Media Eye News Bureau: Scarlett Johansson called out James Franco who was recently accused by five women of sexual misconduct, during her speech at the 2018 Women's March, she said, "My mind baffles, how could a person publicly stand by an organization that helps to provide support for victims of sexual assault while privately preying on people who have no power, I want my pin back by the way." While walking the red carpet at the 2018 Golden Globes Franco sported a Time's Up pin in support of the movement, which aims to prevent sexual harassment, assault and inequality.
Franco called the claims that had surfaced against him on social media as "not accurate." His attorney, Michael Plonsker denied the women's allegations as well.
Johansson further asked, "How is it ok for someone in a position of power to use that power to take advantage of someone in a lesser position just because you can? Does that ever make it ok? If a person isn't saying yes, but they aren't saying no, how can anyone feel justified to make that decision for them?"
In reaction to the sexual misconduct revelations in Hollywood and other industries, the actress expressed her thoughts as she said, "Suddenly, I was 19 again and I started to remember all the men I'd known who had taken advantage of the fact that I was a young woman who didn't yet have the tools to say no, or to understand the value of my own self-worth," the Avengers star described. "I had many relationships both personal and professional where the power dynamic was so off that I had to create a narrative in which I was the cool girl who could hang in and hang out, and that sometimes meant compromising what felt right for me and that seemed ok compromising my voice and therefore allowing myself to be unseen and degraded and whether it was intended by the other party or not because it allowed me to have the approval that women are conditioned to need."
She added, "For me, moving forward means my daughter growing up in a world where she doesn't have to be a victim of what has cruelly become the social norm. That she doesn't have to fit into the bindings of the female condition," she concluded, "Time's up on the female condition."
