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Nicole Kidman Just Wrote a Powerful Open Letter About Domestic Violence


Following her Emmy win for her role as Celeste, a domestic abuse survivor on HBO’s Big Little Lies, Nicole Kidman wrote a powerful essay addressing domestic violence and how it affects women in the winter issue of Porter Magazine.

“It never occurred to me that I should be at a disadvantage because I was born a girl,” Kidman wrote. “The idea that women and men are equal is part of my DNA. I was raised by a strong feminist mother and a fully supportive father.” For many, this is the case until they grow up and experience sexism in the workplace or sexual harassment on the street, but for others equality has never been a reality.

“My feminist roots have also led me to U.N. Women and my work as its Goodwill Ambassador,” she added. “It is in this role that I come to fully understand the barriers that women around the world are facing. I have focused on lending my voice to women who are survivors of violence. The stories I have heard from them have shaken me to the core and changed me forever.” Daily Mail noted that Kidman has been working with abuse victims for the past 10 years.

“More than ever, I am aware of the need to support and celebrate each other,” Kidman wrote. “I like to believe I am part of a global support group network of 3.4 billion.”

She went on to reflect on how each woman, herself included, has likely felt the inequality pushed on them just because they are a woman.

“In those moments, I like to think of those who have my back, who lifted me up and encouraged me to believe in myself. Imagine: if you can fall back on the 3.5 billion sisters, and the many good men who are with us, what could we possibly not achieve?”

Kidman also addressed domestic abuse in her Emmy acceptance speech, thanking the Emmy voters for acknowledging the importance of her role. “We shined a light on domestic abuse,” Kidman said. “It is a complicated, insidious disease, but it exists far more than we allow ourselves to know. It is filled with shame and secrecy and by you acknowledging me with this award it shines a light on it even more, so thank you, thank you, thank you.”

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Amber Tamblyn Just Published a Powerful Piece About Harassment in Hollywood


One thing that should definitely be on your weekend reading list? Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants star Amber Tamblyn‘s powerful New York Times op-ed published online Saturday. In it, she calls out the men who deny women’s stories of harassment and the ubiquity of sexual harassment in the acting industry before encouraging women to rise up and come forward with their own accounts.

A bit of background: Tamblyn and actor James Woods got into a heated debate about relationships and consent on Twitter last week when Woods criticized the age difference in a relationship in Armie Hammer’s upcoming movie Call Me By Your Name. Hammer called him out by tweeting, “Didn’t you date a 19-year-old when you were 60?”

Tamblyn added on to Hammer’s reply with a biting allegation: “James Woods tried to pick me and my friend up at a restaurant once. He wanted to take us to Vegas. ‘I’m 16,’ I said. ‘Even better,’ he said.” Woods responded that Tamblyn was lying.

In Tamblyn’s new Times op-ed, she writes about how she’s fed up with not being believed—and wants other women, especially in Hollywood, to speak up with their own stories of harassment.

“I told this story publicly as a way to back up the claim that Mr. Woods was, indeed, a hypocrite. Mr. Woods called my account a lie,” Tamblyn wrote in her Times piece about the Twitter exchange. “What would I get out of accusing this person of such an action, almost 20 years after the fact? Notoriety, power or respect? I am more than confident with my quota of all three.”

In her piece, Tamblyn recounts another incident, years ago, when she was starring in Joan of Arcadia. After being harassed on set, she writes, she’d worked up her courage and gone to the producer of Joan of Arcadia to talk about what was going on. Tamblyn says he listened but then told her, “There are two sides to every story.”

“For women in America who come forward with stories of harassment, abuse and sexual assault, there are not two sides to every story, however noble that principle might seem,” Tamblyn writes. “Women do not get to have a side. They get to have an interrogation. Too often, they are questioned mercilessly about whether their side is legitimate. Especially if that side happens to accuse a man of stature, then that woman has to consider the scrutiny and repercussions she’ll be subjected to by sharing her side.”

Tamblyn continues by powerfully describing the minute-but-impactful risk negotiations involved in being a woman, especially when it comes to speaking up about matters like harassment.

“Every day, women across the country consider the risks. That is our day job and our night shift,” she writes. “We have a diploma in risk consideration. Consider that skirt. Consider that dark alley. Consider questioning your boss. Consider what your daughter will think of you. Consider what your mother will think of what your daughter will think of you. Consider how it will be twisted and used against you in a court of law. Consider whether you did, perhaps, really ask for it. Consider your weight. Consider dieting. Consider agelessness. Consider silence.”

Tamblyn, who also penned an open letter to Woods in Teen Vogue last week, spoke of sexism in the industry by comparing the sad state of Hollywood to a deep swimming pool: “I have been afraid of speaking out or asking things of men in positions of power for years. What I have experienced as an actress working in a business whose business is to objectify women is frightening. It is the deep end of a pool where I cannot swim. It is a famous man telling you that you are a liar for what you have remembered. For what you must have misremembered, unless you have proof.”

