Rose McGowan to Women's Convention: 'Name it, shame it, call it out'

Rose McGowan to Women's Convention: 'Name it, shame it, call it out'

Actress Rose McGowan implored women to fight sexual harassment and assault by calling out harassers and naming names, though she didn't do either during her remarks at Friday's opening of the Women's Convention, reported The Detroit Free Press' Georgea Kovanis.

She proclaimed, "For all of us who have been told we're nothing ... for all of us who have been grabbed by the (expletive), no more!  Name it. Shame it. Call it out. Join me, join all of us ... as we do what's right for us, for our sisters, for this planet, mother earth."

Friday morning's speech marked McGowan's first public appearance since she said via Twitter that movie mogul Harvey Weinstein raped her. She has become a major voice in the fight against sexual harassment and abuse.

While she did not mention Weinstein by name, she said that the men in control of Hollywood, of making images that are reflected back at us — images of women —  should not be in charge.

"I have been silenced for 20 years," McGowan said of her alleged sexual assault. "I have been slut-shamed. I have been harassed. I've been maligned and you know what? I'm just like you. What happened to me behind the scenes happens to all of us in this society and that cannot stand, and it will not stand. We are free. We're strong."

She urged the audience to be roses in their own lives. "The actual flower,'' she said. "It is about all of us being roses in our own lives. Because we have thorns and our thorns carry justice and our thorns carry consequence. No more will we be shunted to the side, no more will we be hurt. It's time to be whole, it's time to rise. It's time to be brave."

Afterward, she told Kovanis why she didn't use Weinstein's name in her speech, despite urging other women to call out their attackers.

"I don't like a monster's name," McGowan explained. "It's a horrible name to say; it's a horrible name to hear. It's a name that has haunted me. And if I feel like saying it in print, I will. I do not feel like having that ugly thing come out of my mouth."