Halyna Hutchins

A human being died because of a violent work culture, grown from a patriarchy that demands a hierarchy of value on human bodies.

Photo of Halyna Hutchins courtesy of ICG Local 600

Let me explain:

I read a situation on a forum recently where a male composer was kicked off an almost complete project and replaced with a female composer because the producers realised they weren't hitting their equality quota.

Consequences:

1. People rallied around the male composer

2. People (mainly men) began showing anger about the quota

3. People (mainly men) began to show anger towards the woman composer

4. People (mainly women) tried to stick up for equality

5. The male composer tried to douse the flames of anger by also trying to stick up for equality

6. Many people, (mainly women, including myself), felt unsafe about speaking up in that group for a while after.

Now think about the woman composer who replaced the male composer.

What sort of environment was she entering?

What sort of anger, resentment, shame, (read: violence*) would she experience as a result?

This is not equality. 

This is inauthentic, bad box-ticking. It leads to mistakes, to bad feelings, to anger, to bullying, to a violent workplace.

Now think about the producers who made this decision so late in the day.

What consequences do they experience as a result?

Does it match those experienced by the replacement composer and the other women composers in the forum?

There is a hierarchy of blame, a hierarchy of responsibility and a hierarchy of accountability.

The people who made the above decision did not experience the same amount of harm as the people who the decision affected.

And this leads me to Halyna. I do not know all of the details and we will learn more as time goes on.

But what I do see is the scape-goating, the anger, the blame. A crew striking because of poor working conditions, a female armourer named and shamed, poor leadership and a talented woman dead.

And while media outlets are rushing around to name the individual at fault, I can't help but see the cage. 

We live in a patriarchal cage. It tells us who to trust and who dismiss, it values money over human lives, it convinces us that success is a specific definition that is only accessible by climbing a ladder, and it places a hierarchy on bodies rather than honouring individual experiences.

I see the cage's imprint on the situation with Rust.

A human being died because of a violent work culture, grown from a patriarchy that demands a hierarchy of value on human bodies.

How can we change?

1. Demand better for your peers and employees

2. Think smarter about money. Invest in your crew, as you would (should) invest in yourself

3. Look at how safe you feel in certain situations and ask if your colleagues feel that level of safety too. (i.e. Do you feel comfortable speaking your views? Do they feel comfortable speaking their views?)

4. Quotas need to have a massive dose of empathy attached to them!

I will leave you with a Go Fund Me link, raising funds for Halyna's husband and son.

She is to be celebrated and remembered.