The #MeToo movement has begun to uproot the patriarchy, yet its links remain taut. Not with unyielding men, as we may presume; but rather, with women securing Victorian era values in the age of modernism.

Renowned French actress Catherine Deveue has denounced the #MeToo movement as puritanism – a “witch hunt” to incriminate the innocuous patriarchs of the patriarchy. Claiming that the allegations have created “a climate of a totalitarian society,” Devenue has lamented in an open letter, signed by renowned journalists, filmmakers, and luminaries, that #MeToo has victimizes traditional feminism- a “witch hunt” impeding a universal “sexual freedom.”

“Accidents that can affect a woman’s body do not necessarily affect her dignity and must not, as hard as they can be, necessarily make her a perpetual victim. Because we are not reducible to our bodies. Our inner freedom is inviolable. And this freedom that we cherish is not without risks and responsibilities.”

The letter has ignited backlash in both France, reckoning with its own #BalanceTonPorc movement, and the USA. French feminist Caroline de Haas has rebuked the letter and its signatories, highlighting “every time that women’s rights progress…resistance appears.”

De Haas and fellow activists have criticized the letter as an appalling masculinization of a global cultural revolution by equalizing “sexual violence” and “intensified flirting.”

Has the movement, in the waves of recent revelations, truly gone “too far,” as asserted by Devenue?

Sandra Muller, founder of the #BalanceTonPorc French equivalent of #MeToo, lauds the sheer courage and determination of women to shed light on their aggressors. Perpetrators, she claims, must be held accountable for not their credentials, but rather for their characters. Her movement proclaims that justice need not rationalize violent crimes as “sexual liberation.”

While the feminist movements have initiated bouts of swift justice, perhaps this rapid criminalization of assaulters spurs demoralized victims to amplify not only their violations, but also their violator- to speak and uphold their truths.

Despite the jagged edges piercing the Devenue counter and the fueled feminist revolutions across the globe, it is the collective consensus that male entitlement must be eradicated to foster healthy societies for thriving ambitions. We must empower women to speak, yet also taper allegations with a scaffolding of truth and integrity.