Fight will be 'messy'

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Ashley Judd

Ashley Judd is determined to persevere in the "messy" fight against sexual misconduct in Hollywood.

The 49-year-old was among a group of women who went public with accusations against producer Harvey Weinstein for a New York Times expose, which was published in October (17).

Judd claims the movie mogul harassed her on three separate occasions, and has now warned that the fight against sexual misconduct will be a "chaotic, messy" endeavor.

The Double Jeopardy star told an audience at the University of Kentucky on Friday (01Dec17) that the fight is about "ending impunity."

"I want to talk about how it's not about sex, it's about power," Judd began her passionate hour-long speech. "I want to talk about how the statistics say that one in three or one in four of us experience sexual misconduct. But every time I get together with three or four women, it's all three or four of us.

"I want to talk about how there is naturally a chaotic, messy, unprecedented socio-cultural, sexual change - the reckoning as some folks are calling it - happening around us. And it won't be tidy, and it won't be easy, and we don't have a playbook. We can't go to page 463 and tear it out and say this is how we navigate what's going on."

Discussing the wave of sexual harassment allegations that have led to some Hollywood figures losing their jobs, including Weinstein and Kevin Spacey, Judd wanted to know what was going to happen to the women who had suffered constant harassment in their work.

"What about all of the women whose careers never got off the ground? What about the collective economic loss endured, especially by women in low-paying jobs, women on the margins of the margin, the undocumented, the field workers, the gals in the diners who get their bottom pinched all the time? What about them?" she asked.

The University of Kentucky announced it is establishing a fellowship in Judd's name, that will focus on studying violence against women.