In a sea of black, the red will shine through.
This was certainly true at the Golden Globes this past week when the women wearing red dresses stood out from the crowd like sore thumbs. The event was meant to advocate for sexual harassment and sexual assault in the entertainment industry and hoped that by making a statement with color, the message would be heard worldwide that women are no longer remaining silent when oppressed by powerful misogynists.
Maybe some missed the memo and decided to roll with it anyway, or they simply chose to remain completely separate from this highly politicized issue. Either way, the time and place for individuality may not have been a place dedicated to activism.
Blanca Blanco and Meher Tatna were among the few women who chose to wear red to the awards ceremony. People had some interesting things to say about it, too:
Some may have responded in rather funny ways, but the root of this issue is anything but humorous. These women made their statements as to why they chose not to dress in black, but people are not accepting these responses as valid.
Blanca Blanco simply responded, “I love red,” which not only refuses to address the actual issue of failure to support, but it does little to really explain her choice. If you ask a football player who refuses to kneel during the anthem why they do it, I’m sure their response wouldn’t be, “I like standing.” Every choice means something, and one can venture a guess that choices made by people of high fame are almost inherently political.
As entertainers and icons, it is important to exercise your voice and be heard and stand up for issues that impact the majority of people. To wear red when women supporting sexual harassment and assault victims are wearing black is not only disrespectful to the cause, it essentially states to these women that what they are advocating for is not worth supporting, or worse, is not worth acknowledging at all.
Featured image via Joan Hernandez Mir / CC BY
