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News > Argentina

Argentine Actress Outs Actor For Rape, Gains Massive Support

  • Thelma Fardin outed actor Juan Darthes for rape. He has been accused by at least two other Argentine actresses.

    Thelma Fardin outed actor Juan Darthes for rape. He has been accused by at least two other Argentine actresses. | Photo: Efe

Published 12 December 2018
Opinion

Argentine actress Thelma Fardin revealed she was raped by actor Juan Darthes in 2009. He denies the allegations.

The Argentine Actresses guild has rallied behind Thelma Fardin, who denounced Tuesday that Argentine actor Juan Darthes raped her in 2009. Fardin recounted the events that occured in Nicaragua through a now-viral Instagram video. 

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The over 400 members of the guild say they support Fardin as she files a criminal complaint in Nicaragua against Darthes.

In a video posted Tuesday night, the young actress recounted the story of how the now 54-year-old Darthes raped her in a hotel room while they were on tour in Nicaragua to promote their "Ugly Duckling" children’s show.

"He started kissing my neck, and I said no,” Fardin starts out in the video. She cries detailing the rest of the alleged rape saying, “he made me touch him and told me 'look what you do to me,' making me feel his erection. I kept saying no." Darthes was 45 at the time and Fardin only 16 years old.

Last year, actresses Calu Rivero and Natalia Juncos accused Darthes of sexual abuse but he was acquitted on the charges for lack of evidence.

Fardin says in the video that for years she had "blocked" out the incident until now, when others began to come forward with accusations against Darthes. The male actor was the only adult during the tour nine years ago.

The actress said: "I later realized I had a fundamental role to play in what was happening and that what had happened to me in the past could encourage others to talk."

RELATED: 

Argentina: All Male Court Acquits 3 Men of Femicide and Rape

Argentine women and activists have been at the forefront of the struggle against gender-based violence. In 2015 they started the #niunamenos (not one less) movement, protesting and taking legal action against the country’s high rate of rapes and femicides. The Femicide Observatory of Argentina recently found that 225 women were murdered between Jan. 1 and Oct. 31, 2018, most were killed by their former partners or relatives.

In a reference to what Darthes allegedly told Fardin: "Mira como me pones," which loosely translates to "look what you do to me" women have launched #MiraComoNosPonemos (or look how we get) to denounce acts of sexual violence and show solidarity. 

On Tuesday, dozens from the Argentine Actress guild held a press conference at a Buenos Aires theatre to read a joint letter in support of Fardin.

"We are isolated by traumatic experiences ... Meanwhile, the abusers speak with total impunity in order to make the victims responsible for their own abuse … This impunity must end.”

Ten of the guild actresses took turns reading their letter aloud.

"In our environment, oppression and objectification are commonplace. The entertainment industry eroticizes and overexposes girls and teenagers. We are almost always unprotected by those who hire us," they said.

According to statement, 66 percent of all actresses have suffered some type of harassment or sexual abuse while working and they have no professional protection. On the contrary, they are accused by the courts of inviting the abusive treatment.

"Justice and the state hinder, dismiss, delay, stigmatize victims or fail aberrantly in favor of perpetrators, as in the case of Lucia Perez,” they said in a reference to the 16-year-old Argentine who was drugged, raped and murdered in 2016.

Perez’s death helped spark a national and Latin American movement against femicides in the region. Last month two of her accused were sentenced to eight years in prison for drug possession, a third was absolved.


 

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