by
Common Dreams | January 07, 2018
Powerful Hollywood women are joining racial and justice advocates at Sunday’s Golden Globes in an effort to spotlight the problem of and solutions towards the vile yet rampant exploitation, harassment, and abuse of women across industries. (Photo: Joe Shlabotnik/flickr/cc)
The 2018 Golden Globes is set to make prime time the demand for a world free from sexual harassment and abuse as leading gender and racial activists will hit the red carpet alongside actresses.
“Too much of the recent press attention has been focused on perpetrators and does not adequately address the role race, ethnicity and economic status play in sexual violence,” the justice advocates, who include #MeToo founder Tarana Burke, National Domestic Workers Alliance director Ai-jen Poo, and National Farmworker Women’s Alliance president Mónica Ramírez, declared in a joint statement.
“Our goal in attending the Golden Globes is to shift the focus back to survivors and on systemic, lasting solutions. Each of us will be highlighting legislative, community-level, and interpersonal solutions that strengthen protections against sexual violence in our communities. It is our hope that in doing so, we will also help to broaden conversations about the connection to power, privilege, and other systemic inequalities.”
As organizer and former vice presidential candidate Rosa Clemente posted to Instagram about the event she’s joining: “This definitely will not be your normal Golden Globes!” Her post included a photo of the actresses taking part, including Laura Dern, Reese Witherspoon, Susan Sarandon, America Ferrera, and Meryl Streep.
The awards show, during which many of the stars will also be wearing black to make a statement about the pervasive exploitation, comes days after hundreds of Hollywood women launched the Times Up initiative, in which they issued a “unified call for change” to end the plague that exists “from movie sets to farm fields to boardrooms” nationwide.
The industry women are also taking to social media to encourage others to wear black as a sign of solidarity, as “the imbalance of power” exists “Not just in Hollywood, but every industry! ”
“Selma” director Ava DuVernay says she’ll be wearing the color “because balance and inclusion and diversity is not some kind of allowance to be made to accommodate people. No, sir. It is a correction of an error. It is a righting of a wrong. And it is going to be done. Now. #TimesUp”
While the advocates acknowledge that 2017 brought pivotal developments from the Women’s March to the rise of #MeToo, “There is still much work to do, and many hands required to do it.”
“The #TIMESUP initiative joins an ever growing collective of organizations, movements, and leaders working to end gender-based violence. We look forward to partnering with them and others to organize, support all survivors, and find solutions that ensure a future where all women and all people can live and work with dignity,” the activists’ statement concludes.
The Golden Globes airs 8pm ET Sunday on NBC.
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