Catherine Deneuve is among 100 French writers, actresses and academics to have signed an open letter condemning the "witch-hunt" of predatory men that has emerged in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal.
They claim the "denunciations" threaten sexual freedom and that men should be allowed "to hit on women" if they want to.
The letter continues to argue that men have been forced out of their jobs unnecessarily "when all they did was touch someone's knee or try to steal a kiss".
"Rape is a crime, but trying to seduce someone, even persistently or cack-handedly, is not – nor is men being gentlemanly a macho attack," said the letter, published in the newspaper Le Monde (via The Guardian).
"Men have been punished summarily, forced out of their jobs when all they did was touch someone's knee or try to steal a kiss."
The statement also attacked social media campaigns such as #MeToo and the French equivalent, #BalanceTonPorc ("Call out your pig"), describing them as "puritanical".
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"What began as freeing women up to speak has today turned into the opposite – we intimidate people into speaking 'correctly', shout down those who don't fall into line, and those women who refused to bend [to the new realities] are regarded as complicit and traitors," read the letter.
Following the Harvey Weinstein scandal, numerous women in Hollywood and fashion have come forward to reveal their experiences of sexual harassment and assault in the workplace.
The #MeToo campaign, which went viral, in which women around the world shared their stories, showed the depressing pervasiveness of the issue.
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