Wednesday, February 26, 2020
Op-Ed: The Letter to Lyon Opera Ballet Shows How Much Further We Have to Go to Support #MeToo Victims
Dance Magazine: As debate raged online last week over which dance celebrities signed or didn't sign an open letter in support of Yorgos Loukos, who was recently dismissed as director of the Lyon Opéra Ballet following a conviction for pregnancy discrimination, my thoughts kept returning to the silent woman at the heart of this story: Karline Marion, the dancer Loukos let go back in 2014.
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This is such a sensitive topic. For me in particular. I think a lot about what is going to happen when I eventually decide that I want to have kids, that is- carry and birth them myself, and how it will effect my career and the people around me. How will the people that I work with feel about me? Will they discriminate? Will I even be allowed to continue working? Truth is, I don’t know. I know that I am the type of person who would want to continue working until I physically can’t anymore. However, I also realize that there are things that I won’t be able to do during those months because it’s just not safe or possible. In that same tone, I understand that it can also be a liability issue for companies to have pregnant women doing certain things. So then, how will my colleagues and bosses feel about having me stick around, not being as efficient as I possibly can? Especially in this industry where most things are so hands on and you need to be able to get up do just about any and everything, otherwise, you are really just in the way or slowing down that process. It’s a very tough predicament.. It kinda sucks because I’m sure men don’t even have to think about or worry about this stuff. Of course, they will have less time to themselves, juggling a career and a child/family, boo hoo, but it doesn’t measure up at all. It really is unfortunate to hear what Marion went through (and is still going though)- even having Loukos tell her that the possibility of her settling in after having a child is one of the reasons that he was letting her go. That’s sad, and I can’t imagine what that did to her beyond the career struggles that followed. That also puts some people who come after her in the position of having to choose between having a child or having a career which, for some, is a really difficult thing and can lead to years of potential regret and/or resentment depending on which path they take. It’s just not fair. I think the least people like Loukos can do is give women like Marion a chance. Give us a chance before just deciding to cut us off. Many of us have a strength beyond words and a resilience that men like Loukos would never understand.
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