Who is Megan Fox? In a few words, she is an actress, model feminist, and to some, an LGBT icon.
Most of us know her from growing up with movies like Confessions of a Teenage drama queen (2004)and Holiday in the sun (2003) where she played both snarky mean girl roles, but her most notable role in Hollywood was Mikaela Banes in Transformers (2007) where she finally entered mainstream media.
Though, in more recent years you might have heard of her due to media coverage of her 10-year divorce with actor Brian Austin Green or perhaps her newly found partner Machine Gun Kelly.
But this isn’t about her love life but rather how we failed to support someone who spoke up against abuse and her fight against it whilst adding some of her dark comedy to hide the clear expressions of nervousness while explaining her piece.
How we failed Megan Fox?
We could always make the excuse that society wasn’t ready for Megan Fox when she had her early peak with her career, but why is it that just now we are talking about her past and the comments she made which caused an uproar in the entertainment industry, allegedly getting her blacklisted. I would say it’s our fault for letting an unspoken misogynistic era that was the early 2010’s and e 2000’s, take over.
As you can see in this interview with Jimmy Kimmel, she speaks up about the discomfort she suffered under the predatory behavior of Michael Bay but the audience didn’t catch up with her signs of disgust and discomfort, neither did the host as he quickly dismissed her with a just as predatory comment which shows how we as a society we’re conditioned to believe this wasn’t wrong.
But now, listening to her story of her being 15 years old and told to be dancing provocatively under a waterfall with 6-inch heels instead of holding alcoholic beverages sounds like a scary situation, even more so in a room filled with older men.
From another time, Megan spoke about the odd audition for Transformers, how she had to go over to Michael Bay’s home and wash his car, yet she clarified that her past statements were thought-out and took away what she was really trying to say and as Michael Bay is still a man of power, she was the one who had to apologize publicly to show her regret for trying to expose the predatory behavior.
After these events, Megan was faced with the backlash of the industry, how she would only be given objectifying and over-sexualized but also supporting roles in comedies; As we can see in her videography, she never stopped working and fought to keep her career alive during such a dark period of her life.
Oversexualization and Feminism
Does anyone remember how magazines used to do public figures comparisons, the versus, or the before and after? Even now we can find such content in platforms like Youtube, Instagram or Facebook, where women are constantly criticized by the public due to their appearance, creating this image of the objectification of women which focuses on judgment.
Megan Fox was many times a victim of these trends, how people would comment on her weight, sexuality, romantic history and plastic surgery rumors.
The actress has spoken up at an interview with Diablo Cody about the consequences it had on her psyche at the time and even now, how it made her not want to be photographed, appear on screen nor want to be seen in public in fear of being yelled at, criticized and even spat at.
Even explains how she didn’t feel included with the #metoo movement nor feminism at the time as there is a certain image one must portray to be put as a true victim rather than be blamed for being a victim of it, but this only proves the trauma she has endured and how she was forced to see this perspective of the world where she has to constantly protect herself and be on her own.
The now cult-classic Jennifer’s Body (2009) has been brought back to light by the Z, advocating free sexual expression and preference as there’s an underlying romance between the two protagonists which could only be found when taking a deeper look at their interactions. Some would call it the movie which helped them realize their sexuality and come to terms with it and others thank Megan Fox for taking part in it and making a good job at portraying the issues of a jealous teenager who is secretly in love with her best friend, though it is never mentioned in the movie.
Her contribution hasn’t only been to the LGTBQ+ community as she donated her appearance fee on Rihanna’s music video “Love the way you lie” to Sojourn Services, a shelter for abused women as well as constantly advocating for women’s rights and the need to create a healthier environment in the Hollywood scene.
There is nothing we can do about the past but learn from it and not make the same mistakes, bring up attention to the issues which once were normalized. Sexual objectification of women still is happening to this day and so are people that believe victims of earlier years abuse are to blame, lack of empathy and understanding of the situation creates an unhealthy environment, there are many resources to integrate yourself into the fight that’s happening right now, from feminism focused sites, to LGBT movements, there’s always a way to get better and move forward.
