The overwhelming majority of the offenders are men. For all the acts mentioned (319 people) by men or women, 74% of the perpetrators are men (248 cases); 19% of the respondents name both men and women as perpetrators (63 cases); women are only a minority of the perpetrators (4 cases).

In the case of the female singers who were victims (115), the person who perpetrated the sexist or the sexual behaviour was most often a man who had direct power over them: a conductor (47 cases: 41%), a choir director (15 cases: 13%), a stage director (39 cases: 34%), a singing teacher (29 cases: 25%), an agent (9 cases: 8%) or the director of an opera institution (25 cases: 22%). This finding is consistent with another result of the questionnaire. When asked whether in their experience conductors, choirmasters or stage directors apply gender-specific working methods, 52% of female singers (69 out of 132 singers, whether victims or witnesses) answered yes. A much smaller proportion of chorus singers (36%, or 22 out of 61) responded yes compared to soloists (66%, or 47 out of 71).

However, sexist or sexual behaviours can also be perpetrated by a male colleague, such as a singer or an instrumentalist (80 cases out of 115: 69.5%), or by a member of the technical staff (25 cases out of 115: 22%) or the administrative staff (9 cases out of 115: 8%). There were no major differences between the female singers according to whether they were soloists or members of a choir.

On the other hand, female temporary singers, as well as the youngest and oldest women, seem to be subjected to sexist or sexual behaviours even more often than other singers. Male singers, even though fewer in number identify themselves victims (24 cases out of the 83 men who answered: 29%), are also more often targeted by men in positions of power.

A Very Low Level of Reporting despite the Heavy Psychological and Professional Costs

The questionnaire confirms the low level of reporting of these sexist and sexual acts, especially to supervisors and external authorities. However, these incidents are often widely known among those involved and have serious psychological and professional consequences for the affected individuals.

A Low Level of Reporting to the Hierarchy
or to an External Authority

Our analysis includes 295 people among the 336 respondents in the sample: 251 victims and 44 witnesses. Forty people were neither victims nor witnesses, while one person, who identified their sex as ‘other’, had to be removed from the analysis for statistical reasons.8

The responses to the questionnaire highlight a general observation: when sexist or sexual misconduct occurs, whether as victims or as witnesses, people are often able to discuss it with those around them and may take action in the moment. However, very few formally report it through the hierarchy or to an external authority.

Some trends seem to emerge:

Men are more likely to react on the spot (49% against 37% for women); among singers these proportions are even more marked: 58% of male singer victims against 38% of female singer victims.

Women, on the other hand, mainly talk to someone close to them (58% of women against 46% of men; 61% of female singers against 44% of male singers). Sometimes they decide not to react at all: 48% of women, victims or witnesses, against 39% of men.

The answers concerning the denunciations to a hierarchical superior or to an external authority are in much lower proportions: 18% of the respondents sometimes report to a hierarchical superior and only 6% to an external authority. These proportions remain relatively similar, whatever the different populations: men/women/singers/non-singers, etc.

When we cross-checked the responses, only 43 people reported having no reaction when they experienced or witnessed these sexist or sexual acts. We deal with this group and the reasoning behind its formation in the next paragraphs.

A Professional Environment Conducive to Unreported Sexist and Sexual Acts

How can we explain both the prevalence of sexist and sexual acts and the low level of reporting to management or to an outside authority, despite the negative psychological and professional consequences of not reporting?

In line with the approach of Elizabeth Armstrong et al. (2006) on rape at US student campuses, Kirsten Dellinger and Christine Williams (2002) on sexual harassment in two magazines and Mathilde Provansal on gender-based violence in visual art schools (Chapter 4 in this book), we analysed the work environment and shared professional norms.

The Hypersexualisation of Women Singers:
Uncontrolled ‘Drifts’

As observed in former studies, physical seduction is often central to the profession of the opera (Stephenson, 2012), and more broadly that of classical musicians (Ravet, 2011). This phenomenon thus affects various elements of the professional lives of opera artists, both on and off stage. Strong emphasis on physical seduction frequently leads to the hypersexualisation of women in the field. This environment can make it especially challenging for some individuals —particularly those in positions of power—to construct ‘clear’ boundaries between expected professional behaviors tied to artistic expression or performance and harmful, sexist or sexual acts that constitute gender-based violence, which can deeply affect women’s physical and mental well-being and professional opportunities.

