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It's probably not all that surprising that actor Natalie Portman, who's worked in the film industry for over two decades, has her own #MeToo story to share. But the extent to which rape culture allowed her to be targeted, objectified, and harassed in the public eye — even as a teenager — should disturb us all.

Photo by Dave Kotinsky/Getty Images.


Speaking at the Women's March in Los Angeles on Jan. 20, 2018, Portman opened up about her first experiences dealing with what she described as "sexual terrorism."

"I turned 12 on the set of my first film, 'The Professional,'" Portman explained on stage. "[At 13] I excitedly opened my first fan mail — to read a rape fantasy that a man had written me."

She continued, noting the various ways in which she was sexualized publicly long before adulthood:

“A countdown was started on my local radio show to my 18th birthday, euphemistically the date that I would be legal to sleep with. Movie reviewers talked about my budding breasts in reviews. I understood very quickly, even as a 13-year-old, that if I were to express myself sexually, I would feel unsafe, and that men would feel entitled to discuss and objectify my body to my great discomfort."

Natalie Portman speaks at the Women's March in L.A. Photo by Chelsea Guglielmino/Getty Images.

Speaking at an event with roughly 600,000 supporters, Portman appeared willing to revisit a painful part of her past if it meant sparking positive change for our future. Her outspokenness isn't all that surprising to those paying attention though.

Portman has become a vocal advocate for women in the wake of the #MeToo movement.

Earlier this month at the Golden Globes, Portman dressed in all black in support of Time's Up — an initiative to combat sexual harassment and assault far beyond the world of filmmaking. The campaign has raked in millions of dollars in funding for victims everywhere who may not have the finances to pursue legal action on their own.

The Oscar-winning actor made waves during the ceremony by pointing out all five nominees up for best director were men. “And here are all the male nominees,” she said on stage to both applause and jeers from the crowd.

Portman is ready for a cultural shift that allows women to feel empowered to speak up whenever they choose.

“I’d like to propose one way to continue moving this revolution forward: let’s declare, loud and clear, this is what I want, this is what I need, this is what I desire, this is how you can help me achieve pleasure," she said boisterously on Saturday. "To people of all genders here with us today, let’s find a space where we mutually, consensually look out for each other’s pleasure, and allow the vast, limitless range of desire to be expressed."

Watch Portman's speech at the Women's March Los Angeles below:

Tuning in to American politics for the first time in 2017 is a lot like drinking from a firehose while fighting a grizzly bear and trying to summarize the plot of "Inception" from memory.  

Photos by: Win McNamee/Getty Images (Paul Ryan), Justin Sullivan/Getty Images (Neil Gorsuch, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren), Zach Gibson/Getty Images (James Comey), Jim Lo Scalzo - Pool/Getty Images (Donald Trump), iStock (Supreme Court).

As breaking news and scandals continue to erupt at an Usain Bolt-ish pace, many Americans are experiencing the early days of the Trump administration as a crash course in what makes our government kind-of-but-honestly-not-exactly work, with emphasis on the "crash."


Granted, even for those of us who have been mainlining C-SPAN for years, the current political climate is more than a little strange. For those just wading into the pool, it's like the water is 150 degrees, there are knives in the water, and oh yeah, it's peanut butter instead of water.

I spoke to four political novices who are getting acquainted with our political system for the first time — a teacher in Boston, a corporate retail worker (also in Boston), a marketing executive in New York, and a former advertising project manager in Detroit. Here are just a few of the surprising things they were shocked to learn are real parts of American politics:

1. If one political party wins enough elections in a state, they can change the maps to make it harder for their opponents to beat them in the next election.

If you've been paying attention to politics for a while, you know this is called gerrymandering, and you know it happens all the time. When a state redraws its districts to shut your party out of power, sure, you might throw up a rage post or two on your old blog, but when your party does it, hey, all's fair in love and war! After all, it is, has been for a long time, and is, for the most part, perfectly legal.

Now... consider gerrymandering as if you were learning about it for the first time.

You'd grab the pointiest pitchfork in grabbing range.

Take Texas. Its state government is completely controlled by Republicans and has been since 2003, which means they get to draw the congressional districts however they damn well please.

As a result, you get districts like Texas' 35th. Note its dispassionately illogical shape:

Imagine believing that congressional districts should make at least vague geographical sense and that your vote is distributed, weighted, and counted the same as anyone's anywhere in America. Then imagine looking at that.

Then, imagine learning that the 35th owes its gunky bottle-brush shape to the fact that it's 63% Latino. Texas Latinos vote pretty heavily for Democrats. If you wanted to dilute the Latino vote, the best way to do that would be to pack them all into one comically skinny but technically geographically contiguous region, creating one safe Democratic seat and a bunch of safe Republican seats around it.

You'd be furious.

