“Earlier in my career just once, small-time producer who asked to see my breast for a role I was auditioning for and I said no, and walked out,” Lydia said in an interview with the BBC.

Forson’s comments come in the wake of a scandal involving powerful Hollywood movie producer, Harvey Weinstein, who is facing allegations of sexual misconduct and rape from an ever-increasing number of actresses.

According to Forson, she stormed out after the unnamed producer made that demand.

She said such instances of sexual harassments are common in other professions, adding that many women face unrequited sexual advances from men in powerful positions.

“It’s unfortunate that it’s very common but it cuts across everywhere. Women are subjected to unwanted sexual advances from men in powerful positions especially who want to take advantage of their vulnerability,” she said.

“Especially in Africa where there’s a lot of poverty and people are looking for jobs, they know how to feed on people’s desperation.”

She also narrated the experience of a young lady who complained to her about unwanted sexual advances from movie producers.

“Just last week, an actress walked up to me and said she’s been trying to break up into the industry for several years but every producer wants to sleep with her and they named some big actresses that they slept with before giving them roles… and threaten them, too blackball them in the industry if they refuse to cooperate,” Lydia added.

According to her, the only means to end this abuse is to speak up.

Lydia Forson has several awards to her name including, the 2010 African Movie Academy Award Best Actress in a lead role and the 2012 Ghana Movie Awards Best Screenplay for the movie -‘In The Cupboard’.
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By: Graphic/Ghana

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In an open letter on Twitter, the 29-year-old said she’d been attacked by a “significant other” and a bar owner.

She wrote the post after an interview in Rolling Stone magazine, in which she talked about being subjected to “physical, psychological, sexual” abuse and attempting suicide in her early 20s.

The star said the attacks happened “many, many years ago”.

She also claimed that the rapes were “one of the many factors” that contributed to an attempt to take her own life.

“I don’t believe we live in a time where people can stay silent any longer,” she wrote.

“I certainly can’t. Not given the state our world is in with its blatant bigotry and sexism.

“It should be talked about because it’s swept under the rug as nothing and I will not accept this as ‘normal’. It’s a serious problem.

“I am still standing. I am alive. I am happy. I am strong. But I am still not ok.

“Yes, I have been raped. By a significant other while we were together. And on a separate occasion, by the owner of a bar.”

In the letter the actress doesn’t say whether she reported the alleged attacks to police or whether she took any legal action.

“The first time I was unsure that if it was done by a partner it was still in fact rape, until too late,” she wrote.

“Also who would believe me.

“And the second time, I thought it was my fault and that I should have fought back more, but I was scared.”

Evan Rachel Wood plays Dolores in Sky Atlantic’s sci-fi Western series, Westworld.

In the first episode her life-like robot character is shown being dragged off to be raped.

But she’s defended how the show depicts sexual violence.

“The thing about Westworld is we don’t actually show any act of rape,” she told Rolling Stone.

“I was affected by things being written off as locker-room talk – I had a very, very visceral reaction to it. But the show is definitely a commentary on that.”

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Source: BBC

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More than 300,000 vehicles will be decommissioned in the capital Beijing.

Recent findings from the state’s environmental agency showed that 31% of the air pollution in Beijing comes from vehicle exhaust fumes.

Next year, the government plans to scrap up to five million vehicles from other regions.

The action plan, aimed at strengthening control on vehicle emissions, “will be a major agenda item for the country’s energy savings, emissions reductions, and low-carbon development during the next two years”.

That is according to a statement on the government’s web portal.

Fighting pollution has emerged as a priority for China’s leaders as they try to reverse damage done by decades of manufacturing-driven growth, which has sacrificed the nation’s air, water and soil qualities.

The state council did not offer details on how the latest plan will be implemented.

But in Beijing, the municipal government has previously offered subsidies to car owners to voluntarily turn in their ageing vehicles to be scrapped.

In addition to removing vehicles which contribute to air pollution, experts are calling for quality upgrades in fuels, which can also help mitigate air pollution and smog.

After years of denying the issue existed, the central government earlier this year accepted that pollution was of genuine concern.

It now publishes figures for the air quality in China’s major cities, and in 2013 promised $275bn (£163bn) to tackle the issue in the next five years, setting targets for air quality improvements.

Source: BBC

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