Joan Bakewell: 'it all began with Charlotte Bronte', BAFTA acceptance speech - 2019

12 May 2019, London, United Kingdom

BAFTA, thank you for this, the greatest of honours.  I'm really very moved by it.

But it all began with Charlotte Bronte.  People perhaps don't realise how subversive a character Jane Eyre is, calling as she does for the right of women to express themselves as much as men do.

Well, I took in that message from the age of 12, and it's been with me ever since.

So it has been a long journey, and along the way I have had the encouragement and the professional support of many, many women, making their own bid to as much a chance as men, and possibly earn as much.  That would be nice.  I owe them all a great deal.

It's also been an exhilarating journey, one all of you here tonight, and those of you working in film and television, do actually share with me.  Creativity is the human spark that gives meaning to life.  There's nothing more exhilarating than coming together with a crowd of people of different talents to create a work together for others to enjoy, whether it's a cathedral, a symphony, a sculpture or a television programme.

When it's a success, and tonight bears witness to what feels like a golden age of television, then it enriches all our individual lives and the culture of this country.

We have all made the right choice in working in this wonderful business.  Thank you for the chance to be one of you.

Sharon Stone: "We have every right to be powerful in whatever form of sexuality we choose to have", GQ Woman of the Year: 2019

8 November 2019, Los Angeles, California, USA

I want to share with you one of the main questions that I always get asked in an interview. And so I'm going to share it with you now. And here he is, my neighbour. Thanks darling.

So some years ago, before we were allowed to be who we were in our little towns, I was sitting on a soundstage and my director said, "Can you hand me your underpants? Because we're seeing them in the scene and you shouldn't have underpants on, but we won't see anything." And I said, "Sure."

I didn't know that this moment would change my life.

What I'd like you all to do is put your feet flat on the floor like mine, all of you, and I want you to join me in a moment that changed my life. Ready, set, go. Do you feel empowered? Maybe not. Let's do it again.
Each and every one of you is going to have a moment like mine, a moment that changes your life when you might be aware of when it's happening and when you might not. But I'll tell you this, you're going to have one if you haven't had it already. And you're going to be held accountable for it, if you haven't already. And people are going to ask you a lot of difficult questions, if they haven't already. So the time to decide who you are is now. The time to decide what you do with the tender, important, beautiful, savage, passionate, most important part of yourself. What are you going to do with it?

I'll tell you what I did with mine. I respected it. And I would suggest that you all do the same because we have every right to be powerful in whatever form of sexuality we choose to have. And no one is allowed to take that away from you. You must present yourself in a way that allows you to be respected, liked, and loved. This thing has gotten way out of control and it was way out of control before it started. And in my opinion, the only way it's going to change is if we get real laws on the books, misdemeanours, and felonies, and we get real social services involved in our lives.

I stand here as Woman of the Year, not as an individual, but to be with women and of women, and to be here in my grace and in my tenderness and in my dignity. And I want to tell you, it was hard won after I only did that. So I want to say thank you for choosing me to be Woman of the Year, because there was a time when all I was was a joke. Thank you very, very much.
Speaker 2: Let's let every wall continue to-
Sharon Stone: Come down.
Speaker 2: ... come down.

Kerry Washington: 'No man has ever said to me, I’m not ready to speak', Women in Film's Crystal & Lucy Awards - 2014

12 June 2014, Hyatt Century Plaza, Los Angeles, USA

Oh God, I'm out in public. Hmm. Thank you, Shonda, so much. You are such a gift to all of us, and the writer that you are has changed me as an artist, so thank you for that. I want to thank my whole team that's here — I have some pretty badass women on my team and they're all here. And the awesome men who have the courage to work with badass women, thank you. It's really thrilling to be in the presence of tonight's other honorees, I'm humbled to be in a group that includes my sister, Eva [Longoria]. Jennifer [Lee] I am totally fangirling because Frozen is on rotation in my house, and I just love it, love it, love it. And Cate Blanchett, you know how much I respect and adore you, and appreciate your existence. And Rose [Bryne], I'm a huge fan. I'm a huge, huge, huge fan, and it's really amazing to be in your company — all of you. So, I want to tell on myself, because a dear friend of mine, Pat Mitchell, who herself is a badass woman in the business, having run PBS and the Payley Center for Media, she called me a few years ago, because she for a long time worked for TED. I don't mean like a guy, Ted, like, TED, that thing where people give speeches and you watch them.

