Hollywood icon Brigitte Bardot is under fire after calling the #MeToo movement “hypocritical and ridiculous” in a recent interview.
“The vast majority are being hypocritical and ridiculous,” she told Paris Match, translated by France 24. “Lots of actresses try to play the tease with producers to get a role. And then, so we will talk about them, they say they were harassed,” she said.
“I was never the victim of sexual harassment. And I found it charming when men told me that I was beautiful or I had a nice little backside,” the 83-year-old said.
Since the interview was published earlier this week, Bardot has come under major fire. Many feminists are outraged and refuse to accept her opinion. Suddenly, it became acceptable to criticize another woman’s nationality, age and appearance.
Damn French actresses of a certain age are really NOT on this Time’s Up Train! https://t.co/lsIcYHXqeY
— Jordan Crucchiola (@JorCru) January 18, 2018
At that time it probably was the way it was. Unfortunately, she is a victim of circumstance–women were conditioned. We can’t judge her for her comments. It is a fact that, up to now, women have been silenced and she is no different. She was probably fortunate/privileged with $.
— Rose M Serrano (@RoseMSerrano) January 18, 2018
brigitte bardot looks like the type of person to call brown people dirty even though she hasn’t showered since the 1960s
— sarah (@rossmundpikes) January 18, 2018
Brigitte Bardot’s opinion is not uncommon, though it is almost always invariably kept hidden. In today’s atmosphere of militant groupthink, you must either adhere to what is deemed a politically correct stance, or risk being marginalized and bullied into silence.
Up until this week, we could have probably all agreed that Brigitte Bardot is not a monster. She might have actually be considered a humanitarian; she runs an animal rights charity and practices a devout Catholic faith. Bardot is not a bigot by any stretch of the imagination, but the Hollywood left must label her so if they want to preserve the momentum of the #MeToo movement.
Groupthink like this is not only grossly hypocritical, it’s dangerous. How many actresses have been harassed in the workplace but don’t come forward out of fear that it won’t sound right? How many are scared that if they don’t hop on the #MeToo train, they’ll be bullied and made fun of for their looks or politics?
Hollywood must now decide whether they want to model the #MeToo movement after fascist thought control, or if they want to run it like an open forum where actresses with different opinions can tell their stories and still matter. New wave feminism is doomed if it only accepts a narrow population of women who share similar politics and a general disdain for men. In order to advance, feminism should include all women, including those with differing ideologies.