Her powerful opinion piece ends with a call to action for women to rise up and share their own stories: “The women I know, myself included, are done, though, playing the credentials game. We are learning that the more we open our mouths, the more we become a choir. And the more we are a choir, the more the tune is forced to change.”

Read her full op-ed here.

Related: Amber Tamblyn Writes Powerful Open Letter to Actor James Woods



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Beyoncé Gave an Incredibly Powerful Speech to Hurricane Harvey Survivors in Houston


In the devastating aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, Beyoncé, a born-and-bred Houstonian, has made a commitment to support charities that support recovery efforts in Texas through her foundation, BeyGOOD. Bread of Life, Greater Houston Community Foundation, and Texas Southern University have all been on her organization’s list for giving, but residents of Houston got another form of outreach on Friday: a visit from Queen B herself.

Beyoncé, Blue Ivy, and Beyoncé’s mother Tina Knowles Lawson showed up at St. Johns Church in Houston at a BeyGOOD event to support victims of the hurricane. Beyoncé spoke about how the church was her home, delivering a powerful message to all Houstonians impacted by the storm.

“You are such an incredible example of what light and love is,” Beyoncé told the crowd. “And this today is a celebration of survival. Y’all are my family. Houston is my home. And I thank God that y’all are safe, that your children are safe. The thing that really matters is your health and your children and your family and God.”

“And I just to want to say I love you. I am so, so thankful to God that I feel blessed so that I can bless other people. And I ask you guys to continue to do that for other people.”

The Knowles-Carters also served meals to survivors.

Other celebrities have also rallied to the cause: the Kardashians, Miley Cyrus, President Donald Trump, Sandra Bullock, Taylor Swift, and others have all pledge to donate substantial sums to relief efforts. It’s great to see such an outpouring of support to help those who have been affected by the hurricane from those in a position to donate.

To join in Hurricane Harvey relief efforts—no matter where you live!—check out this list of organizations working to provide much-needed tampons, pads, and diapers to those displaced by the storm.

Related Stories:
–Miley Cyrus Pledges $500,000 to Help Victims of Hurricane Harvey
–This Woman Is Inspiring People to Donate to Harvey Relief—By Sending Them Cat Photos
-[The Kardashians Are Donating $500,000 to Hurricane Harvey Relief](/story/kardashians-donating-500000-to-hurricane-harvey-relief



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Obama Slams Trump's DACA Decision in Powerful Facebook Post: 'This Is About Basic Decency'


Barack Obama made it clear before he left office: If the Dreamers program ever came under attack, he’d have something to say about it. On Tuesday, in the wake of President Donald Trump’s orders to end DACA, the former commander in chief stayed true to his word.

On Tuesday afternoon, Obama shared a powerful Facebook post defending DACA (short for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals), a federal program he created in 2012 to protect undocumented immigrants who entered the United States illegally as children from deportation. The program also offers its beneficiaries, known as Dreamers, such basic necessities as driver’s licenses and work permits.

Though U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Tuesday called DACA an “open-ended circumvention of immigration laws,” Obama pointed out there’s more to it than that.

“This is about young people who grew up in America—kids who study in our schools, young adults who are starting careers, patriots who pledge allegiance to our flag,” he wrote. “These Dreamers are Americans in their hearts, in their minds, in every single way but one: on paper. They were brought to this country by their parents, sometimes even as infants. They may not know a country besides ours. They may not even know a language besides English. They often have no idea they’re undocumented until they apply for a job, or college, or a driver’s license.”

Trump’s call to end DACA jeopardizes the futures of around 800,000 people who benefit from the program. Obama didn’t mince his words, calling the decision “wrong,” “self-defeating,” and “cruel.”

“To target these young people is wrong—because they have done nothing wrong,” he wrote. “It is self-defeating —because they want to start new businesses, staff our labs, serve in our military, and otherwise contribute to the country we love. And it is cruel. What if our kid’s science teacher, or our friendly neighbor turns out to be a Dreamer? Where are we supposed to send her? To a country she doesn’t know or remember, with a language she may not even speak?”

“Ultimately, this is about basic decency,” Obama continued. “This is about whether we are a people who kick hopeful young strivers out of America, or whether we treat them the way we’d want our own kids to be treated. It’s about who we are as a people—and who we want to be.”

Plenty of current and former lawmakers joined Obama in standing up for DACA, including Hillary Clinton, who tweeted that “we’ve got to fight with everything we’ve got” to defend the program.

“Subjecting Dreamers to mass deportation is part of the bigoted policies that are a cornerstone of @realDonaldTrump’s admin,” Senator Elizabeth Warren (D.–Mass.) tweeted.