She called and said, ‘I’m going to be running TED Women and I would love for you to speak.’ And I said, ‘You know, gosh, you know what, Pat, I really appreciate the invitation, but I just don’t know really what I would say, I’m not sure what my story would be, I think I should decline, and maybe when I’m ready I’ll come do that.’ And Pat said to me, ‘Kerry, I’ve worked with TED for a really long time. No man has ever said to me, I’m not ready to speak, but for TED Women you are part of a long list of women who have denied me by saying they’re not ready.’ And I realized that what that meant is that we as women put ourselves in this situation of feeling like we can’t take a risk, like in order to step out there we have to be perfect, because we’re scared that if we don’t say the right thing, or do the right thing, that we’ll reflect poorly on ourselves and our community, whether that community be women, people of color, both.

So sometimes, we don’t step out there. And I’m telling on myself, because I didn’t [speak], even after Pat said to me, ‘This is so unfortunate, this is so wrong, women have to feel comfortable speaking out and stepping up, and standing in their light, and owning their voice.’ I said, ‘Yeah, you’re right. Good luck.’ I don’t do that often, but when I do, I know that it’s not good for me, and it’s not good for other women.

I work for a woman, Shonda Rimes, who [to Shonda, on stage] I'm going to talk about you like you're not here, who because of her courage to step into her light, and step up, and own her voice, has provided an opportunity for so many other women to soar, in front of and behind the camera. That's what happens when we step up for ourselves — we create opportunity, whether it's because we inspire other people or [points to Shonda] we employ other people or both. This award is named after Lucille Ball, an extraordinary woman in television, because she was an actor, a comedian, a director, a producer, a studio owner [chokes up]. It's an award for excellence, and so I'm going to take it home, and put it on my shelf as a reminder of what I should be striving for, which is excellence.

And as a reminder that I have to continue to step up [mic gives feedback]. That was the sign: 'Step up.' And I need to not be afraid, and we each need to not be afraid of taking those risks, that Cate [Blanchett] talked about. We need to be willing to be uncomfortable, to be flawed, to be imperfect, to own our voice, to step into our light, so that we can continue to inspire other people and employ other people, and make room for more and more voices and presence. I really want to thank each of you for being here tonight, for each of you who donated, not just because you got fancy gifts if you donated, but because you believe in the mission of Women in Film. So, I thank Women in Film, and I thank you, Shonda, and I just thank each of you for sharing in this extraordinary evening. And while I do love the word 'exceptional,' I hope that it is no longer exceptional very, very soon for women to do anything extraordinary in this business. Thanks.

Jen Cloher: 'Women in Australian music can no longer be erased from history books', One of One's IWD Women in Music Breakfast - 2017

3 March 2017, Melbourne, Australia

I came to Melbourne from Sydney 16 years ago because I’d heard the music scene was thriving and I wanted to find a scene. I think most musicians move to Melbourne for this reason, maybe even more so these days? I didn’t know anyone in music, I was a NIDA acting graduate. So I went out and watched bands, I read the street press, I rode my bike around from one open-mic night to the next. I got drunk, went to parties and slowly, I started to meet people. Most of them became my band The Endless Sea. I submitted a grant application to Creative Victoria because someone told me to, won 7 grand and went and made a record at Sing Sing Studios. We recorded the entire album live in 4 days because we didn’t have much money. We played our first residencies at The Empress and The Retreat Hotels. People came out to see us. A guy called Richard Moffatt started playing our music on RRR. The album was received well critically and nominated for an ARIA.

Just as things were starting to come together I moved to New Zealand to take care of my mother Dorothy who had been diagnosed with Alzheimers.

I returned to Melbourne 2 years later to release my second album and tour. This time I didn’t receive the same support at radio or in the media, the album wasn’t as successful and as a result I went into a lot of debt. I couldn’t work out how artists were managing to have sustainable careers in a massive country with such a small population, just touring a band to Perth would set you back thousands of dollars. How were other artists managing to stay afloat? I had to find out. So I started workshops for self managed artists that are still running today, in fact our next one is tomorrow, called I Manage My Music. I wanted to find out how other artists were managing to record, market, promote, tour a band, make clips and pay everyone when they were only playing to a couple hundred people in each capital city.

