Public Announcement and Petition:

Survivor-Centered Changes and Actions by Reel Rock Productions

Think it’s messed up that two out of three films in Reel Rock 19 feature athletes who were involved in major sexual assault or online harassment controversies? If so, sign below (“Anonymous” okay) to support this petition to Reel Rock and add your comments with any feelings, opinions and demands you want Reel Rock to hear. This petition went live on 14 February 2025.  

MISSION: To stop rape, sexual violence and sexual harassment in the climbing community, and support survivors. 

GOALS: See that Reel Rock makes policy changes and takes actions that 

• Repair the harm from retraumatizing survivors by featuring certain athletes
• Prevent such hurtful filmmaking decisions in the future
• Are real progress toward eliminating the cultural norms that tolerate rape, sexual violence and sexual harassment. 

 

Context (Summary; details of films at end.)

Reel Rock is the largest film festival in rock climbing, with some 500 viewings around the world. This year, one film features Thomasina Pidgeon, who publicly supported Charlie Barrett three months after his conviction for aggravated sexual abuse and prior to his sentencing in June 2024 to life in prison without parole. Another film features Joe Kinder, a climber who was dropped by his sponsors for harassing women with an anonymous Instagram account. We believe there are many ways of engaging with the complications of gender-based violence in climbing, but uncritically platforming these athletes is not the way. By showing these films, Reel Rock sends the message that:

• Sexual assault and sexual harassment are not taken seriously by the climbing community;
• Those who show support for individuals convicted of serious crimes can remain unaccountable for their actions;
• The experience of survivors is less important than the climbing ability of famous athletes.

In January and February 2025, the Reel Rock Task Force – an ad hoc group of six climbers in CO, CA and WA, including a Certified Victim Advocate – spoke with Reel Rock a number of times to press for changes. Coming out of those negotiations, the Task Force has authored this announcement and petition.  

We know that Reel Rock is not solely responsible for the system and environment necessary to create serial rapists such as Barrett. We believe, along with Reel Rock, that we should all work to build a safer, more inclusive community for all climbers. This is true of individual climbers at the crag as well as, for instance, an international film festival. Given this, we trust that Reel Rock does not want to be sending the above messages. Nevertheless, this is the impact of building Reel Rock 19 around these two specific athletes.

Key resource: See Reel Rock’s blog 24 Jan 2025 and the comments by survivors and supporters. Selected public comments: 

What would make you look best, most compassionate, & caring would be to bite the bullet & take the story out of the tour. 

Then you don’t need to explain anything. Everyone will hear you loud & clear.

_____

As long as we are defending ourselves, we are not learning, reel rock.

A defensive position is always a sign of healing that still needs to happen, of fragility. On the opposite side is an embodied strength of a leader in the community who LEARNS from their mistakes, and not only apologizes but also ACTS from the place of humility and love.

I’d like to ask that you seize the opportunity to be a thought leader in the climbing community, own up to your ignorance, examine the patriarchal bs that’s still running in your company and take appropriate action to repair.

If you do so, you’ll become an inspiration for the whole industry. This is your chance.

_____

It’s about understanding how platforming someone who publicly defended a convicted serial sexual abuser after his conviction sends a message to survivors. And that message is loud and clear: Your pain is secondary to our film.

 

Changes and Actions

What Reel Rock Has Agreed To Do

On 11 Feb. 2025, Reel Rock stated: 

We plan to adopt a #SafeOutside policy for our company, as we try to ensure that we are doing the best we can to contribute to a safe, inclusive climbing community. 

We also plan to make a donation to the RAINN.org, in acknowledgement of how important these issues are, and of how the announcement of this year’s Reel Rock program has caused pain and anger among survivors. 

[Not listed but agreed to in talks: Donate to a Restorative Justice fund, for survivors who want to pursue a professionally managed process to see how to best repair the harm they have experienced.]

We are still considering what other steps we may take, and we continue to be open to dialogue.

What Reel Rock Could Also Do

In talks, Reel Rock was asked by a Task Force member,

“Did featuring Thomasina in a Reel Rock film cause hurt and suffering for survivors and victims?” 

Reel Rock answered: Yes. 

Despite admitting their actions harmed survivors, Reel Rock also stated multiple times that their filmmaking decisions to feature certain athletes were not mistakes. For example:  

People are saying, “This was an error in your vetting process.” We don’t agree. We stand behind our decisions to run these films.  (5 Feb. 2025)

As of 11 Feb. 2025, Reel Rock was saying the films would not be pulled from the Reel Rock 19 tour, nor would Reel Rock commit to editing the films to include a message such as the following at the start of and in the body of each film: 

Reel Rock recognizes that survivors of rape, sexual violence and sexual harassment were hurt by even the announcement that Reel Rock 19 would feature two certain individuals. 

Here’s what we, Reel Rock, are doing, and going to do, not to repair all the harm, as much as we want to do that, but to at least move in the right direction to help the climbing community stop tolerating rape and sexual harassment, and to support survivors.

