When you see a celebrity you love and respect trending out of nowhere, it can usually mean one of two things. They died, or they have fucked up expertly. In the case of Murder She Wrote and Beauty and the Beast actress Angela Lansbury it is the latter.
During a discussion with Radio Times, Lansbury spoke on the sexual harassment issues in media that have been exposed and said that women have to take some blame for what is going on. Ugh, alright let us see the quotes.
“We have to own up to the fact that women, since time immemorial, have gone out of their way to make themselves attractive…And unfortunately it has backfired on us — and this is where we are today.”
“We must sometimes take blame, women. I really do think that. Although it’s awful to say we can’t make ourselves look as attractive as possible without being knocked down and raped.”
“Should women be prepared for this? No, they shouldn’t have to be. There’s no excuse for that. And I think it will stop now – it will have to. I think a lot of men must be very worried at this point.”(via The Telegraph)
I’m sure Lansbury’s publicist is currently slamming their head into a wall because when you are representing a 90-year-old icon of film and television you think the era of crisis control is mostly over. Lansbury’s comments are not just troubling, but they are just plain wrong. We went through this at length with Miyam Bialik‘s terrible op-ed and the backlash she dealt with, but just to reiterate for the people in the back women’s outfits and attractiveness do not affect rape. If you think that only women who look like movie stars get raped then you don’t live in the real world.
All you who love to use the “well I still lock my door” metaphor when it comes to policing how women dress, I will say, yes you do lock your door, but even if you don’t lock your door if someone comes into your home and steals all your stuff it is still a robbery. A crime has still be committed and you still have a right to get justice. The police don’t say “well you didn’t lock your door so you were basically inviting everyone to come in and take your PS4 and Roku TV. ”
Angela Lansbury is cancelled pic.twitter.com/U4Flbn8OWj
— Julia Macfarlane (@juliamacfarlane) November 28, 2017
Also, actresses have to be attractive, more so than men. An unattractive male actor can still win awards and even be a sex symbol if he is talented enough. Actresses get taken seriously if they are willing to make themselves unattractive to “prove” that they can really act and we aren’t just being stunned by their hair and prettiness. When actresses don’t wear makeup it is treated like a huge deal and something to gasp over.
It’s a tale as old as time (sorry not sorry) and Lansbury may not have meant to do harm, but she has. The only people who are to blame for sexual harassment and assault are those who commit the crime. Period.
(via EW, image: Sam Aronov / Shutterstock.com)
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