As for the female characters embodied by the opera singers, there is a strong presence in the artworks of seductive and amorous women. The plots proposed in most of the operas often revolve around the love of a man and a woman, a feeling thwarted by the presence of other men. The female characters, who are less numerous than the male characters, are usually involved exclusively in love issues, are the object of love or desire of several male characters at the same time, and are frequently victims of violence. Some works, such as Don Giovanni, Susannah or L’Arianna, even feature explicit rape scenes, prompting feminist musicologists to consider different ways in which these artworks can (or cannot) be taught and staged without promoting a ‘rape culture’ (Curtis, 2000; Cusick & Hershberger, 2018). This near-systematic connection of female characters’ participation in the love plot in the artworks thus tends to carry over into the working atmosphere surrounding the singers.

When asked, ‘When you play a cross-dressing character, does it change the way others look at you during the production?’, one singer responded:

Yes, absolutely. Because the fact of not being in a seductive relationship on stage changes the relationship with those who are in the rehearsal room. There is a form of confusion between what happens on stage and off stage. People can be seduced by what you give off on stage, by your character. And during the rehearsal [period], this seduction can continue off stage, over a coffee, a drink. That’s what can sometimes create trouble. […] So it happens less when you play men. (Amanda, opera singer, 30–40 years old)

The staging still tends to sexualise these female characters and to set up explicit love scenes. The search for modernity by stage directors who want to ‘dust off’ opera still involves the exploitation of the sexual imagination, with sensual characters and explicit references to sexuality. Such stagings seem to potentially open the door to sexist and sexual acts, direct or indirect, outside of any social control, because of the lack of clear limits between the actual requirements of the role, the interpretations given by male directors or singers, and the physical and psychological integrity of women singers on and off stage. Indeed, as one respondent states:

Sex scenes in the theatre are choreographed, as are sword scenes, for which a specialist is usually called in. For sex scenes, we don’t call anyone and we do it behind closed doors, so as not to disturb. […] In the cinema, there are people who are called on the sets to manage the sex scenes, to protect the bodies, to make everything professional. And there, [in opera,] if I am embarrassed by certain words or gestures, I look like a bad artist. (Céline, opera singer, 30–40 years old)

During the interviews, the singers regularly mention outfits that overly sexualise their bodies: plunging necklines, very short shorts, transparent or slit miniskirts, which are often not at all necessary for the roles they play.

Some stage directors, singers or production managers seem to pursue these women assiduously at any time of the day or night, ‘steal’ kisses from them outside of working hours, touch intimate parts of their bodies during rehearsals and outside of any artistic necessity, or make degrading remarks about their physique. Also mentioned are rehearsals of scenes, especially love scenes, where male singers or directors touch their breasts or private parts, without any connection with the needs of the production. One singer indicates that she wears sweaters tucked into her pants in order to avoid wandering hands, while another explains: ‘on several occasions, I’ve found myself thinking about what to wear before going to the rehearsal’.

As this last example indicates, women opera singers thus learn to ‘shut down the seduction’ (Buscatto, 2021) to avoid sexual violence—harassment, insistent flirting, attempted rape or rape, touching—and verbal or physical sexist acts. Unless the role imposes it, some of them choose not to wear suggestive clothes and behave in a distant way: they avoid answering text messages, refrain from drinking with these men, tuck their sweaters into their pants during rehearsals, steer clear of uncomfortable gestures, emphasise a stable relationship with a male musician or producer, or highlight their maternity or role as a mother...

The presence of sexist and sexual acts does not stop there. Indeed, the appeal of women singers is constantly mobilised to promote the works in which they perform, as well as to advance their careers, weakening in return their ability to protect their physical and mental integrity. Female singers are required to participate in promotional events and encouraged to charm and engage critics, financiers, programmers or their public, potentially exposing them to the risk of unwanted sexual behaviour:

If there are a few pretty girls on the set, the director of protocol will insist heavily that they come to the dinner or cocktail party after the show [...] we wait for these singers in front of their dressing rooms. (Mylène, opera singer, 30–40 years old)

A final point shows the double-bind nature of sexism at work in this professional world, due to this hypersexualised image of women singers. When women decide to denounce sexual violence, they are subjected to a paradox. Having been transformed into sexual objects, they are often blamed for the violence they experience, unless they can prove otherwise. They are expected to justify their behaviour as exemplary, and the slightest deviation or misstep is interpreted as the cause of the abuser’s reprehensible actions. One woman who was sexually abused—forcibly kissed several times and harassed via messages and in front of witnesses by her director—decided not to report him after observing the denigrating remarks and the difficulties suffered by a colleague who had previously reported a sexual assault.

