Streep, along with co-stars Carey Mulligan, Romola Garai and Anne-Marie Duff posed for a Time Out London publicity spread for Suffragette, which focuses on the suffragette movement in Britain in the early 1900s. Streep plays Emmeline Pankhurst in the film, and a quote was taken from one of Pankhurst’s 1913 speeches and brandished across a t-shirt that each cast member wore. The phrase? “I’d rather be a rebel than a slave.”
The t-shirt was criticised for its history-blind use of the word “slave.” While White women during the early 1900s of course faced a multitude of oppressions and a constant onslaught of misogyny, they were not, in fact, slaves – their personhood was never politically, socially and economically erased like enslaved Black people in America.
For many, the t-shirt and the offending phrase not only evokes America’s history of slavery, but diminishes it and appropriates it; transforming it into cynical marketing for a film about White women, with an all-White cast of privileged actresses.
The supposedly girl-power themed quote also has dismissive connotations, presenting slavery as a choice, a lifestyle, a position depending only on a battle of determination – not an unspeakable cruelty that was forced upon literally millions of Black people in America.
Understandably, Black activists and intersectional feminists were not happy.
“Meryl Streep has to know better. And if not, her publicist should have,” said activist and organiser Deray McKesson, while writer Mikki Kendall asserted that “Y'all have got to stop believing these false whitewashed histories of major social movements. The past wasn't all white.”
While some people defended the use of the quote due to its historical accuracy, Pankhurst’s original speech had many other quotable moments that wouldn’t have seemed so tone-deaf. After all, if you want to assert that Shakespeare is one of the greatest writers in history, fine – but don’t use one of his anti-Semitic insults to prove it. Below is a passage from Pankhurst’s speech:
“I know that women, once convinced that they are doing what is right, that their rebellion is just, will go on, no matter what the difficulties, no matter what the dangers, so long as there is a woman alive to hold up the flag of rebellion. I would rather be a rebel than a slave. I would rather die than submit; and that is the spirit that animates this movement… I mean to be a voter in the land that gave me birth or that they shall kill me, and my challenge to the Government is: Kill me or give me my freedom: I shall force you to make that choice.”
There are numerous quotes embedded in the speech that would have been even more appropriate and on-point for the film’s marketing – however, none as obviously commercial. The fact that not one PR rep for the actresses, nor the stylists or photographers or even the actresses themselves acknowledged that the t-shirt could possibly be problematic speaks volumes about the lack of representation and acknowledgement of people of colour in Hollywood.
However, that the chosen slogan was deemed more palatable than “Kill me or give me my freedom” or “I would rather die than submit” also speaks volumes about the attitude to feminism at large. By choosing the one quote without violence, explicit demands or political manifesto, the faux-feminism that Streep, Carey and co. are brandishing as a marketing technique is socially palatable. “I would rather be a rebel than a slave” is the definition of White feminism; it’s tone-deaf, thinks itself trendy, and will sell out in Urban Outfitters. “I would rather die than submit” is too explicitly political to be attractive; it’s radical and unapologetic, and therefore was never going to be worn by Hollywood actresses. It was never going to be a slogan.
Though maybe the past week demonstrates a lesson we’re incredibly slow to learn: we shouldn’t be looking to celebrities and actors for informed, politically engaged statements on history or society. They’ve never claimed to be nor proven themselves to be experts (obviously.) If nothing else, hopefully the social media uproar over the t-shirts will have introduced people to the educated, impassioned and socially aware activists, academics, poets and writers who address racism and misogyny every day – and in ways far more engaging, important and empowering than putting a caption on a stupid fucking t-shirt.