Blake Lively seems to be everywhere. Her photo is on every "common girl" Twitter account with some caption about her being "perfection" or "goals." She's married to Ryan Reynolds, who's also an incredibly hot movie star. She even once had a lifestyle blog, a la Goop by Gwyneth Paltrow. She's gorgeous, in all your old favorite shows and movies ("Gossip Girl," "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants"), and seems to have the perfect home life. What's not to love?
Lively recently said that "Woody Allen is empowering to women," despite the fact that Woody Allen has been accused of molesting his adopted daughter, Dylan Farrow. His son, Ronan Farrow, even wrote a piece in the Hollywood Reporter about how he believes Dylan, and that he's disappointed that stars continue to work with his father. She also defended Woody Allen when a joke was made at the Cannes Film Festival that insinuated he should be convicted for rape in the United States.
This is completely unacceptable. In my opinion, people should always believe others when it comes to rape and molestation, especially when you're both women. People say that Dylan Farrow could be making it up for the attention, but the likelihood of that is very small. Men are more likely to be sexually assaulted than to be falsely accused of it, and statistics like that don't include the many sexual assaults that go unreported. When her brother Ronan is the only one defending her against their own father, you know something is wrong. Many celebrities have continued to be in Woody Allen's movies (which I also don't agree with), but they haven't defended him multiple times like Lively has. When someone very famous like Blake Lively defends someone accused of rape, it sends a message to the world that rape survivors aren't telling the truth, or that rape simply isn't a big deal.
Blake Lively recently posted an Instagram photo from the red carpet that showed her from the front and from behind with the caption "LA face with an Oakland booty." You may recognize this as lyrics from the song "Baby Got Back" by Sir Mix-A-Lot. Many people were upset about this caption being used by a wealthy white woman. On one hand, they're just song lyrics. But those song lyrics were also meant to show that black women's bodies are beautiful. Sir Mix-A-Lot said about the song, "The black, female body was not accepted as the norm anywhere. For years, all you saw on television was overweight black maids or black women who would assimilate to white culture, as far as the look is concerned. I wanted to do something that was tongue-in-cheek but, at the same time, making a real point." People were especially upset since Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds were married at the slave plantation Boone Hall, which is right outside of Charleston, South Carolina. It's a plantation where slave cabins are still standing. I don't think that Blake Lively intended to offend people with her caption, but I do think she should have taken it down or apologized for it. Black women were offended, and their feelings are valid and should be treated as such. Too often the feelings of minority groups are ignored because people think they shouldn't be upset. We don't get to decide when someone is hurt or offended by something.
I know it's not celebrities' jobs to be our role models, but people still listen to them and value their opinion. I'm disappointed that Blake Lively isn't publicly supporting other women, whether it be rape survivors or black women. I can only hope that she changes her ways in the future.





















