Cate Blanchett: ‘We all like looking sexy but it doesn’t mean we want to f–k you’

Cate Blanchett was honored at the InStyle Awards earlier this week. It seemed like a pretty down-market awards show for Blanchett, but then I remembered that she’s promoting Thor: Ragnarok, a film with mass-market appeal. She needs InStyle readers, not New York Times Style section readers! I don’t hate that, by the way – some would say that Cate is “selling out” by working on a Marvel movie, but Cate has never talked sh-t about studio films or big-budget films. She’s always moved back and forth between indie films and big budget productions, and her kids are probably at an age where she wanted to do a movie that they could see.

Anyway, Cate gave a speech when she received the “Style Icon” Award. She used that moment to give a lesson in sexual politics and Steve Bannon, saying:

True icons of style, she said, are “women who know how they look is not all of who they are, but just an extension of that. It’s about women who feel free to wear what they want, when they want and how they want to wear it. I mean, you know we all like looking sexy but it doesn’t mean we want to f–k you. No one says to Steve Bannon: ‘You look like a bag of trash, do you want want me to throw you out?’ But the comments that get said about what women wear on the red carpet… I mean, if you troll through those trolls on the Internet – just don’t.”

[From USA Today]

I’m including the video below. While it may seem like Cate is making an incredibly obvious point, it’s absolutely worth making that point because in Peak 2017, people are still blaming victims. Victims are blamed for what they were wearing, how they were standing, why they were even in the room. There’s also the “not that kind of girl” thing that women attack other women for: dressing “slutty” or not being ashamed of showing off their bodies. It’s worth repeating: many women like to look sexy, and want to be thought of as sexy and beautiful. None of that is an invitation for sexual harassment or assault.

Cate Blanchett at tonight's #InStyleAwards: "We all like looking sexy, but it doesn't mean we want to f—k you."
— Andrea Mandell (@AndreaMandell) October 24, 2017