To our prompt ‘You indicated that you didn’t talk about the things you had been through for fear of being blamed,’ this young singer replies:

It’s for women in general. X filed a complaint, and I know how it goes. People analyse your actions to see if you didn’t provoke the situation. It’s always the same… off-beat messages from managers, sometimes at one in the morning. At the beginning, you are very young, you wonder what will happen if you don’t answer, if they will cancel your contract. So, you answer. And then they tell you “if you answer at midnight, don’t be surprised if afterwards…”. Because of this, I never wanted to be under the spotlight of this kind of investigation! (Coline, opera singer, 20–30 years old)

A Highly Competitive, Uncertain and Anxious World

Theatre, music and dance are saturated, competitive and precarious art worlds (Menger, 2005). The number of people who aspire to be artists far outnumbers the number of artists that those professional worlds can accommodate. And, as in the creative industries studied by Sophie Hennekam and Dawn Bennett in the Netherlands (2017) or in the New York theatre world (Lechaux, Chapter 7 in this book), this seems to work against women on several levels.

First, for young singers, whether soloists or choir members, there is a great risk of not being hired again if they report harassment or denounce abusers, which in turn favours predatory behaviours. Each production they participate in may be their last. If they do come forward, these women risk being categorised as ‘bitchy’, as ‘mood breakers’, as conflict creators. This fear is at the heart of the difficulty of denunciation, as has already been shown by the analysis of the answers to the questionnaires. This concerns not only the female soloists, but also the young female choristers. Indeed, if the women choristers who hold a permanent position, often aged over thirty, can benefit from relative protection from the choir’s management, the younger women choristers, hired as ‘extras’—and therefore in a more precarious position—seem to be more often subjected to gender-based violence:

In fact, in a choir, you are always with the same colleagues, there are some heavyweights, but there is a form of protection that is established. In the group, if a man is really too heavy, he could be put aside, like in a pack. But what can happen is that these heavyweights will attack the ‘extras’ because their position is more fragile. This happened to me when I was a student. At that point, the ‘pack’ no longer plays its protective role. (Cécile, singer, 40–50 years old)

In the same vein, those women already present in this art world and rather well established in their position, while less likely not to be recruited in future productions, often seek to improve their artistic lot, at least until they reach the age of thirty-five or forty: gaining access to ‘interesting’ positions and roles allows them precisely to make the career they desire and not to lock themselves into a ‘modest’ artist position (Buscatto, 2019). Young choristers, even stable ones, may aspire to become soloists, while soloists seek to get access to roles that are more suited to their tastes (and voices). In these circumstances, one can avoid denouncing gender-based violence in order not to be ‘blacklisted’. Furthermore, if solidarity between women or between colleagues is very weak, sexist or sexual behaviours which are observed or experienced may not be denounced to avoid risking one’s reputation and career, as was also observed by Chiharu Chujo in the Japanese music industry (see Chapter 3 in this book):

When we work on the same production, of course, we get along well and there is mutual support. But given that the business is very competitive, it makes it difficult to be truly united. Everyone does what they can to pursue their careers. (Alice, opera singer, 30–40 years old)

Artistic Success and Talent as an Excuse
for Reprehensible Behaviours

Some victims or witnesses justify their failure to denounce gender-based violence by referring to the ‘talent’ of the aggressor, his creative abilities, his artistic greatness. It is as if those who have power are also those whose artistic talent is recognised. Such great artistic talent would justify accepting behavioural ‘deviations’ when they exist, and in particular sexist and sexual behaviours even when they are judged as misplaced or reprehensible by these same people (see in this book the same process as observed by Rossi and Karttunen in the Finnish photography world (Chapter 5) or Lechaux in the New York theatre world (Chapter 7)):

There is a very strong omerta in this milieu. These conductors are very talented, and can be charming and healthy in their work, which also protects them, and makes us look past their unhealthy behaviours. (Mylène, opera singer, 30–40 years old)

Speaking of a very legitimate conductor in the world of music, a male instrumentalist interviewed mentioned numerous reprehensible behaviours—including an alleged rape for which a legal complaint has been filed—known to all and never denounced, neither in the world of opera nor in a court of law.

