Thousands gathered Saturday in Pershing Square in downtown Los Angeles for the second Women’s March, lending their voices to the protests nationwide in anticipation of hearing from a slate of celebrity speakers.
March organizers honed in on this year’s midterm elections using the theme “Hear Our Vote.”
But the rally was much more than electoral politics for many attendees. Demonstrators advocated for women’s rights and equality as much of the sentiment in this year’s march overlapped with the #MeToo and Time’s Up movements.
Eva Longoria, Natalie Portman and Scarlett Johannson were among a long list of famous folks who addressed massive crowds as they reached the march’s end at Grand Park and City Hall. Here’s what they had to say:
Eva Longoria
“This march and this movement is far more ambitious in scope and scale and it extends beyond one political actor or even one political party. What we’re calling for is sustainable and systematic change to the experience of women and girls in America. A change from fear and intimidation to respect. From pain and humiliation to safety and dignity. From marginalization to equal pay and representation.”
Natalie Portman
“I keep hearing a particular gripe about this cultural shift and maybe you have, too. Some people have been calling this movement puritanical or a return to Victorian values, where men can’t behave or speak sexually around dainty, delicate, fragile women. To these people I want to say, the current system is puritanical. Maybe men can say and do whatever they want, but women cannot. The current system inhibits women from expressing our desires, wants and needs, from seeking our pleasure.”
Scarlett Johansson
“While Me Too means different things to different people, to me, it is very simply the ability to empathize with the visceral realities of this condition. I want to move forward. And for me, moving forward means my daughter growing up in a world where she doesn’t have to be a victim of what has cruelly become the social norm. That she doesn’t have to fit into the bindings of the female condition. Time’s up on the female condition. …
“I stand before you someone that is empowered, not only by the curiosity about myself and the active choices that I am finally able to make and stand by, but by the brightness of this movement, the strength and the unity that this movement has provided. It gives me hope that we are moving toward a place where our sense of equality can truly come from within ourselves.”
