For tonight’s Golden Globes, scores of actresses and actors will wear black on the red carpet to support the #MeToo movement and the TIME’S Up initiative. “This is not a silent protest,” said actress and director Rashida Jones. “We wear black to stand in solidarity with our sisters and to say time’s up on this imbalance of power and the abuses that come with it, regardless of what industry you work in. It’s time for every workplace to look more like our world, where women have equal representation.”
TIME’S UP began as an open letter, signed by more than 300 women in Hollywood, that called for systemic solutions to sexism, across class and race lines. “The struggle for women to break in, to rise up the ranks and to simply be heard and acknowledged in male-dominated workplaces must end,” reads the letter. “Time’s up on this impenetrable monopoly.” The group also opened a legal defense fund to help those women who cannot afford to the justice and support they deserve when they’ve been sexually harassed.
While the Golden Globes’ “blackout” is mostly built around highly visible celebrities using this high-profile night to raise awareness and bring up tough questions, the women of TIME’S UP have also encouraged supporters to join in and participate at home. For instance, Rosario Dawson posted a video that invited people to wear black today and share their stories and reasons on social media.
#TIMESUP #WhyWeWearBlack #MeToo @TIMESUPNOW https://t.co/qbm6suXzuP pic.twitter.com/FEj6j8CbHZ
— Rosario Dawson (@rosariodawson) January 5, 2018
“Thank you for courageously telling your stories and signaling this moment,” she says in the video. “Time’s up. Please join us on blacking out Sunday. Post your videos and pictures of yourself in all black whether you watch or don’t watch, go or don’t do. Sign our solidarity letter and donate to the fund.”
The TIME’S UP Legal Defense Fund, which is housed at and administered by the National Women’s Law Center, is intended to “subsidize legal support for individuals who have experienced sexual harassment or related retaliation in the workplace,” regardless of industry. The National Women’s Law Center has a network of more than 300 lawyers, called the Legal Network for Gender Equity, which is on hand to provide legal assistance for people who’ve been sexually harassed or experienced retaliation for reporting it. (If you are an attorney yourself and would like to join the Legal Network for Gender Equity, you can sign up here.)
Eva Longoria posted a similar call to participate, urging supporters to either join the actresses in wearing black or donate to the legal fund if they can.
Hey guys you can join the @timesupnow movement too! Tomorrow just wear black and post your photo, video, story and tag #TIMESUP to say TIMESUP on the imbalance of power in the workplace! Donate to the legal fund today!! https://t.co/Q5CiY7cVDw pic.twitter.com/hCBhq1OOri
— Eva Longoria Baston (@EvaLongoria) January 6, 2018
However, there’s one way that The Chi and Master of None writer-actress Lena Waithe does NOT want you to show your support. If you see an actress who isn’t wearing black, “it doesn’t mean that we should attack that person or we’re against them,” Waithe said. “But for me this is a choice that I have to make because being born black, female, and gay is not a revolutionary act. But being a feminist, being out, and being a proud black person—now that’s when we get to the revolutionary stuff, and that’s where I want to land.”
Explaining her own motivations for participating further, Waithe said, “Look, everyone is entitled to their opinion, and someone might say, ‘Wouldn’t you want to stand out?’ But I’m like, ‘Nah! I want to stand with Time’s Up.’ It may be a small way of showing solidarity, but to me this is extremely important. If someone looks back and wants to know where I stood, they’ll see that picture of me on the red carpet wearing nothing but black.”
(Via EW, InStyle, and Variety; image: Shutterstock and TIME’S UP)
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