During her recent appearance on The Graham Norton Show, Saoirse Ronan, known for her role in Little Women, caught her fellow guests off guard with a significant response to a joke. An advocate for women’s safety and prevention of sexual harassment has since outlined how the guests could have reacted differently.
Ronan, sharing the stage with Hollywood stars Paul Mescal, Eddie Redmayne, and Denzel Washington, gained worldwide acclaim when she addressed Redmayne’s account of being trained to use his cell phone as a weapon for his role in the TV series The Day of the Jackal. This preparation involved learning to inflict physical damage with the phone, rather than using it for help.
Mescal humorously remarked, “Who’s actually going to think about that though? If someone attacked me I’m not going to go, ‘Phone’.”
While the host and audience found humor in the comment, Ronan offered a poignant observation, stating, “That’s what girls have to think about all the time. Am I right ladies?”
An analysis by a body language expert suggested Redmayne appeared embarrassed, and Mescal seemed uncertain of how to react, shifting his posture and clasping his hands.
In a more ideal scenario, their reactions might have been different.
Poppy Murray, the Founder of the BE LADS Campaign and a specialist in sexual harassment prevention, shared with UNILAD that improved education on women’s safety might have negated the need for Ronan’s comment.
She elaborated, “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 observed that the other guests ceased laughing immediately, acknowledging Ronan’s valid and serious point.
She also proposed alternative responses they might have used, such as acknowledging the oversight with comments like “You’re right, I didn’t think about that” or “That’s a good point and very sad,” noting that many men prefer silence over saying something potentially ‘wrong’.
Emphasizing the need for more work on women’s safety, Murray pointed out that ‘education is the most important thing to create change’.
She stated, “Denzel Washington, Paul Mescal, Eddie Redmayne, and Graham 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.”
To aid in educating those who want to contribute to women’s safety, Murray has created the ‘BE LADS’ campaign.
Murray clarified that the Hollywood stars’ reactions did not reflect a ‘lack of care’, but rather 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.”