Actress Brie Larson is getting some grief for her tweet, “I merely smiled at a TSA agent and he asked for my phone number. To live life as a woman is to live life on the defense.”
A few folks on Twitter asked why she didn’t say anything about the allegations of decades of sexual harassment by Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein, although I think her tweet from last night is pretty clearly a response to that news: ”As always, I stand with the brave survivors of sexual assault and harassment. It’s not your fault. I believe you.” Also she retweeted several women’s comments about their own experience with sexual harassment, including one asking, “When did you meet YOUR Harvey Weinstein?”
It’s fascinating that all a TSA agent has to do to get some people to come to his defense is offend a Hollywood actress. Whatever you think of Larson, the agent who asked for her phone number during the screening was unprofessional. We hire these guys to keep weapons and hijackers off airplanes, not to pick up women. Asking for the number is arguably an abuse of power if Larson thought she was at risk for additional screening if she refused.
Having said that, the life of a Hollywood starlet probably includes a lot of upsides and some downsides. The upsides are clear (fame, money, glamour, opportunities, travel, enthusiastic fans) and one of those downsides is probably going to include the fact that many men who you do not find attractive will want to go out with you. Out of all the ways this TSA agent could have expressed his interest, asking her for a phone number is probably the quickest and most polite. Because Larson didn’t elaborate on the story, it seems safe to presume she turned him down and proceeded to her flight. Unprofessional, but minimal harm, minimal foul. (If there’s more to the story, like the TSA agent following her throughout the airport and continuing to pester her, this is dramatically different.)
Some people in life rarely have to turn down unwanted suitors; some experience it regularly. Turning down an interested person seems like a low bar for “living life on defense.”