1. A Code of Conduct to better vet athletes, using the SafeOutside Toolkit as a resource. 

2. Donate to RAINN.org and a Restorative Justice fund.

3. Make statements like the above, in ways we hope are meaningful to survivors, such as at the start of and IN the films with Thomasina Pidgeon and Joe Kinder, as a minimum first step toward accountability and healing.

4. Apologies are important but seldom effective to repair harm. 
As a start, however, Reel Rock apologizes for the hurt and anger its decisions have caused survivors.

More background is below. Click the SIGN button (“Anonymous” okay) to tell Reel Rock that you want to see changes and actions that support the goals of this petition, and to comment with your own opinions and demands for action.

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More Background on the Films 

The Cobra & the Heart is a film about Didier Berthod and Thomasina Pidgeon. Pidgeon has been one of Charlie Barrett’s most public supporters, before, during, and after his trial and conviction for aggravated sexual abuse. Barrett now serves a life sentence in federal prison, and this was a major international news story. Pidgeon is not alone, and Barrett was supported by many climbers who criticized the survivors, denied the reporting on the case, and asserted that the trial was a sham. She is, however, one of the few who actively lobbied on his behalf with the court, even after the graphic details of his case became common knowledge. 

After sentencing, Pidgeon defended her statements by claiming the trial was unfair and accusing individual victims of having personal biases. She also claimed that she was being doxed, although her letter of support was released by the US Department of Justice as part of the public record in the case. She later criticized the reporting in Outside Magazine as being “one-sided.” We find this to contradict the value of supporting survivors of rape, and we will add, shows an astounding lack of good judgement. 

The fact that Reel Rock could make a movie about Pidgeon, without addressing any of this, also shows poor judgement and exemplifies the culture in climbing that allowed Barrett to repeatedly assault climbers for a decade. It should also be noted that this case is still evolving. New victims are still finding the courage to speak out about what Barrett did to them, and Barrett’s supporters continue to harass those who speak about the case.

Death of Villains is a film about the important work Kai Lightner is doing for the climbing community. The film also features Joe Kinder, a climber publicly accused of harassing women online. Kinder ran an Instagram account that often targeted female climbers, making inappropriate jokes and slights about their bodies, both in private and in public. In May 2018, after years of enduring harassment, the victimized climber reshared one of his posts that was body shaming her. Her actions reflected the culminating harm, fear, and stress that she and others had experienced. Kinder was dropped by his sponsors after receiving reports from multiple sources.

We are unaware of any accountability steps Kinder has taken to repair the harm he inflicted. To our knowledge, Kinder had not even privately apologized to any of these women prior to being selected for Reel Rock 19. 

Reel Rock Response

Reel Rock has said that they were aware of Kinder’s history prior to selecting him for the film. In the case of Pidgeon, when her May 2024 letter defending Barrett became public as part of the Justice Department’s standard procedure for court records, the Reel Rock team member spearheading the film with Thomasina took note and, according to another team member, “[This Reel Rock producer] knew about her letter and saw people upset online,” [verbatim] but then said to himself, in so many words, “This is bad. I hope she can fix it. Reel Rock will  keep going on this film anyway.” (11 Feb 2025) After Task Force members met with Reel Rock, Pidgeon issued an apology, and Reel Rock wrote a response on their blog. Pidgeon’s post did not allow survivors or anyone else to give public feedback. 

Regarding Death of Villains, Reel Rock has said that no victims’ voices are included or represented in this film – except Lightner’s, around Lightner’s public struggles with disordered eating and body dysmorphia. In the film, Lightner confronts Kinder on the harm he felt from Kinder’s online harassment of the primary victim and others. Despite such content, production members have said that the film is not centered around Kinder. In addition, Reel Rock lists Kinder as a featured athlete on their website. The film’s title is Kinder’s 5.15 route climbed by Lightner in the film – with that route name drawn from Kinder’s clothing brand “Life of Villains.” 

Public statements are insufficient. Apologies without action do not repair – much less erase – the harms caused to survivors. (See: Restorative justice). We believe it is essential that the climbing community, and all communities, foster an environment that is safe and supportive for everyone, including those who have been harmed. Supporting those who stand by convicted rapists and criticize reporting on sexual assault (as Pidgeon did) or harassing women online (as Kinder did) directly contradicts these values.

People have different ideas of what meaningful change looks like. No measures will be satisfactory to everyone. Some on the RR Task Force see Reel Rock moving in the direction of recognizing not only the pervasiveness and seriousness of sexual assault, but also how such harms are perpetrated by the actions, and silence, of individuals and organizations. Others see less progress. Whatever one’s view, it is clear that Reel Rock, being a global climbing media powerhouse, has an extraordinarily serious moral obligation to modify its practices and take actions to move the climbing community and industry in the right direction: Toward zero tolerance of rape, sexual violence and sexual harassment, and supporting survivors. May this petition help Reel Rock meet its obligation. 

If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.

         -   Desmond Tutu