In the case of Texas' 35th, the gerrymandering was so blatantly racially motivated that it recently lost a court challenge. But usually, states can get away with if they claim they're doing it for partisan — rather than racial — reasons, which is a bit like saying, "Sure, I punched him in the face, but not because I hate the guy — just because my arm was swinging really fast in his direction and my hand happened to be clenched, so it's not assault."

Boxing isn't fighting! It's just aggressive stretching in close proximity. Photo by skeeze/Pixabay.

If you were new to politics, you might think the system would intervene more often to put a stop to such blatant inequity. After all, this is America and we have checks and balances! Right?

Not exactly. And by "not exactly," I mean right now, you're waking up to the bizarro reality that...

2. There are no "checks and balances" if the people we elect don't want to check or balance each other.

The notion that evil or bad policy is ipso facto checked by our fair and just system is comforting — but hilariously wrong, as nearly all of the political newbies I spoke to reported being horrified to learn.

Of all the supposedly holy features of our government, perhaps none is more vaunted then the tripartite separation of co-equal powers — executive, legislative, and judicial — that you learned about in civics class. They're among the foremost concerns of our Constitution, praised by politicians left and right alike. You watched "Schoolhouse Rock" animations about them in middle school, where they were discussed in weird circus metaphors sung to you in a soothing Joni Mitchell voice. And you were soothed.

You feel good and serene about the nice normal people making the laws that govern your every waking hour. Photo by Central Press/Hulton Archive/Getty Images.

That song today, however, would probably feature singer James Hetfield, probably with bronchitis, and a gang of horny sea lions would be slapping at his throat.

We're all going to die. Photo by Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images.

When, as in 2017, one party controls the executive, legislative, and (probably soon) judiciary, that party can basically go hog-wild with its most ludicrously ideological, borderline unconstitutional ideas — and pretty much no one can stop them.

Several of the political newcomers I spoke to were particularly shocked at how far executive orders can go and how long they can stay in place, even when they're clearly illegal. Indeed, executive orders have become sort of like the Tom Brady Super Bowl Hail Mary of policymaking — presidents just give it a go and damn it to Wednesday if anyone tries to stop them. Republicans were livid when President Obama signed a series of executive orders protecting undocumented immigrants from deportation. And Democrats are furious now that President Trump has signed orders making it easier to kick them out and build a gigantic wall on the southern border. Congress can pass laws to overrule them. But if they don't want to, they won't, and right now, they clearly don't.

Sometimes, the old constitutional reflex kicks in, as with Trump's two travel bans, which were blocked in the courts. But even that might be a temporary victory. If Neil Gorsuch gets confirmed to the Supreme Court, reinstating its 5-4 conservative majority, things could easily change.

Aw shucks, this nice Colorado dad just thinks the law is the law, and if the law just so happens to line up completely 100% with the favored policy outcomes of Republican party political leaders in 2017, so be it! Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images.

True, the Constitution remains, technically speaking, the supreme law of the land. But a lot of bad stuff is constitutional, as many formerly carefree Americans are learning as they find themselves increasingly glued to the incoming stream of ludicrous news "Clockwork Orange"-style. The Supreme Court decision that led to the Japanese internment camps? Still hasn't been overturned! And even if an executive order or bad piece of legislation is unconstitutional, partisan forces are often enough to persuade enough legislative, executive, and judicial officials to pretend that it's all good, at least for a few weeks, years, or decades.  

Add that to ubiquitous gerrymandering, and you begin to realize with ever-increasing dread that:

3. For politicians, their parties are bae (before all else), including bcs (before common sense) and btbiotap (before the best interests of the American people).

These people are all thinking about biting each others' faces off. Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images.

If you didn't know much about how lawmaking worked, you'd probably assume it went something like this: Members of the two parties argue for a while about some bill or another, then get together, have a few beers, compliment pictures of each others' grandkids, and come up with something that basically lands in the middle of what they want. You know, compromise. It wasn't so long ago that this was the case.

Imagine how political newbies feel when they find out the truth, Bruce-Willis-gripping-his-bloody-gut-at-the-end-of-"The-Sixth-Sense"-style.

Sure, some members will occasionally buck their party leaders for strategic reasons, but for the most part, politicians these days defend their parties to the death — logic, reason, and, uh, you know, what's good for the country and the world be damned. Think about learning that for the first time and realizing that if you prefer, say, progressive policy outcomes, you'd be better off voting for a ferret with a "D" next to their name than a reasonable, well-spoken, moderate Republican doctor-war-hero-astronaut. And vice-versa. It would barely compute. And it should barely compute!

Don't blame me! I voted for Mr. Longfloppy. Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images.

