Little Women star Saoirse Ronan left her fellow chat show guests speechless with her reaction to one of their jokes, but now, an advocate for women’s safety and sexual harassment prevention has detailed how those guests should have responded.
Ronan was met with global praise after she appeared on The Graham Norton Show last week, when she sat down along with Hollywood stars Paul Mescal, Eddie Redmayne, and Denzel Washington and listened to Redmayne explain how he was taught how to use his cell phone as a weapon.
The task came as part of preparation for his latest role in the TV series The Day of the Jackal, where he had to learn how to use his phone to do some physical damage, rather than using it to call for help.
Mescal then joked: “Who’s actually going to think about that though? If someone attacked me I’m not going to go, ‘Phone’.”
The joke seemed to go down well with the host and the audience, but Ronan then shared a poignant response, saying: “That’s what girls have to think about all the time. Am I right ladies?”
A body language expert later broke down the men’s responses to this comment, claiming Redmayne ‘went red with embarrassment’ while Mescal ‘changes his posture, grips his hands together and doesn’t really know what to do with them’.
However, in an ideal world, their reaction would have looked very different.
Ronan’s response earned a cheer from the crowd (BBC/ The Graham Norton Show)
Poppy Murray, Founder of the BE LADS Campaign and Sexual Harassment Prevention Specialist, told UNILAD that if there was better education about women’s safety, Ronan wouldn’t have even had to make the comment in the first place.
She explained: “In an ideal world, Saoirse wouldn’t have needed to make the comment, or the men would have already thought about the issue for women, but that will only happen if we educate everyone – particularly men – about the issue in a meaningful way.”
Murray went on to note that the other guests did ‘stop laughing straight away’ because they knew Ronan was making an accurate and serious point.
However, she also offered up some additional responses they also could have made.
“They could have said something simple like ‘You’re right, I didn’t think about that’ or ‘That’s a good point and very sad’.
“But a lot of men feel like it’s better to say nothing, than to say the ‘wrong’ thing, and I think that’s likely what happened here,” Murray said.
Murray shared her thoughts on how the men could have reacted (Poppy Murray)
Knowing there’s still work to be done on the matter of women’s safety, Murray pointed out that ‘education is the most important thing to create change’.
“Denzel Washington, Paul Mescal, Eddie Redmayne, and Grahan Norton, and all the men who watched this, can turn this into an opportunity to find out how they can help women. Not all men are the problem, but all men can help all women,” she said.
Murray has created her own campaign to help educate people who want to help women feel safer, using the acronym ‘BE LADS’.
Be visibleEase the tension by making a phone callLook away, don’t stareActive bystander interventionDistance yourselfSuggest walking with your friends (either in person or stay on the phone/location share)The men stopped laughing when Ronan responded (BBC/ The Graham Norton Show)
Murray made clear that the way the Hollywood celebrities reacted on the chat show did not show a ‘lack of care’, but more a ‘lack of awareness’.
“Men simply do not need to think about their personal safety in the same way that women do, because men are much less likely to be victims of sexual assault/harassment,” she said.
“The fact that [Ronan’s] ten words made such an impact, and the moment went viral, proves how much education is needed about issues that impact women’s safety.
“Saoirse’s ten words have had a huge impact, six letters (BE LADS) can too.”