At the age of 79, Jane Fonda is finally opening up about a very unfortunate past that involved both rape and sexual abuse. In a recent interview Fonda opened up about a dark past that she’s never spoken about publicly until now.
“To show you the extent to which a patriarchy takes a toll on females,” she said. “I’ve been raped, I’ve been sexually abused as a child and I’ve been fired because I wouldn’t sleep with my boss and I always thought it was my fault.”
In the interview, which was alongside actress Brie Larson, both women discussed issues of feminism, the women’s movement, sexual violence, celebrity activism, and patriarchy, among other things. Fonda admitted it took her years to understand and accept the empowerment of women because she grew up in the 1950s with the idea that it was more important than anything to please a man.
That it’s taken so long for Fonda to go public with this information is extremely telling to how much of a problem this kind of abuse is. Fonda is close to 80 and she never felt she could reveal this information about herself. The only hope I have is that more women can come forward if they’ve been through something similar. Unfortunately Hollywood is still extremely sexist. It’s just hidden a bit more. The pervading issues in gender equality these days come in the form of salary disparities or abusive “talk.” But the issues are still there and just as bad as ever.
It’s something that needs not only to be addressed but also enforced.
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