social media backlash after voicing concerns about some aspects of the #MeToo movement in a newspaper opinion piece and for affirming “the right to fundamental justice” and due process for individuals accused of sexual misconduct and their alleged victims.

Writing in the Globe and Mail, Atwood also called for more transparency in the case of Steven Galloway, a former University of British Columbia professor who was fired in 2016 over yet-to-be-proven allegations of sexual misconduct.

In her essay, Am I A Bad Feminist?, the 78-year-old author of The Handmaid’s Tale drew historical parallels and raised concerns over “guilty because accused” attitudes during periods in human history in which the “the usual rules of evidence are bypassed.”

“It tends to kick in during the ‘Terror and Virtue’ phase of revolutions – something has gone wrong, and there must be a purge, as in the French Revolution, Stalin’s purges in the USSR, the Red Guard period in China, the reign of the Generals in Argentina and the early days of the Iranian Revolution,” Atwood writes. “The list is long and Left and Right have both indulged.”

She argues that the #MeToo movement, which emerged in the wake of multiple sexual assault allegations against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein, is a symptom of a broken legal system.

“All too frequently, women and other sexual-abuse complainants couldn’t get a fair hearing through institutions – including corporate structures – so they used a new tool: the internet,” Atwood writes. “Stars fell from the skies. This has been very effective, and has been seen as a massive wake-up call. But what next?”

But she warns that “understandable and temporary vigilante justice can morph into a culturally solidified lynch-mob habit.”

“My fundamental position is that women are human beings, with the full range of saintly and demonic behaviours this entails, including criminal ones,” Atwood wrote. “They’re not angels, incapable of wrongdoing. If they were, we wouldn’t need a legal system.”

Atwood’s essay drew an immediate response.

“Remember a week about when @MargaretAtwood was quoted at the golden globe as an advocate or fighter for survivors?” tweeted another. “She isn’t. She is just one more person who believes survivors until the accused is her friend. Then we are liars.”

Others jumped to her defence.

The storm of controversy forced Atwood to tweet that she’s “taking a break” and “will be back later.”

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