Popular Hollywood actress Natalie Portman made it public that she experienced 'sexual terrorism' at the tender age of 13. She stated in a speech about her horrid experience when her film Léon: The Professional had just released (her first), after which she received her first fan letter - it was a "rape fantasy" from a man.
She explained: "A countdown was started on my local radio show to my 18th birthday -- euphemistically the date that I would be legal to sleep with. Movie reviewers talked about my budding breasts in reviews. I understood very quickly, even as a 13-year-old, that if I were to express myself sexually I would feel unsafe and that men would feel entitled to discuss and objectify my body to my great discomfort."
The actress went on to state that she had to adjust her behaviour, reject roles with kissing scenes and emphasize her "serious" side.
"At 13 years old, the message from our culture was clear to me," she said. "I felt the need to cover my body and to inhibit my expression and my work in order to send my own message to the world that I'm someone worthy of safety and respect. The response to my expression, from small comments about my body to more threatening deliberate statements, served to control my behaviour through an environment of sexual terrorism."
