Zazie Beetz on Dealing With Sexual Harassment
Having grown up in New York, Atlanta star Zazie Beetz has a handle on city life but getting catcalled daily still wears her down. "I'll come home to my boyfriend and I'll be reacting," Beetz says. "And he'll be like, 'That makes me so angry,' but he is almost never there when it happens." Experiences like that motivated her to sign on for a role in #ThatsHarassment, a series of short films from David Schwimmer, director Sigal Avin, and Milk Studios co-founder Mazdack Rassi that was released earlier this week.
Beetz acts alongside Schwimmer in "The Boss," playing a junior-level employee in an office with a seemingly friendly and concerned superior who gets uncomfortably close. She spoke to me over Skype about everyday harassment, and why it can be difficult to process when it happens.
Was there something in particular that drew you to this project?
Above almost everything else, I identify very strongly as a woman. Walking in the street, particularly in a city like New York, every single day, I am reminded of how objectified women can be. Being catcalled every day, multiple times a day, all the time ... it just constantly happens. I don't really think that men realize that when they talk to you, whether it's in a nice way or in an aggressive way, that's, like, the third or fourth guy who's done that to you on the same block. I get so upset by it sometimes because it feels like this act of possession. They're not doing it to engage with you, they're doing it as an act of power. It is so frustrating to feel in danger. People have followed me around at 2 in the morning and have literally said, "Don't make me follow you. You're not responding to me." It's incredibly degrading. And I experience it every single day! I think it's important to shed light on the everyday nature of it. A lot of people think harassment is isolated events but it's peppered throughout [our lives].
What kind of conversations were you having in preparation for the shoot?
We met up for lunch, David and I. I didn't even know that he was the actor who was going to play the boss until halfway through the lunch. We got to know each other and talked about a whole bunch of different stuff, got comfortable with each other as people. He's such a gentle person and a really, really, really nice person. I didn't actively feel uncomfortable in the scene, which is great. I think because he started out with full excitement and full energy about this, it was a really great experience.
Did working on the project teach you anything about sexual harassment that you hadn't thought about before?
These stories are all based on real events of people that the director knew. What was interesting was recognizing that something like this will happen to them and they won't even register it as it being harassment until later on.
I was having a discussion with my boyfriend about something that happened to me when I was 12. I remember at the time I was emotional about it but it was ambiguous because I kept thinking I was wrong. Did I do something wrong? Am I misinterpreting this? Why do I feel so upset about something that maybe wasn't that bad? It's not something that I was hung up on my entire life but talking about it recently, it was like, oh my god, all of that behavior was so inappropriate, particularly considering my age. I had internalized it in a completely incorrect way. I think that happens to a lot of people. You leave feeling uncomfortable. You leave feeling like, What just happened? It takes time before you can even fully come to the recognition that you weren't wrong and they were wrong.
What kind of jobs did you have before you got into acting? Did you ever experience workplace harassment?
I worked a lot in the service industry, in restaurants. Sexual harassment or blatant objectification of women is very common in the service industry, both with employees and with customers. I have felt very frustrated at work at times with how I was expected to behave or with not being sure how to respond to people. [I would get people saying to me] literally verbatim every shift, "What's up, sexy? Let me give you a kiss." How do you respond to that? I'm just trying to pick up some paper towels right now. Why are you talking to me? It makes you uncomfortable. And that sucks.
I feel very passionate about this. You should be allowed to wear whatever you want, walk around topless or naked or anything, without it necessarily being sexualized. Some people feel like women should dress in a way that doesn't promote attention-seeking. But this is just my body. My body in itself isn't only sexual. When I am standing naked with myself, I'm not having a sexual experience necessarily, I'm having a body experience.
What do you hope other women take away from these videos?
To trust your instincts. That if something felt wrong, it probably was wrong. It makes me really sad in the videos to see these women shrink into themselves. I've done the same. Acknowledge that impulse but then reinforce your strength and vocalize that something felt uncomfortable to you.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
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