#MeToo Movement in Greece Resurges After Testimony by Olympic Athlete

Olympic sailing champion Sofia Bekatorou’s speaking out regarding her past experiences with sexual abuse is leading to a revival of Greece’s #MeToo movement.

A view of the Acropolis in Athens, Greece. Christophe Meneboeuf. CC-BY-SA 3.0

Forty-three-year-old Greek sailing champion Sofia Bekatorou rose to international acclaim after winning an Olympic gold medal in the 2004 Athens Olympics and four World Championships in Italy, Slovenia, Hungary and Spain. Recently, however, she is making headlines for speaking out about her past experiences with sexual abuse in the competitive sports arena. Her brave actions sparked a national #MeToo movement with support from politicians, athletes and social media followers across Greece. 

 Bekatorou’s Experience with Sexual Abuse

A boat at sea. Snappygoat.com. CC0

Bekatorou was sexually abused in 1998 when she went abroad for the Olympic qualifiers in Sydney. A member of the Hellenic Sailing Federation raped her when she was 21. According to Bekatorou, “He said he would stop if I wanted him to, but he didn’t stop, no matter what I said. When he finished and got up from on top of me, I left the room ashamed and in tears.” Her case remained silenced for 20 years as she began to succeed in the sport. As Bekatorou resisted her abuser’s advances, she received pushback from the sailing federation, making it more difficult to excel. She stated that, “The more successful I became, the more they fought me. While I didn’t have such great success, no one was afraid I would acquire much of a voice.”

Greek athlete Sofia Bekatorou. Mihrou. Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 4.0

Bekatorou’s Testimony and Aftermath

Bekatorou had the opportunity to raise her voice when the government asked athletes to comment on a proposed sports reform bill in 2019. In November of that year, she denounced her rape publicly for the first time. Although Bekatorou did not expect to reach a large audience since she spoke at a small online conference, the sailing federation began responding with allegations the next day. Her testimony resulted in a wave of support from fans with #metisofia (on Sofia’s side) and #MeToo trending on social media. In addition to her testimony, Bekatorou sent a letter to World Sailing signed by fellow Olympians and coaches calling out a “wretched situation” and demanding fair elections to overhaul the existing board of the organization. 

In addition to support from her fans, Bekatorou has also received the backing of Greek politicians, including Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and female President Katerina Sakellaropoulou, who stated that Bekatorou’s actions “dissolved a conspiracy of silence” in Greece, where sexual assault cases are notoriously underreported. 

A Greek parliamentary session. Pasok. Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 2.0

Groundbreaking Changes in Greek Sports and Politics

Since her testimony, Vice President Aristeidis Adamopoulos of the Hellenic Sailing Federation, her alleged abuser, has resigned from his position. He refuses to acknowledge any instance of abuse, stating that his only reason for resigning is to spare the federation any negative publicity. Greece has also banned about half of the country’s 10,000 sports clubs from voting in upcoming sports federation elections due to concerns regarding “sexual and financial misconduct.” Although Bekatorou’s case has passed the 20-year statute of limitations period, politicians are considering an extension of it. There are rising movements to increase prison sentences for sex offenders and to address sexual abuse cases more frequently, but the long-term effects of the #MeToo movement’s surge are not yet known. 

Women from across Greece are beginning to come forward regarding their harrowing experiences with sexual abuse. These women include sailing champion Marina Psychogyiou, water polo player Mania Bikof, world champion swimmer Rabea Iatridou and Cypriot Olympic shooter Andri Eleftheriou. Additionally, widespread sexual abuse cases at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in northern Greece are making headlines, with over 100 complaints filed about a single professor in the last 30 years. Although Greece is making strides toward gender equality with legislation passed in 2010, the country is far behind other European Union members in this regard. 

Sofia Bekatorou’s heroism serves as an inspiration to sexual abuse survivors and women around the world. Only time will tell whether her actions lead to social change in Greece and beyond. 

Megan Gürer

Megan is a Turkish-American student at Wellesley College in Massachusetts studying Biological Sciences. Passionate about environmental issues and learning about other cultures, she dreams of exploring the globe. In her free time, she enjoys cooking, singing, and composing music.

Philippines Moves to Protect Children from Sexual Abuse

The Philippines passed a new law to raise the age of consent. The change could go a long way toward protecting the country’s most vulnerable children. 

Children on the street. Beegee49. CC BY-ND 2.0.

The Philippines’ House of Representatives recently passed a new law that would raise the age of consent from 12 to 16. Long among the world’s lowest ages of consent, lawmakers hope the change will protect children from sexual predation. In recent decades, the Philippines has become a global hub of child sexual exploitation. Though the new law will improve protections for victims of abuse, long-lasting effects of sexual predation will be felt for years to come. 

The age of consent was decided in 1930 in the Revised Penal Code at 12 years old, the product of what is widely considered a culture of patriarchy. At such a low age, sexual acts against children were almost impossible to prosecute in court. Defendants could claim sex with a child was consensual because they were both above the age of consent. Under this code, defendants could escape a rape verdict if they offered to marry their victim. 

In recent years, sexual abuse against minors has seen a massive increase across the Philippines. Experts say the number of IP addresses used for streaming child pornography has risen from 23,333 in 2014 to 81,723 in 2017, a 250% increase. Cases of HIV/AIDS among minors have been increasing steadily over a similar period of time. Of all rape victims, 70% are children, the vast majority girls. As a result, girls as young as 14 are becoming pregnant at higher rates. 

Campaigners for the bill long argued that children needed far more protections than the Philippines’ legal system granted. The law that would raise the age of consent also contains measures to harshen penalties for rape, sexual exploitation and abuse as well as shift the burden of proof of consent from the victim to the offender. The new law passed the House of Representatives with 207 votes and only 3 opposing; it is expected to pass the Senate just as easily. 

A family making ends meet. FotoGrazio. CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

Increased data collection has painted a clearer picture of the issue in recent years. International advocacy helped focus lawmakers’ attention on the issue, but it also revealed the lack of resources the Philippines suffers from in combating sex crimes. Sixty-four percent of online abuse cases were initiated by foreign authorities who traced crimes back to the country.

Online sexual abuse afflicts more children today than it ever has. A combination of widespread poverty and COVID-19 lockdowns has rendered the practice rampant in recent months. Poor families were disproportionately harmed by lockdowns, causing a small number of families to resort to online abuse. Predators from foreign countries—mainly the United States, Canada, Europe and Australia—pay facilitators to sexually abuse children, directing the abuse themselves via a livestream. 

The facilitators often include immediate and extended family. In 90 cases involving 381 victims from 2011 to 2017, 43 were abused from two months up to two years. Half were arranged by parents or extended family. The average age of victims was 11. The youngest victim was less than 1. 

The Philippine government plans to implement additional measures to address the conditions that make child sexual abuse so prominent. The Philippine Plan of Action to End Violence Against Children, begun in 2017, campaigns for children’s rights and was partially responsible for raising the age of consent. The U.S. Department of State classifies the Philippines as Tier 1 for fully complying with the Trafficking Victims Protections Act. For the time being, raising the age of consent marks another crucial step in combating sexual exploitation.

Michael McCarthy

Michael is an undergraduate student at Haverford College, dodging the pandemic by taking a gap year. He writes in a variety of genres, and his time in high school debate renders political writing an inevitable fascination. Writing at Catalyst and the Bi-Co News, a student-run newspaper, provides an outlet for this passion. In the future, he intends to keep writing in mediums both informative and creative.