There has been a lot of fallout since Harvey Weinstein has been caught as a sexual predator and one of which could probably never have been predicted: the attack on Meryl Streep.
It all started as female actresses across Hollywood announced that they would wear black to the Golden Globes as a form of silent protest. Needless to say, this did not go over well. Many felt that women had been silent long enough and wearing black to the Globes was not nearly going far enough. Do you want to truly protest? Then skip the event.
Activist Rose McGowan was particularly vocal on this account and even called out Meryl Streep by name, saying she was part of the problem. She tweeted:
“Actresses, like Meryl Streep, who happily worked for The Pig Monster, are wearing black @goldenglobes in a silent protest. YOUR SILENCE is THE problem. You’ll accept a fake award breathlessly & affect no real chance. I despise your hypocrisy. Maybe you should all wear Marchesa.”
She since responded to Rose’s commented with a statement that read,
“It hurt to be attacked by Rose McGowan in banner headlines this weekend, but I want to let her know I did not know about Weinstein’s crimes, not in the 90s when he attacked her, or through subsequent decades when he proceeded to attack others. I wasn’t deliberately silent. I didn’t know.”
And now she’s given a much more in-depth interview about the situation with the New York Times and gave some interesting insight. She said,
“I don’t want to hear about the silence of me. I want to hear about the silence of Melania Trump. I want to hear from her. She has so much that’s valuable to say. And so does Ivanka. I want her to speak now.”
How sad is it that we’ve had this entire argument over an actress and yet nobody is arguing over the lack of response from both the first lady and the first daughter? While Melania has largely stayed out of politics and the public eye, making it clear that she had no desire to fill the shoes of Michelle Obama, Ivanka wormed her way into numerous aspects of the Trump White House, attending international summits and taking on initiatives. And yet we ask nothing of these women as role models of the country. Sure, we analyze their outfits of choice, but their voices on important issues? Not relevant, apparently.
This should come to no shock to anyone who has followed the Trump White House. Trump himself is a joke and the first family stands for nothing. But the truly sad part is that we’ve become so numb to all their antics that we don’t even bother to call them out anymore.
Yes, Meryl Streep has proven herself to be a class act and she should always use her platform to speak out. But she is not a symbol of our country, not sitting in Washington D.C. and does not have the ear of the nation. Only two women have that outlet and they refuse to use it.
If we’re going to expend our energy by calling out women who won’t stand up for the cause, let’s start with those who actually deserve to be called out. Let’s start with Melania and Ivanka.