You can read Obama’s full Facebook post here.



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Kesha Just Got the Most Powerful Message Tattooed on Her Fingers


Kesha’s latest powerful message isn’t in her lyrics: it’s on her fingers. The singer just revealed on Instagram that her newest tattoo is the words “LIVE FREE” spelled out across her fingers—a gesture that’s at once beautiful and badass for some intensely personal reasons.

As you’re probably aware, for the last few years Kesha’s been fighting various legal battles with mega-producer Dr. Luke, whom she accused of sexual assault and who is now countersuing her for making the allegation. In her original suit against him, she was also trying to get out of her contract, which stipulates that she can only produce new music with him and with Sony.

In the midst of all that, Kesha also entered rehab for an eating disorder, which is where her new album, Rainbow, started to take shape. As she wrote in a heartfelt essay for Refinery29: “Since those difficult and emotional days in rehab, I started imagining that one day I would put out a new record, and I would call it Rainbow. For a long time, I didn’t know if that idea was just a fantasy, a ghost to keep me waking up and actually getting out of my bed, or if it could actually come true. But I just held onto that idea because it was all I had…I know that this album saved my life.”

The legal situation with Kesha, record label Sony, and Dr. Luke is still complicated, and Dr. Luke’s countersuit continues, but Kesha was able to release Rainbow, and it’s reflective of the harrowing journey she’s gone through. In her first single, “Praying,” she prays for the absolution of those who have hurt her; in “Woman,” she finds power—and, yes, fun—in her gender.

If “live free” is her new motto, it makes total sense—and she’ll have a reminder every time she looks at her hands. As she wrote on Instagram, “funny how words take on such important meaning once you start living and find yourself looking for the perfect letters to make up the perfect word to make up the perfect feeling…..”

Check out her new ink below:

Related Stories:
–Kesha Tweets Support for Taylor Swift As Her Sexual Assault Case Continues
–Kesha Says She Was Offered “Freedom” If She Apologized for Dr. Luke Assault Lawsuit
–Bill O’Reilly, Dr. Luke, and the End of Impunity for Powerful Men



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Gal Gadot Opened Up About Feminism, And It's So Powerful


PHOTO: Victor Chavez, Getty

Despite James Cameron’s whining, Wonder Woman is the hit of the summer and the beating heart of the modern superhero landscape. And the woman who plays her, Gal Gadot, is making our hearts beat with the Amazon-worthy interview she gave to Rolling Stone about growing up in Israel, her path to becoming one of the biggest stars in the world, and how much feminism has helped her along the way.

“People always ask me, ‘Are you a feminist?’ And I find the question surprising, because I think, ‘Yes, of course. Every woman, every man, everyone should be a feminist. Because whoever is not a feminist is a sexist,'” (emphasis ours) she explains, at once making feminism seem like the most obvious thing in the world and slyly hinting that those who are squeamish about the label might, uh, have some issues to work on.

Growing up in a small city in Israel, Gal — whose last name is pronounced “‘gadott,’ not ‘gadoh'” — and her sister were taught “to believe that we’re capable, to value ourselves.” And unlike many American girls, she wasn’t raised on a steady diet of media images and television programs depicting women as, well, sometimes wondrous and sometimes not so much; she was told “take a ball and go play” and ended up “a tomboy.”

From there she became Miss Israel, deliberately sabotaged her chances at Miss Universe, completed her mandatory army service, and took a quick jaunt to law school before starring in the highest-grossing female-directed live-action film. But as we know, pretty much any road a woman takes is littered with sexist mines, especially in Hollywood.

“I’ve had my moments where I’ve felt like men were misbehaving – nothing sexual, but inappropriate in a sexist way. Dismissive. Life wasn’t always rosy and peachy for me as a woman in the world,” said Gal. And though she famously did Wonder Woman reshoots while five months pregnant with her second child, during the first few months, she didn’t talk about it on the Justice League set. “The default should be that women get the job done, but there’s a long way to go and a lot of reprogramming that needs to be done to both genders,” she says of ingrained sexist double standards. It’s perhaps worth noting that while Wonder Woman was helmed by a woman, Patty Jenkins, Justice League was shot under the direction of Zack Snyder and is being finished by Joss Whedon. But don’t worry, Jenkins is working on a deal that’ll bring her back for Wonder Woman 2.

The whole article is worth a read – it starts with Gal blessing the author’s unborn daughter – and would make Aunt Antiope proud.

Related Stories:
—Gal Gadot Is Wonder Woman: “She Is Not Relying on a Man, and She’s Not There Because of a Love Story”
—‘Wonder Woman’ Director Patty Jenkins on the Feminist Superhero: “Being Badass Doesn’t Mean She’s Not Loving”
—3 Responses to Gal Gadot Being Cast as Wonder Woman that Are Way Off-Base



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