During her acceptance speech at Variety’s Power of Women event last week, Natalie Portman spoke in support of Time’s Up and offered a practical, proactive step women can take in their day-to-day lives to undermine all these garbage sexist norms: “gossip well.â€
“Stop the rhetoric that a woman is crazy or difficult,†Portman challenges, explaining how you, too, can help thwart abusers like Harvey Weinstein from retaliating against women professionally. “If a man says to you that a woman is crazy or difficult, ask him, ‘What bad thing did you do to her?’ That’s a code word. He is trying to discredit her reputation.â€
And if that suggestion isn’t enough, don’t worry. You can also donate money to women’s causes, gather with like-minded ladies, work to diversify your industry along all axises, demand (and give!) equal pay, hire women who’ve had their reputations unjustly smeared, hold abusers responsible for their actions and, if you can swing it, maybe take it easy with all the constant rape and murder of women in your TV shows, movies, etc.
Don’t worry, you don’t have to remember all these suggestions off the top of your head. Just carry the tweet below with you for reference. Print it out if you have to! And delete that gratuitous rape scene from your screenplay while you’re at it!