In a recent interview, Angela Lanbsury left fans stunned with victim-blaming comments, suggesting that women bore some part of the blame for sexual harassment and that harassment was the result of women’s beauty “backfiring.” Yikes.
92-year-old Lansbury isn’t on Twitter, but she did hear about the backlash. And she’s even issued what could almost be an apology … sort-of.
It’s a tale as old as time: her comments were “taken out of context.” Here we go …
Before we get to her new statement, let’s refresh our memories on what she already said.
“There are two sides to this coin.”
She’s talking about the revelations where women bravely come forward about the men in their midsts who are actually sex monsters.
“We have to own up to the fact that women, since time immemorial, have gone out of their way to make themselves attractive.”
That’s true.
“And unfortunately it has backfired on us — and this is where we are today.”
We don’t think that it’s necessarily related. Sexual misconduct isn’t new — women feeling comfortable enough to come forward in groups and tell the world about these men is new. Very new.
“We must sometimes take blame, women. I really do think that.”
We’re not sure how a woman could deserve any possible blame for her own sexual harassment or assault.
Owning nice things doesn’t make you to blame for having those things stolen. And sexual assault is a hell of a lot more serious than having to buy a new TV.
Her comments were worrisome.
Compared to Geraldo Rivera’s tone-deaf defense of Matt Lauer, though, we have to remember that there are worse opinions to have.
But, as we told you, Angela seemed to walk back some of her comments during that same interview:
“Although it’s awful to say we can’t make ourselves look as attractive as possible without being knocked down and raped.”
Absolutely true. But seems to very nearly contradict her earlier comments.
“Should women be prepared for this? No! They shouldn’t have to be! There’s no excuse for that.”
She’s right about that.
And she finished her comments with a dose of optimism.
“And I think it will stop now — it will have to. I think a lot of men must be very worried at this point.”
We hope that it will stop, but we wonder how many of these sex monsters actually realize that they’re part of the problem.
In a statement obtained by Entertainment Tonight, Angela Lansbury clarified her controversial comments.
“There is no excuse whatsoever for men to harass women in an abusive sexual manner.”
That is an important clarification.
“And, I am devastated that anyone should deem me capable of thinking otherwise.”
We hope that she can see how her own statement led people to be concerned about her beliefs.
“Those who have known the quality of my work and the many public statements I have made over the course of my life, must know, that I am a strong supporter of Women’s Rights.”
That’s certainly true.
“Lastly, I would like to add that I am troubled by how quickly and brutishly some have taken my comments out of context and attempted to blame my generation, my age, or my mindset, without having read the entirety of what I said.”
Ageism could lead people to dismiss her comments without taking offense or listening. But we’d point out that some people never lose their mental faculties as they age.
Here’s the thing:
Some people literally only read headlines. it can be because they’re at work or busy or maybe they think that the headline tells the whole story.
You need to read all of the comments. We were sure to include the context.
But when you’re a public figure and you make statements about women deserving blame, no matter what you say afterwards, it’s going to rub people the wrong way.
We’re glad that Angela Lansbury issued this clarification but … people were responding to her words.
