Saoirse Ronan’s recent appearance on The Graham Norton Show is going viral. And so it should. She poignantly stops a conversation in its tracks by highlighting just how differently men and women have to navigate the world.
It’s powerful, and it’s true. And in that moment, Saoirse voiced so many voices in the single sentence she said.
But what I find so fascinating is what it took for her to actually say it. Watch the snippet again. Did you see it?
Let’s break it down.
Saoirse is sitting on a couch with 3 other men, discussing self-defence with Graham Norton. As a woman, I notice that immediately and already have a tingling of irony. However, Eddie Redmayne and Paul Mescal noticeably dominate the conversation during the show. Which, again, to me, is no fucking surprise.
Saoirse tries to join the conversation twice before she ‘blurts out’:
“That’s what girls have to think about all the time.” – Saoirse Ronan
She tries to say something twice but is immediately drowned out by the male voices around her.
The stark difference between her facial expression, posture and attitude while her male colleagues laugh and joke about danger and self-defence makes me a bit queasy.
We live in a time when a bear was the preferred option for the majority of women alone in a forest. So, I can’t help but see Saoirse in a forest with a group of men around her as she tries to defend herself. As she tries to highlight what’s wrong with the situation. As she tries to explain how fucked up it is that women would instead choose a bear.
This conversation is a case in point that as women we have to constantly grab a phone for self-defence while educating the people around us that we do think of that kind of thing. We have to. ALL the time!