One opera singer commented:

Oh yes, X—a renowned director—, it was ‘Minitel rose’ [an ‘erotic Minitel’, Minitel being a French videotex service of the time], he skipped the administrator. At the time, it’s not that you weren’t free to say no, I did, but you had the associated hassle. That’s what I said about the [Plácido] Domingo case [...] everybody knew that his first prize in his contest was the girl he managed to fuck. Everybody defended him saying: ‘but such an attractive man, he didn’t need that’. Of course, he did, it was his way of doing things. X and Domingo, it’s the same, they are guys who piss around their bed at night, who mark their territory.

To our question, ‘You mean they totally confused sexual seduction with hiring people?’, the same singer replies:

But yes, and nobody ever told them. For example, I have corrected people in dinner parties who said, ‘Well, attacking such a great artist, who has done nothing...’. No. You don’t know what he did. In fact, I know, but let’s say that we don’t know! (Amélie, opera singer, 50–60 years old)

Another element that is specific to the world of opera is the fact that, although gender-based violence deeply troubles the majority of those affected on an individual level, it is often considered ‘normal’. As a result, it is seen as a set of ‘deviations’ that are impossible to limit, given the inherently creative nature of the profession:

I think that in our profession there is a part of seduction, whether with the public or among colleagues, which can generate ambiguity, but there are drifts. [...] We are in a very liberated world, and liberation can go as far as unwanted behaviour. (Coline, opera singer, 20–30 years old)

Finally, these same people who have power over others are people who are adulated by the public, by the media, by colleagues; in some cases, this ‘success goes to their heads’ and would lead them to think that ‘anything goes’ because of their talent. The low levels of reporting may convince them of this possibility:

There is also a thin line between playing and ‘not playing’. It’s silly to say, but there are colleagues, success goes to their heads and because you have a voice, anything goes. In the beginning, I have worked in major opera houses and played smaller roles with superstars, and there are some who think they can do anything. I was totally asexual in the way I dressed, in a turtleneck, too big, there was even a tenor who managed to pull the collar of my sweater to see my breasts instead of saying hello. (Jade, opera singer, 40–50 years old)

Conclusion

The opera world is conducive to gender-based violence, committed mainly by powerful men towards women, even more so when they are singers. It still favours a low level of denunciation to the hierarchy or to an external authority, both by the latter and by the colleagues who witness it. There are many structural elements that contribute to the production and legitimisation of recurrent gender-based violence: dirty jokes, disparaging remarks about physical appearance, insistent flirting, physical or sexual touching and assault, and even rape. These include the hypersexualisation of female characters on the opera stage, the emphasis on the physical seductiveness of female singers in order to be recruited, the high degree of uncertainty affecting the employment and careers of these female artists, and the tolerance by opera staff of the ‘excesses’ and sexist and sexual behaviours of the big names of opera by virtue of their ‘genius’ and artistic freedom.

Gender-based violence can then be thought of as a continuum as defined by Kelly (1987), ranging from the most everyday gender-based acts to legally punishable sexual violence. These sexist and sexual acts cause heavy psychological costs for a significant number of the victims. But fear for one’s career, reputation and future dominates when it comes to reporting these acts to a hierarchical or external authority, even when these acts are legally reprehensible, thus feeding a feeling of impunity.

Although the vast majority of the victims who responded to the questionnaire are cisgender women, we must not forget the gender-based violence perpetrated on men by other men or on gender minorities. Even if few men and only one person who neither identified as a man nor a woman responded to the questionnaire, making it impossible to process their answers rigorously, at least two elements indicate this potential reality. On the one hand, the men who responded are often victims themselves, and their experiences of victimisation are frequently perpetrated by other men. On the other hand, based on the few interviews we conducted with men, the violence they encounter often appears to be perpetrated by men in positions of power, particularly those who identify as homosexual. A specific investigation is needed to enrich these initial findings and assess how far binary and heteronormative norms affect the creation and legitimation of gender-based violence in the world of French opera.

By its very nature, gender-based violence harms the careers of women who are subjected to it because it generates a lack of confidence, and feelings of shame or anger: it can result in exclusion if they denounce these acts, or self-exclusion, if they are personally affected. But it also has a potentially negative influence on their careers, insofar as these women are forced to develop strategies that hinder their professional integration in order to protect themselves. This includes efforts to ‘shut-off the seduction’ (Buscatto, 2021), and thus, incidentally, to limit interactions with the men of power who nevertheless control the resources necessary for securing work and gaining recognition. Gender-based violence consequently also affects the slow feminisation of artistic work (Buscatto, 2018).

