A billboard for X-Men: Apocalypse is causing a major stir among critics, the most vocal of which is Rose McGowan.
The controversial billboard depicts Oscar Isaac as Apocalypse choking Jennifer Lawrence’s character Mystique in the movie.
While the X-Men films all contain plenty of destruction, citizens say this image, seen out of context, promotes violence against women.
In a Facebook post to The Hollywood Reporter, McGowan speaks out against the ad and the subtle yet powerful message it implies.
“There is a major problem when the men and women at 20th Century Fox think casual violence against women is the way to market a film,” she wrote.
“There is no context in the ad, just a woman getting strangled,” the actress continued. “The fact that no one flagged this is offensive and frankly, stupid.”
“The geniuses behind this, and I use that term lightly, need to to take a long hard look at the mirror and see how they are contributing to society.”
McGowan then compares the sexist poster to other forms of bigotry, like racism and homophobia – and she has a point.
“Imagine if it were a black man being strangled by a white man, or a gay male being strangled by a hetero?” she ask. “The outcry would be enormous.”
Although the premise of the comic book franchise is all about bad guys fighting good guys – and, ahem, gals – the isolated image of a man strangling a woman can be viewed as disturbing, especially if seen by children.
The actress shared a conversation a friend had with his 9-year-old daughter about the billboard.
“I’ll close with a text my friend sent, a conversation with his daughter. It follows: ‘My daughter and I were just having a deep discussion on the brutality of that hideous X-Men poster yesterday,"” she shared.
“‘Her words: ‘Dad, why is that monster man committing violence against a woman?’ This from a 9-year-old. If she can see it, why can’t Fox?”
Not an encouraging image for a little girl to see.
McGowan asked the studio to get rid of the billboard to avoid any potential further damage.
“So let’s right this wrong. 20th Century Fox, since you can’t manage to put any women directors on your slate for the next two years, how about you at least replace your ad?”
McGowan has not been shy about coming out against Hollywood sexism and misogyny.
Last year, she blasted Adam Sandler for including sexist requests on a casting call notice she received for one of his movies.