What I discovered was that they weren’t managing. Most of them were in debt, some of them were in tens of thousands of dollars worth of debt. So I made a decision to never go into debt again for my music business. Inspired by the independent artists around me I crowdfunded, went for grants, saved money, stopped touring my band and played solo, said no to shows or tours that would set me back financially and made records based on what was in my bank account, not what I wished was in my bank account. And a funny thing happened. More opportunities came my way, I was paid well, my next record made with half the budget of its predecessor was my most fulfilling creatively and professionally. I started a record label with my partner and applied everything I had learnt through my workshops and it worked! I saw a community of artists grow around me and I saw that two of my theories were true. As an independent artist I discovered the first golden rule for a career of longevity — never go into debt.

Another thing I discovered was that it was very difficult to sustain interest in this country from radio and media once you hit the middle of your career. If you hadn’t reached a certain level of success you were sort of shelved and ignored. With only one music dedicated national broadcaster, the minute they decided you were too old for their youth demographic also meant the end of a profitable touring circuit. I watched as both myself and my contemporaries’ audiences got smaller and smaller. We were doing all the right things, strong PR, servicing our music to all media and radio, putting aside money for a modest marketing budget, creating our best work and yet things weren’t converting into sales or a new audience walking through the door. What I discovered was that you had to use social media, a record label, collaborations with other artists and new projects to build a community. If you could build that community and relate directly to them, then you didn’t need to worry so much about radio or media. You had an audience, there ready and waiting for your next show or release. It was exciting again!

Here was the second rule — Find your community. This community also means those around you walking the same path. Other independent artists. Creative shoulders to cry on. People who understand how hard you have to work if you want to be an artist creating within your means. If you try to do it alone at home in your bedroom, uploading songs to Soundcloud and waiting to be discovered, you won’t last. Music is about playing with people to people. That much will never change.

During this time another quite incredible thing started to happen. Something I had never seen before. An Australian woman became famous around the world for her songwriting. Not her dance moves, or extensive wardrobe, but for writing great songs. She also happened to be the woman I was in love with.

This was where my own personal nightmare began. For the first two years of her career I grappled with my own feelings of failure. Stupidly I used her success as a marker for my own musical worth. I lost confidence. I played some of my worst shows. I questioned whether it was even worth continuing. Her career was what success looked like. Who was I trying to fool? Every great review from Pitchfork or public nod from Paul Kelly felt like a slap in the face. I was filled with envy and the worst thing was that this was my partner, the woman I should be celebrating and supporting.

And then one day I got over it. I did the work to address my envy and I grew up. I saw what a marvelous opportunity it was. How it shone a light on the community of artists on Milk! Records, that due to this, a younger generation of music fans started coming to my shows, opportunities for women in Australian music started opening up overseas, that more and more girls started to pick up the guitar because they could see a trail was being blazed. Without even realising it, Courtney Barnett opened the door for artists like Tash Sultana to walk through, and there will be more and more and more to come. This is just the beginning. There has never been a better time to be a woman in independent music.

The wave of ‘female singer-songwriters’ that was heralded by Missy Higgins’ Sound Of White will be remembered in Australian history books, because up-and-coming writers like Holly Pereira (also a keynote speaker at One Of One’s event) will write those history books. Romy Hoffman, Celeste Potter, Laura Jean, Mia Dyson, Sarah Blasko, Evelyn Morris, Liz Stringer, Adalita, Abbe May, Sia Furler, Jess Cornelius, Sally Seltmann, Holly Throsby — these women and many, many more — started the wave ten years ago that has now become a Tsunami. Women in Australian music can no longer be erased from history books.

So what more needs to happen? Women educating themselves around the business of music, learning how to manage their own careers and become sustainable in their practice. Women speaking up in music, props to Thelma Plum, Camp Cope and Bec Sandridge for calling out predatory and abusive behavior. And when they do face up to racist, sexist, homophobic bullies, knowing there is a supportive community of sisters there to hold a space for them. We have to continue building our community of women artists. To start in our own hearts. To not be threatened or envious of each other’s success but to celebrate wholeheartedly everyone’s contribution to our Australian story.

Madonna: There are no rules - if you're a boy', Billboard Woman of the Year - 2016

10 December 2016, Los Angeles, California, USA

  First of all I want to say thanks to Labyrith, that was an amazing performance.

Can I put this down. Seriously? It’s better this way.

Madonna accepts, adjusting microphone stand between her legs.

It’s better this way. I always feel better with something hard between my legs.