Through the specific case of the French opera milieu, we have thus demonstrated the prevalence of gender-based violence in this professional environment, and the reasons for its production and its denial. The aim was also to contribute to a wider reflection on gender-based violence in the art worlds in the twenty-first century: the structural foundations of the production and non-reporting of gender-based violence, as revealed by the #MeToo movement, are indeed deeply embedded in the very functioning of the artistic universe—characterised by precarious careers, hyper-competition, an ideology of talent, and the hypersexualisation of women. These foundations must be identified and explained in terms of their specific modes of operation if we are to better understand the different ways in which they negatively affect the professional trajectories of women artists.

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1 The content of this chapter was originally published as an article in issue 22(1) of the journal Les Cahiers de la Société québécoise de recherche en musique (SQRM) (Buscatto et al., 2021). I would like to thank the editorial committee, consisting of Vanessa Blais-Tremblay, Jean Boivin, Vicky Tremblay and Jordan Meunier, for their permission to publish this work in this book in a reduced English version.
2 L’inondation [The Flood], by Francesco Filidei and Joël Pommerat, produced in 2019 at the Opéra Comique (Paris, France).
3 Having adopted an intersectional analysis (Buscatto, 2016), our study informs the issue of gender-based violence by sex, age, occupation, employment status and type of employer structure. The literature also mentions other social determinants that can affect the propensity to suffer and/or to report such acts, in particular racialisation (Appert & Lawrence, 2020; Buscatto et al., 2020). However, this study did not allow us to add items related to racialisation for various practical and statistical reasons. First, addressing this topic in a rigorous manner would have made the questionnaire very cumbersome and difficult to circulate. In addition, dealing with the issue of racialisation would have required access to a sufficient number of racialised people on which to base the analysis. However, this was not feasible through the Internet, as this demographic is still very rare in French opera.

4 According to several sources consulted in 2017, there were around 12,000 salaried employees in the opera world; the level of feminisation is close to that of the theatrical world (49%).

5 Our translation.
6 For an example, see the program of the Opéra national de Paris, 2019/2020 season.
7 The term ‘victim’ was preferred to survivor for two main reasons. On the one hand, in our questionnaires and interviews, victim was the way we described this experience. On the other, even when asked to speak about their experiences freely, people would describe themselves as victims and not as survivors.

8 The expression ‘removed from the analysis’ here refers only to counting operations. This choice is purely technical. Indeed, this case being ‘too singular’, it could not be treated in a rigorous manner in the context of our study and thus allow for generalisable conclusions.

2. French Opera: A Professional World Haunted by Gender-Based Violence1

Marie Buscatto, Soline Helbert and Ionela Roharik

Introduction

Methods

Opera as a Collective and Hierarchised Work Organisation Supervised by Men

The Omnipresence of Sexist and Sexual Acts: Women as Victims,7 Men of Power as Aggressors

A High Prevalence of Sexist and Sexual Acts

A Wide Variety of Sexist and Sexual Acts, Some Recurrent Practices

Men of Power as Main Aggressors

A Very Low Level of Reporting despite the Heavy Psychological and Professional Costs

A Low Level of Reporting to the Hierarchy or to an External Authority

Heavy and Known Psychological Consequences for the People Concerned

At the Heart of a Low Level of Denunciation

Anger as the Main Driving Force behind the Rare Denunciations

A Professional Environment Conducive to Unreported Sexist and Sexual Acts

The Hypersexualisation of Women Singers: Uncontrolled ‘Drifts’

A Highly Competitive, Uncertain and Anxious World

Artistic Success and Talent as an Excuse for Reprehensible Behaviours

Conclusion

References

2. French Opera: A Professional World Haunted by Gender-Based Violence 1

The Omnipresence of Sexist and Sexual Acts:
Women as Victims,7 Men of Power as Aggressors

A Wide Variety of Sexist and Sexual Acts,
Some Recurrent Practices

A Low Level of Reporting to the Hierarchy
or to an External Authority

Heavy and Known Psychological Consequences
for the People Concerned

Anger as the Main Driving Force
behind the Rare Denunciations

The Hypersexualisation of Women Singers:
Uncontrolled ‘Drifts’

Artistic Success and Talent as an Excuse
for Reprehensible Behaviours