Selma director Ava DuVernay used her keynote speech at the 2015 BlogHer conference in New York to tell women in the creative industries to, “Follow the white guys,” explaining that “Truly, they’ve got this thing wired”, THR reports.
“Too often, we live within their games, so why would you not study what works?,” she asked, advising women to, “Take away the bad stuff — because there’s a lot — and use the savvy interesting stuff and figure out how they can apply.”
“Women have been trained in our culture and society to ask for what we want instead of taking what we want. We’ve been really indoctrinated with this culture of permission,” DuVernay continued, adding that, “I think it’s true for women, and I think it’s true for people of colour. It’s historic, and it’s unfortunate and has somehow become part of our DNA. But that time has passed.”
DuVerney recently revealed that she would not be directing Marvel’s Black Panther film, despite months of rumours, but she has become a member of the Academy, having been included in the recent wave of Oscars judge invites that were intended to bring more diversity to the institution.
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Photography WBEZ via Flickr