Rashida Jones has been in over thirty movies and TV shows, produced three of her own TV shows, and was nominated for an NAACP Image Award in 2002. She is involved in several charities, including Stand Up to Cancer, Housing Sucks, and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. She is also a board member for Peace First.
With so many accomplishments under her belt, it should come as no surprise that Jones holds feminism close to her heart.
When she produced a documentary called Hot Girls Wanted about amateur porn, many criticized her for saying the industry is performative and fulfilling a male fantasy. Earlier, she stated that she was tired of the pornification of women in pop culture and tweeted that women should #stopactinglikewhores.
This led to more backlash from people on Twitter who accused Jones of slut-shaming. She responded, explaining that she doesn’t believe in shaming women because they have sex, but that women in highly visible positions should watch how they present themselves to the public.
Obviously, Jones believes women should focus more on their talents. She says, “You can’t invest in your looks as your only thing because it’s a depreciating asset. It’s like putting money into a stock that’s going down. Invest in your brain, invest in your talents. Those things can appreciate and they get better as you get older.”
Despite these controversies, Jones is a strong supporter of feminism in the modern world.
She encourages people to not see feminism as a dirty word. She believes it is important to practice smaller-scale feminism, like calling someone out for a sexist comment or building other women up when they accomplish something at work.
As a biracial Jewish woman, Jones also stresses the importance of intersectional feminism, of realizing that people of different races and classes face different issues and that they are equally valid.
She says, “Feminism has to be for every woman, and if there’s an experience you don’t understand, educate yourself. I don’t think it’s everyone’s job to be a bridge, but in this political and cultural climate, I try my best to be patient and instructive.”
Jones is also a member of Time’s Up, an organization dedicated to fighting sexual assault, harassment, and inequality in the workplace. Over 300 women in the film industry founded the movement to combat the injustices they faced every day.They also raise money for underprivileged women to fight harassment in court. They are most known for their Golden Globes protest, where everyone in support of the movement wore black to the event.
Jones is a true feminist icon in everything she does, from the movies and TV shows she produces to the organizations she supports. She is also hopeful for the future of feminism. She says, “All I can be is myself, and speak up and be honest when I feel things don’t reflect the world as it today.”
Featured Image by Thomas Crenshaw on Flickr
Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-SA 2.0)
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