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Amber Tamblyn to Hollywood’s Accused Predators: Start ‘Ceding the Floor’ to Women

The "Paint It Black" director and co-writer wants alleged harassers to "disappear" from show business, but that's not a call for "banishment."
Amber Tamblyn'The Babylon Line' play opening night, New York, USA - 05 Dec 2016
Amber Tamblyn
Carolyn Contino/REX/Shutterstock

To close out a week that dredged up sexual harassment and assault allegations against Matt Lauer, Garrison Keillor, Geraldo Rivera, Russell Simmons, and Geoffrey Rush, Amber Tamblyn published a New York Times op-ed called, “I’m Not Ready for the Redemption of Men.” In the November 30 piece, she clarifies her previous statements about whether she thinks Hollywood’s growing list of accused men should have the opportunity to resuscitate their careers.

The actress, filmmaker, and author begins by recounting an exchange she witnessed between a pair of Emmy-winning writers, a woman and a man. According to the woman, those in the industry accused of sexual impropriety should never work again, prompting the man to ask, “Do you believe in redemption?” Tamblyn wrote that the question is “valid,” although she is “deeply suspicious of its timing… Why are we obligated to care about salvaging male careers when we have just begun to tell the stories that have plagued us for lifetimes?”

Restating a point she made last month at Vulture Festival Los Angeles, she wrote, “The only way to enforce seismic, cultural change in the way men relate to women is to draw a line deep in the sand. This is what we will no longer tolerate. You’re either with our bodies or against our bodies. The punishment for harassment is you disappear. The punishment for rape is you disappear. The punishment for masturbation in front of us is you disappear. The punishment for coercion is you disappear.”

However, said disappearance does not have to be permanent, she explained, with the exception of Harvey Weinstein: “I’m not talking about banishment. I’m talking about ceding the floor.”

Tamblyn’s first Times op-ed ran in September and detailed a disturbing run-in she allegedly had with actor James Woods when she was 16 years old. Woods has since retired.

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