Before we have a culture where everyone feels safe, we will be “a little stricter” for a while. That says Mariette Hamer, who is Government Commissioner for sexual transgression and sexual violence becomes.
One of her tasks is to initiate a social conversation about cross-border behaviour. “What do we feel safe with, what do we find acceptable with each other? That conversation in the workplace, close to people themselves, will first lead to more notifications. In other countries where such a conversation has started, you see those numbers go up first,and only then down.”
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Hamer, now chairman of the Socio-Economic Council, was appointed as Government Commissioner for three years on Tuesday. After the revelations of sexually transgressive behavior in The Voice of Holland, Ajax and the labour party the government wants to make serious work on tackling these types of #MeToo issues.
Hamer says he is already “overloaded” by people and organizations who want to help her. Yesterday she was immediately addressed by a number of young girls, she says in Nieuwsuur. “We talked about the dickpic. We get them every day, they said. They eat them. They are a little used to it, but they do not like it.”
“And now they say: Actually, it’s really crazy. That is why it is so good that we enter into this conversation, of course, it is not ordinary.”
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No checkout culture
It is crucial that victims know where they can go at their school or work, says Hamer. Now are fallen often not reported. “Fortunately, there are a lot of hotlines and confidants. What we need to look at carefully: is the position of those confidants independent enough? Are these hotlines supported enough?”
But a solution requires more than enough hotlines to arrange, emphasizes Hamer. Because the problem is deeply embedded in the culture on work floors, she noticed herself. “Sometimes it’s in language. I worked with two male colleagues for a while, one of whom had to make a sexual joke of each part of the conversation.”
“At some point it was over. It turned out that the other male colleague had said something about it. That’s where we need to go, that we address each other about that behavior. Often women ask themselves: Am I going to say something about it? Is it getting in my way? But if you allow the behavior, you also allow it to others.”
At the same time, Hamer does not want a settlement culture in which people simply accuse each other of unwanted behavior. “You have to be careful about that. You should always make sure you investigate allegations. But the problem is also in small behaviors, which you really need to talk to each other about. I hope that, perhaps by the end of my three years, we will keep a relaxed way of relating to each other.”
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