Watch Rose McGowan's Electrifying Speech at the Women's Convention
Over the last month, Rose McGowan has been a force to contend with.
Since she was named as one of the several women who settled with Harvey Weinstein, she has been passionately rallying the troops, calling for the ousting of men like Weinstein and the deconstruction of the patriarchy. Today, McGowan appeared at the Women’s Convention, a conference organized by the Women’s March in Detroit, as the opening speaker.
It was her first public appearance since she accused Weinstein of raping her on Twitter. And damn, what a speech.
In it, McGowan declared, “No more. Name it. Shame it. Call it out. Join Me. Join all of us as we amplify each other’s voices and do what is right for us, for our sisters, and for this planet, Mother Earth.”McGowan called out exactly how the sexism that pervades Hollywood (and allowed abusers like Weinstein to continue to succeed for so long) creates the very propaganda that upholds every day sexism:
Hollywood may seem like it’s an isolated thing, but it is not. It is the messaging system for your mind. It is the mirror that you’re given to look in to. This is what you are as a woman. This is what you are as a man. This is what you are as a boy, girl, gay straight, transgender, but it’s all told through 96% males in the Directors Guild of America. That statistic has not changed since 1946. So we are given one view, and I know the men behind behind that view — and they should not be in your mind and they should not be in mine.
McGowan also connected what she went through to other high-profile sexual assault controversies in America.
The Scarlet Letter is theirs. It is not ours. We are pure. We are strong. We are brave and we will fight.
Pussies grab back! Women grab back! We speak! We yell! We march! We are here! We will not go away!
Not a bad way to kick off the convention!