On Nov. 10, Ellen Page posted about her own experiences with sexual harassment, assault, and homophobia in an incredible, in-depth statement [1] on her official Facebook page. The actress begins with a story about Brett Ratner, director of X-Men: The Last Stand, in which she starred. According to her story, Ratner approached her during a cast and crew meet-and-greet that preceded filming. He looked at a woman standing next to Page (who was 18 at the time), then pointed at Page and said, "You should f*ck her to make her realize she's gay." Her former costar, Anna Paquin, has already corroborated the story [2].
Given the details about her age and the project, this incident would have occurred at some point in 2005. Page didn't come out until nearly 10 years later, when she spoke at the Time to THRIVE event [3] in Las Vegas.
In her statement, Page illustrates how humiliating and emotionally harmful it can be to out someone. "I knew I was gay, but did not know, so to speak. I felt violated when this happened," she writes. "He 'outed' me with no regard for my well-being, an act we all recognize as homophobic." She continues: "We are all entitled to come into an awareness of our sexual orientation privately and on our own terms . . . This public, aggressive outing left me with long standing feelings of shame, one of the most destructive results of homophobia."
Page's comments about being outed are spot on, but she goes on to make broader points about the rampant patterns of sexual assault in Hollywood and the greater trends of transphobia and homophobia in society at large. She checks her own white and cisgender privilege [5] and explains how violence against women disproportionately affects low-income individuals, particularly women of color and transgender women. (This year is the deadliest year on record for transgender people [6], particularly transgender women of color [7].)
"You are breaking the silence. You are revolution."
In addition to directly calling out Ratner, Page also wakes on other alleged abusers in the industry. In addition to Bill Cosby, she talks about working with Woody Allen, who has a long history of sexual abuse allegations and was even called out by his son Ronan Farrow [8] in 2016. Page worked with him on To Rome With Love in 2012. "It is the biggest regret of my career," she says. "I am ashamed I did this."
While Page makes a lot of different points throughout the statement, she focuses her message at the end. "What I want the most, is for this to result in healing for the victims. For Hollywood to wake up and start taking some responsibility for how we all have played a role in this." She acknowledges that the best way to enact an industry upheaval is to keep speaking up. Which, incidentally, explains why she chose to tell her story in the first place.
"Don't allow yourselves to be numb to the voices of victims coming forward. Don't stop demanding our civil rights," she says at the very end. "I am grateful to anyone and everyone who speaks out against abuse and trauma they have suffered. You are breaking the silence. You are revolution." Read her full statement in its entirety below.