Since both parties are pretty well ferreted up at this point, you get a spectacle like James Comey's March 20 hearing, where the FBI director revealed that aides to the president of the United States and, perhaps, the president himself, are under investigation for potentially colluding with a foreign power to undermine an American election, and Republicans on the panel only wanted to grill him about who leaked this embarrassing revelation to the press. It's as if during the O.J. trial the prosecution had spent its time trying to slam Ron Goldman's parents for making such a big deal out of everything.

If this base-level skullduggery were news to you, you'd probably assume we, the people, could band together, decide on a few things we all agree on, agree to disagree on the rest, and vote these jokers out.

Except then you learn, in perhaps the most heinous twist of twists...

4. There are some politicians who actively make it as hard as possible for people to vote, and they're getting pretty good at it.

Wouldn't be surprised if this woman had to fight a few great whites to get here. Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images.

This may be old news to some of us, but if you're one of the people just learning about voter ID laws for the first time, you'd probably feel like giving the nearest window a good bricking too.

Believe it or not, historically, voting isn't something Americans have been good at. Even in our presidential elections, only a little more than half of us do it. If you were newly engaged in politics, you'd probably assume that most politicians — grateful for the patriotic exercise of franchise that allowed them to serve their country — would want to make it easier.

Instead, you're learning that dozens of elected officials across America are actively trying to make voting harder. "Sure," the thinking apparently goes, "you technically can vote as long as you fill out forms A through Q in a timely fashion, bring the right laminated card, and survive the piranha-stocked moat we dug in front of this elementary school cafeteria."

The current weapon of choice for politicians getting off on taking away Americans' voting rights is the aforementioned voter ID law, which forces voters to bring identification to the voting booth. Many of these laws specifically ban types of IDs likely to be held by poorer, younger, browner folks (like student IDs) while permitting those likely to be held by older, whiter, more conservative folks (like gun licenses), which is obviously a huge coincidence that will be cleared up just as soon as hahahahahaha.

Felon disenfranchisement, which takes away the vote from convicted felons — who just so happen to be disproportionately black and brown — even after they've served their time, is another biggie.

This felon would definitely have her right to vote taken away just as soon as we figure out what she's guilty of. Photo by Rhona Wise/Getty Images.

And then there's the plain old refusal to streamline and improve the voting process that leads to random mishaps like being tripped up by a clerical error or having your registration lost and being forced to cast a provisional ballot, as one of the political newcomers I spoke to reported experiencing when she tried to vote for the first time in 2008.

Add it all up and you can see why someone just starting to engage with politics might be tempted to disengage right away. Yet many are choosing not to. They're choosing to stay involved and engaged, even when things are at their John-Malkovich-in-the-Malkovich-universe-iest.

And for some, that's because...

5. People power still exists, and it's pretty great to see up close.

Democracy, I am told, looks like this. Photo by Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP/Getty Images.

Even if you hadn't been paying much attention to the arcane inner workings of our government, a quick look out the window any time in the last few decades or so would probably lead you to believe that Americans were pretty content to let our elected officials do what they wanted without much taking-to-the-streets. You might even assume that sort of in-your-face activism was a relic of the '60s or earlier, the subject of grainy, black-and-white news footage and CNN baby boomer-bait documentaries, something that our couch-sitting, Arby's-inhaling, Kardashian-watching culture couldn't hope to live up to.

Instead, almost immediately following Donald Trump's Jan. 20 inauguration, we got millions of women and allies marching for their rights in hundreds of cities large and small, thousands descending on airports across the country to show solidarity with refugees and immigrants, and groups organizing across the country to lobby their elected officials to protect their health care. It's like a Woody Guthrie deep cut that was just a little too commie-ish to make it onto your second-grade music class playlist, except it's really happening in 2017.

"The trees are green/And the canyons majestic/Seize the means of production/You have nothing to lose but your chains!" Photo by Al Aumuller/New York World-Telegram and the Sun.

A lot about the way our system works is messed up and has been for a long time. It needs to be reformed up the wazoo, and its wazoo probably won't get so much as a look from the current crop of swamp creatures we've elected. But as the countless Americans just waking up to the reality of our politics are discovering, there's a pretty seriously effective counterweight: us.

Even those of us who are jaded can admit — we're surprised.

Thanks to Abby Huntley, Hannah Eisenberg, Robert Fuhrer, and Mary Kay Gumbel for speaking with me for this piece.

On Oct. 24, 2016, thousands of Iceland's women stopped working at 2:38 p.m.

At the time, the country's men were earning an average of 18% more for doing the same jobs.

So women decided they were going to work 18% fewer hours (hence walking off the job at 2:38 p.m.) for a day to prove a powerful point.


Thousands took off early and poured into the streets to voice their displeasure with the wage gap (which, hey, is actually a lot better than in most of the world but still needs to be fixed).

In early March 2017, not even five months later, things may finally be changing, in no small part thanks to the work of these protestors.

Government officials in Iceland just announced new legislation that would require companies to open their books and prove they're providing equal pay for equal work.