[Crowd laughs.]

Thank you for acknowledging my ability to continue my career for 34 years in the face of blatant misogyny, sexism, constant bullying and relentless abuse.

When I started there was no internet, so people had to say it to my face. There were very people I had to ‘clap back at’, because life was simpler then.

When I first moved to New York, I was a teenager. It was 1979 and New York was a very scary place.

In the first year I was held at gunpoint, raped on a rooftop with a knife digging into my throat. And I had my apartment broken into and robbed so many times I just stopped locking the door.  In the years to follow, I lost almost every friend I had to AIDS or drugs or gunshot.

As you can imagine, all these unexpected events not only helped me become the daring woman that stands before you, but it also reminded me that I am vulnerable. And in life, there is no real safety except self belief. And an understanding that I am not the owner of my talents. I am not the owner of anything. Everything I have is a gift from God. And even the totally fucked up things that happened to me, that still happen to me, are also gifts. To teach me lessons and make me stronger.

I’m receiving an award for being woman of the year, so I ask myself what can I say about being a woman in the music business, what can I say about being a woman? When I first started writing songs I didn’t think in a gender specific way, I didn’t think about feminism, I just wanted to be an artist.

I was of course inspired by Debbie Harry and Chrissie Hynde and Aretha Franklin, but my real muse was David Bowie. He embodied male and female spirit and that suited me just fine. He made me think there were no rules. But I was wrong.

There are no rules — if you’re a boy.  If you’re a girl, you have to play the game.  What is that game?  You are allowed to be pretty and cute and sexy.  But don’t act too smart.  Don’t have an opinion.  Don’t have an opinion that is out of line with the status quo, at least. You are allowed to be objectified by men and dress like a slut, but don’t own your sluttiness. And do not, I repeat, do not, share your own sexual fantasies with the world.

Be what men want you to be.  But more importantly, be what women feel comfortable with you being, around other men.  And finally, do not age.  Because to age is a sin. You will be criticized, you will be vilified, and you will definitely not be played on the radio.

When I first became famous, there were nude photos of me in Playboy and Penthouse magazine.  Photos that were taken from art schools that I posed for back in the day to make money.  They weren’t very sexy. In fact I looked quite bored. I was. But I was expected to feel ashamed when these photos came out, and I was not, and this puzzled people.

Eventually I was left alone because I married Sean Penn, and not only would he would bust a cap in your ass, but I was taken off the market. So for a while I was not considered a threat.  Years later, divorced and single — sorry Sean — I made my Erotica album and my Sex book was released.  I remember being the headline of every newspaper and magazine.  And everything I read about myself was damning.  I was called a whore and a witch.  One headline compared me to Satan.  I said, ‘Wait a minute, isn’t Prince running around with fishnets and high heels and lipstick with his butt hanging out?’  Yes, he was. But he was a man.

This was the first time I truly understood women really did not have the same freedom as men.

I remember feeling paralysed. It took me a while to pull myself together and get on with my creative life — to get on with my life. I took comfort in the poetry of Maya Angelou, and the writings of James Baldwin, and in the music of Nina Simone. I remember wishing I had a female peer that I could look to for support. Camille Paglia, the famous feminist writer, said that I set women back by objectifying myself sexually. So I thought, ‘oh, if you’re a feminist, you don’t have sexuality, you deny it.’ So I said ‘fuck it. I’m a different kind of feminist. I’m a bad feminist.’

People say that I’m so controversial.  But I think the most controversial thing I have ever done is to stick around.

[Crowd applause]

What I would like to say to all women here today is this: Women have been so oppressed for so long they believe what men have to say about them. And they believe they have to back a man to get the job done. And there are some very good men worth backing, but not because they’re men — but because they’re worthy.

As women, we have to start appreciating our own worth, and each other’s worth. Seek out strong women to befriend, to align yourself with, to learn from, to be inspired by, to collaborate with, to support, and be enlightened by.

As I said before, It’s not so much about receiving this award as it is having this opportunity to stand before you and really say thank you a s a woman, as an artist, as a human.  Not only to the people who have loved and supported me along the way, so many of you are sitting in front of me right now, you have no idea…you have no idea how much your support means.

But to the doubters, the naysayers, to everyone who gave me hell and said I could not, that I would not, that I must not — your resistance made me stronger, made me push harder, made me the fighter that I am today. Made me the woman I am today.

So thank you.