Amber Tamblyn offers James Woods “teachable moment” in open letter

The actress, writer, and director offers James Woods a primer on sexual harassment and the way we treat the women who speak up about it.

Amber Tamblyn published an open letter to James Woods via Teen Vogue on Wednesday morning in which she took the Virgin Suicides actor to task for his dismissive comments about sexual harassment. Specifically, his dismissal of Tamblyn’s memory about Woods trying to pick up a 16-year-old Tamblyn and her friend.

[For those of you who are new to the story, here’s a quick recap: Earlier this week, Woods compared the film Call Me By Your Name to pedophilia, CMBYN star Armie Hammer countered that Woods dated a 19-year-old when he was 60, and Tamblyn defended Hammer and shared her own story about Woods.]

Tamblyn’s tweet read, “James Woods tried to pick me and my friend up at a restaurant once. He wanted to take us to Vegas. ‘I’m 16’ I said. ‘Even better’ he said.”

After Woods brushed off Tamblyn’s tweet as a lie, Tamblyn’s friend Billy confirmed the story:

For her part, Tamblyn used the moment to highlight the way our culture invalidates the women who have dealt with sexual harassment or assault and are open about it. “Since you’ve now called me a liar, I will now call you a silencer,” Tamblyn writes. “I see your gaslight and now will raise you a scorched earth.”

In the letter Tamblyn–who is a sexual assault survivor–describes her situation with Woods as “a teachable moment.” She expects that Woods will continue to try and shut her down but also gives him the benefit of the doubt. “Through this experience, you can change. You can redefine the man who will come after this moment and this man who came before,” she observes.

After providing more detail about her and Billy’s encounter with Woods and his friend, Tamblyn turns her perspective outward:

"The saddest part of this story doesn’t even concern me but concerns the universal woman’s story. The nation’s harmful narrative of disbelieving women first, above all else. Asking them to first corroborate or first give proof or first make sure we’re not misremembering or first consider the consequences of speaking out or first let men give their side or first just let your sanity come last."

“Are you and your history with women and girls a part of the problem, Mr. Woods?” Tamblyn asks.

What’s so inspiring about Tamblyn’s message is that it reserves judgment and outright condemnation–the Girlfriend’s Day actress does not rail against Woods. Instead, she very patiently and fairly reasserts her story, rejects Woods’ assertion that she’s lying or mistaken, and enlightens him (and us) about how his behavior and the behavior of those like him make the world a less safe place for women. In order to seriously address and rectify the ubiquity of sexual harassment, we have to look within and accept culpability. Tamblyn is not writing Woods off as an irredeemable monster; on the contrary, she’s giving him the chance to change.

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You can read Tamblyn’s entire letter to Woods over at Teen Vogue.