According to USA Today, the measure is expected to be approved by parliament because lawmakers across the political spectrum all agree that the wage gap needs to be fixed ASAP.

(That must be nice.)

"Equal rights are human rights," said Social Affairs and Equality Minister Thorsteinn Viglundsson. "We need to make sure that men and women enjoy equal opportunity in the workplace. It is our responsibility to take every measure to achieve that."

Iceland won't be the first nation to enforce equal pay, but its policy is considered to be one of the most aggressive yet as it targets any company, public or private, with at least 25 employees.

The government is hoping measures like this one will help to completely eradicate the pay gap in the next five years.

This is a massive victory, not just for women, but for the power of engaged citizens who refuse to accept inequality.

The news out of Iceland comes hot off the heels of A Day Without a Woman, which called for women all over the world to strike — from work, from home duties, from the multitude of tasks they juggle day in and day out — to make their value known to the world in no uncertain terms.

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A post shared by Áslaug Lárusdóttir (@aslauglar_) on

Critics of the strike questioned its ability to make a difference since turnout would be smaller and more scattered than the massive Women's March that took place shortly after Inauguration Day.

But the citizens of Iceland are proof-positive that public demonstrations can and do work. It sounds trite, but when enough people come together to make their voices heard, people in power have no choice but to listen. Even if it seems like they're not.

Change may not happen overnight, or even in five months as it did in Iceland, but as the saying goes, "The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice."

Sometimes, the arc just needs a couple thousand badass women forcing it to bend a little more quickly.

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17 stunning photos show just how huge International Women's Day really is.

There's no stopping these women from making their voices heard.

International Women's Day is always an occasion worth celebrating. This year, it's especially important.

Less than two months removed from the massive worldwide Women's March demonstration, women's rights advocates and allies remain fired up and ready to go in the fight for gender equity. Amnesty International called International Women's Day 2017 a "rallying cry," organizers rallied in the name of a "Day Without a Woman" strike, and protesters around the globe once again took to the streets for marches and demonstrations.

Some groups used the day as an opportunity to brush up on a few facts about women.

And others used the occasion to highlight women and causes that don't get the attention they deserve.

Like Katherine Johnson, an unsung hero who finally got her due in "Hidden Figures," and Meagan Taylor, who reminds us that existence shouldn't be a crime.


As shown in these 17 images, though, the most inspiring things to happen around the world in the name of International Women's Day were the marches, the gatherings, the rallies, and the demonstrations.

Which were held everywhere from Yogyakarta, Indonesia...

Photo by Ulet Ifansasti/Getty Images.

...to Lviv, Ukraine.

Photo by Yuriy Dyachyshyn/AFP/Getty Images.

Women marched in Hong Kong...

Photo by Anthony Wallace/AFP/Getty Images.

...and Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

Photo by Erika Santelices/AFP/Getty Images.

People took to streets across the world, everywhere from Rome, Italy...

Photo by Filippo Monteforte/AFP/Getty Images.

...to right here in Washington, D.C., U.S.A.

Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images.

The pink pussy hats made a comeback in Copenhagen, Denmark...

Photo by Nikolai Linares/AFP/Getty Images.

...while crowds of marchers turned out in Los Angeles, California.

Photo by Robyn BeckAFP/Getty Images.

Flags and signs flew high over the crowds in Istanbul, Turkey...

Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images.

...and were held proudly by marchers in Athens, Greece.

Photo by Louisa Gouliamaki/AFP/Getty Images.

In New York, marchers, strikers, and protesters were ready to stand up for their rights.

Photo by Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty Images.

New York cat cafe Koneko even held a Pussies Knit Back event where volunteers could come in to knit the now-ubiquitous "pussy hats." The hats are available on their website (in both cat and human sizes), with proceeds going to Planned Parenthood.

Faces were painted in Madrid, Spain...

Photo by Gerard Julien/AFP/Getty Images.

...and in Chennai, India...

Photo by Arun Sankar/AFP/Getty Images.

....while women in San Salvador, El Salvador, delivered strongly worded messages.

Photo by Marvin Recinos/AFP/Getty Images.

Street artists helped spread the word in Marseille, France...

"IVG (Law on voluntary abortion) it's sacred" by French artist Mahn. Photo by Bertrand Langlois/AFP/Getty Images.

...and people in Melbourne, Australia, struck a pose.

Photo by Daniel Pockett/Getty Images.

The circumstances, the struggles, and the lived experiences of the women in these photos may vary, but there's a very simple, very common thread: sisterhood.

International Women's Day is a great opportunity to reflect on those differences and to consider how we can join forces to help make the world a better place for all women regardless of their race, religion, country of origin, disability, sexuality, or any of the other factors that can sometimes divide us unnecessarily. It's a great day to set the foundation for future progress.

Photo by Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images.