The 2018 Women's March in LA has brought up quite a few serious and eye-opening moments in the abusive history of women's rights over the years. The sexual abuse, harassment, assault and paralyzing truths that women across the country have experienced over the years has been sobering to hear. Natalie Portman's story is no exception.
Natalie Portman. The 2018 Women's March has been an experience for women of all walks of life to speak about the issues they have had to overcome at the hands of others who have held them back, held them down, and harassed them in ways unimaginable. The march has brought about a greater awareness of the depths to which this oppression and abuse dwells.
2018 Women's March. The march has included such large names as Viola Davis, Eva Longoria, Scarlett Johansson, Mila Kunis, Olivia Wilde and Natalie Portman among thousands of others. The voices are strong and in unison scream for action.
Bravely Telling Their Tale. Each woman has shared stories of their own abuse, harassment, sexual assault and rape they have had to endure over the years. Each story is different, but all have the same message: oppression.
Portman's Story. When Portman took the stage, her voice was strong yet anxious. She began her story by setting the timeline.
13-Years-Old. "At that moment in my life, I too was discovering my own womanhood, my own desire and my own voice. I was so excited at 13 when the film was released and my work and my art would have a human response,” she began.
The Professional. After her first big break in the film The Professional, Natalie began receiving fan mail from people who had seen the film. She told the crowd she was ecstatic to begin reading her very first fan mail letter.
"The Gut Punch." Her excitement soon turned to horror. "Then came the gut punch: I excitedly opened my first fan mail to read a rape fantasy that a man had written me," she said. At 13 years old, someone wrote Natalie a letter detailing how - specifically - he wanted to rape her. And that he had fantasized about it.
How It Shaped Her. The letter served as the rudest and most horrifying "welcome to the business" imaginable. Natalie told the crowd that she learned very quickly the kind of beast the outside world really was.
Prudish and Reserved. From that experience on, Natalie revealed she felt the constant need to watch everything she did, said, and wore when making appearances in an effort to avoid giving anyone else the same opportunity to dehumanize her in such a way.
Sexual Terrorism. According to Slate, "That letter was the beginning of Portman's awareness of an environment that she compared to 'sexual terrorism'." It wasn't the last incident.
Countdown to Legality. Natalie went on to say she endured more dehumanizing and oppressive comments over the course of her career. One of which included a "radio station counting down the days until her 18th birthday and movie critics who alluded to her 'budding breasts' in their reviews," Slate reported.
Changed Who She Became. The comments and actions made her feel self-conscious and ashamed of who she was. "I built a reputation for basically being prudish, conservative, nerdy, serious, in an attempt to feel that my body was safe and that my voice would be listened to," she told the crowd.
Young Mind. Natalie continued with her message by saying, "At 13 years old, the message from our culture was clear to me. I felt the need to cover my body and to inhibit my expression and my work in order to send my own message to the world, that I'm someone worthy of safety and respect," she said.
In Good Company. Natalie's message was one of thousands resonating the same message: we are all worthy of safety and respect. And equality.
Puritanical Society. In her speech, Natalie also addressed those who opposed the movement by calling it "puritanical": we are already living in a puritanical society. By forcing women to feel the need to cover up, be prudish and guarded, and by treating women as objects and less than men on every level, we are already living in a puritanical society of h***. It's not the movement. It's the reality.
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