Women stage nationwide protests, again1:41
The second Women's March, a nationwide series of protests against U.S. President Donald Trump and his policies, saw tens of thousands of people taking on issues like women's rights and equality. Jillian Kitchener reports.
Mila Kunis holds a microphone for Scarlett Johansson at the Women's March in Los Angeles. Picture: AFPSource:AFP
AVENGERS star Scarlett Johansson has called out James Franco at yesterday’s Women’s March after numerous women accused him of sexual misconduct.
Johansson was one of dozens of female celebrities to hit the streets and pick up a microphone as part of a day of action against US President Donald Trump and in support of the #MeToo movement.
RELATED: STAR’S SEX ASSAULT POEM GOES VIRAL
Mila Kunis supports Scarlett Johansson at the Women’s March in LA. Picture: GettySource:AFP
Scarlett Johansson has told James Franco she wants her Time’s Up pin back. Picture: AFPSource:AFP
A total of five women have accused Franco of sexual misconduct and abuse of power, including four of his former students and an ex girlfriend. Franco has denied the allegations.
He has been criticised for wearing a Time’s Up pin to the Golden Globes, where he won Best Actor in a Comedy or Musical for The Disaster Artist.
“How could a person publicly stand by an organisation that helps to provide support for victims of sexual assault while privately preying on people who have no power?” Johansson told a crowd in Los Angeles.
While she didn’t refer to Franco by name her representative later confirmed to the Los Angeles Times that she was speaking about the actor.
“I want my pin back, by the way,” she said.
Time’s Up has been formed on the back of the #MeToo movement as a way to fund legal defence for people who can’t afford it across all industries.
NATALIE PORTMAN: ‘I WAS SEXUALLY TERRORISED AT 13’
Natalie Portman has revealed how she experienced “sexual terrorism” when she was 13 after a fan sent her a “rape fantasy” and critics discussed her “budding breasts”.
The Oscar-winning actress shared her traumatic experience as she addressed the Los Angeles Women’s March.
(L-R) Actors Eva Longoria, Constance Wu and Natalie Portman speak at the LA Women’s March. Picture: AFPSource:AFP
The 36-year-old told how she turned 12 on the set of her first film Leon: The Professional, where she played a young girl who befriended a hit man in hopes of avenging the murder of her parents.
When the movie was released a year later, she described feeling excited to open her first fan mail but was left horrified when she opened it to find a letter from a man who had written a “rape fantasy” about her.
She went on to tell the crowd: “A countdown was started on my local radio show to my 18th birthday, euphemistically the date that I would be legal to sleep with.
“Movie reviewers talked about my budding breasts in reviews. I understood very quickly, even as a 13-year-old, that if I were to express myself sexually I would feel unsafe and that men would feel entitled to discuss and objectify my body to my great discomfort.”
Eva Longoria congratulates Natalie Portman (L) on her speech. Picture: GettySource:Getty Images
She said from then on she had adjusted her personal and professional behaviour to avoid this happening, and even went as far rejecting roles with kissing scenes.
Portman would try to bolster her “bookish and serious” side and built a reputation as being “prudish, conservative, nerdy and serious”.
Eva Longoria (L) and Scarlett Johansson (R) at the 2018 Women's March Los Angeles. Picture: GettySource:AFP
She said: “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.
“The response to my expression, from small comments about my body to more deliberate statements, served to control my behaviour through an environment of sexual terrorism.”
FEMALE CELEBRITIES TAKE A STAND
Johansson and Portman were just two celebrities who joined hundreds of thousands of women across the US on the anniversary of Donald Trump’s presidency.
The LA march saw British singer Adele, actresses Cameron Diaz, Jennifer Lawrence, Mila Kunis, Eva Longoria, Viola Davis and Sarah Hyland take to the streets.
Chloe Moretz and Jane Fonda marched in Park City, Utah.
Whoopi Goldberg, Amy Schumer and Anna Pacquin joined women in New York.
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