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Wednesday, November 22, 2017
Ellen Page: Brett Ratner “outed” me on a movie set when I was 18
Salon.com: Ellen Page has accused Hollywood director and producer Brett Ratner of "homophobic and abusive behavior" and alleged he "outed" her as gay on the set of a movie when she was only 18 years old.
4 comments:
Lily Kincannon
said...
It is so sad that we have to keep reading and hearing stories that follow all the same line. A powerful, generally white, male in the entertainment industry takes advantage of women considered below him in status and gets away with it while the women are left with scars they didn’t ask for and a weight of oppression that leads them to give up on their dreams or themselves. It makes me wonder, is there any man out there that hasn’t done something like this? I feel like I am slowly losing faith in all men. And the worst part is there is an onslaught of articles like Ellen’s story and yet a bare minimum of articles challenging with a solution. Everyone is so focused on mourning the victims and acting pretend shocked to all the stories and yet no one seems to be taking action to stop this behavior. We all talk about reprimanding these men but where are the judgement calls? When do women get justice? Equity? A chance to be taken seriously and not advantage of.
I'm not at all surprised that the predatory and for lack of a more professional sounding word "rapey" men in Hollywood are homophobes. That sounds about right; I wouldn't expect any different from the kind of man who would take advantage of his status as an elite man for the purposes of committing sexual violence. What I am surprised about is the fact that Ellen Page acknowledges that this isn't just a white woman's problem. Because a lot of the women who have been coming forward have been cisgender heterosexual white women, the narrative has shifted towards that. In fact many of the women who have been outwardly told by the men who abused them that they were lying have been women of color or trans women. Ellen Page has always been one of my favorite actors because of her role in the queer community and the fact that she just used this platform to affirm the intersections of feminism makes me love her even more.
This is once again another case of men in power taking advantage of women and using their sexuality in ways to degrade them. What is most insightful yet also incredibly disturbing from Ellen Page’s story is the way it raises awareness to the sides of sexual assault and harassment in Hollywood that don’t just effect heterosexual, white, cisgendered females. From her post, I love how she calls out the system that has both built her up and torn her down and uses her privilege as a white woman to voice the issues that are effecting people unlike her. “disproportionately affects low income women, particularly women of color, trans and queer women and indigenous women, who are silenced by their economic circumstances and profound mistrust of a justice system that acquits the guilty in the face of overwhelming evidence and continues to oppress people of color.” I think this is such a good use of her voice and power within not only the LGBT community but also the entertainment community.
This is another story that takes a toll on its reader. These horrid stories of violations of privacy, individuality, and safety are piling up to a point, where I have a fear that the status quo may never change. We have gotten to the point where we are simply telling the same story every single day, just with different names. Often you here a big show of power in which they aggressor is fired or shamed, but beyond that, there is no retribution. There are no consequences. Why have we yet to see these crimes paid for? It feels as though it is no longer a question of if rather than when, and as a young person hoping to enter this industry, I worry that my values and the rights I believe I have could be taken advantage of, and I question its worth.
4 comments:
It is so sad that we have to keep reading and hearing stories that follow all the same line. A powerful, generally white, male in the entertainment industry takes advantage of women considered below him in status and gets away with it while the women are left with scars they didn’t ask for and a weight of oppression that leads them to give up on their dreams or themselves. It makes me wonder, is there any man out there that hasn’t done something like this? I feel like I am slowly losing faith in all men. And the worst part is there is an onslaught of articles like Ellen’s story and yet a bare minimum of articles challenging with a solution. Everyone is so focused on mourning the victims and acting pretend shocked to all the stories and yet no one seems to be taking action to stop this behavior. We all talk about reprimanding these men but where are the judgement calls? When do women get justice? Equity? A chance to be taken seriously and not advantage of.
I'm not at all surprised that the predatory and for lack of a more professional sounding word "rapey" men in Hollywood are homophobes. That sounds about right; I wouldn't expect any different from the kind of man who would take advantage of his status as an elite man for the purposes of committing sexual violence.
What I am surprised about is the fact that Ellen Page acknowledges that this isn't just a white woman's problem. Because a lot of the women who have been coming forward have been cisgender heterosexual white women, the narrative has shifted towards that. In fact many of the women who have been outwardly told by the men who abused them that they were lying have been women of color or trans women. Ellen Page has always been one of my favorite actors because of her role in the queer community and the fact that she just used this platform to affirm the intersections of feminism makes me love her even more.
This is once again another case of men in power taking advantage of women and using their sexuality in ways to degrade them. What is most insightful yet also incredibly disturbing from Ellen Page’s story is the way it raises awareness to the sides of sexual assault and harassment in Hollywood that don’t just effect heterosexual, white, cisgendered females. From her post, I love how she calls out the system that has both built her up and torn her down and uses her privilege as a white woman to voice the issues that are effecting people unlike her. “disproportionately affects low income women, particularly women of color, trans and queer women and indigenous women, who are silenced by their economic circumstances and profound mistrust of a justice system that acquits the guilty in the face of overwhelming evidence and continues to oppress people of color.” I think this is such a good use of her voice and power within not only the LGBT community but also the entertainment community.
This is another story that takes a toll on its reader. These horrid stories of violations of privacy, individuality, and safety are piling up to a point, where I have a fear that the status quo may never change. We have gotten to the point where we are simply telling the same story every single day, just with different names. Often you here a big show of power in which they aggressor is fired or shamed, but beyond that, there is no retribution. There are no consequences. Why have we yet to see these crimes paid for? It feels as though it is no longer a question of if rather than when, and as a young person hoping to enter this industry, I worry that my values and the rights I believe I have could be taken advantage of, and I question its worth.
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