Natalie Portman has called out the men of Hollywood for smearing womens reputations.
The 37-year-old actress wants us to stop letting men discredit women they call difficult, encouraging the audience at Varietys Power of Women summit to challenge it, instead.
Standing up for equal pay and representation, the honoree said: Stop the rhetoric that a woman is crazy or difficult.
If a man says to you that a woman is crazy or difficult, ask him, “What bad thing did you do to her?”
She continued: Thats a code word. Hes trying to discredit her reputation. Make efforts to hire people whove had their reputations smeared in retaliation.
The Black Swan star – who has children Aleph, seven, and 19-month-old Amalia with her husband Benjamin Millepied – also spoke about the importance of diversity, and said people should be embarrassed if everyone in their workplace looks the same as them.
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She added: If any group youre in has only people who look like you, change that group.
Its an awakening experience to hear from women who have different experiences of marginalisation … Be embarrassed if everyone in your workplace looks like you. Pay attention to physical ability, age, race, sexual orientation, gender identity.
More: Showbiz
And the Annihilation actress gave advice on how to deal with those who abuse their power, saying people shouldnt be afraid to make them face consequences.
She said: Dont shy away from consequences for those who abuse their power. [Theyre] not going to have a change of behaviour out of the goodness of their hearts. Do not harm women this year. Lets see how that goes.
The actress is known for her activism, and recently revealed her definition of abuse has changed in light of the #MeToo movement.
Speaking earlier this month, she said: It was amazing how many things that I didnt even categorise as abusive behaviour.
I just thought it was [something that] made me really upset or made me uncomfortable. And now I think all of this reckoning has made me even be like, “Oh that wasnt just a bad date, that was an abusive date”, “That wasnt just an uncomfortable meeting, that was an abusive meeting”… And has made me look at things differently and hopefully itll prevent this kind of behaviour when people are, men and women, are more aware of that.
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