Tired of feeling devalued as a woman in Hollywood, Amber Tamblyn wrote to New York Times on September 16th, explaining an argument she had on Twitter with James Woods about misconduct. Their confrontation came about when she spoke out about Armie Hammer’s film, wherein there is a relationship between two people that are seventeen and twenty-four years old, from scathing remarks. When she stated that the original critic, James Woods, tried to pick her up when she was sixteen, his simple response was that her statement was a lie.

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Not willing to let that accusation stand, Tamblyn tweeted a screenshot of a conversation with herself and a friend, where she asked her friend if she remembered the interaction with Woods.  Her friend responded, “Damn totally forgot about that hahaha.”

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Following, Tamblyn typed up an essay regarding women in Hollywood. “Mr. Woods’s accusation that I was lying sent me back to that day in that producer’s office, and back to all the days I’ve spent in the offices of men; of feeling unsure, uneasy, questioned and disbelieved, no matter the conversation,” she wrote in her essay.

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Mr. Woods was not the first man to harass Amber Tamblyn and nearly get away with it; at the start of Tamblyn’s career, she accidentally acquired a stalker. Unbeknownst to everyone except Tamblyn, the man would sneak into her trailer and even wait for her at her own apartment, uninvited and unwelcome. When she brought the issue up with her director, he only stated, “‘Well, there are two sides to every story.’”

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“For women in America who come forward with stories of harassment, abuse and sexual assault, there are not two sides to every story, however noble that principle might seem,” Tamblyn pointed out to the New York Times. Clearly, Tamblyn saw that the accusation she made was handled very poorly by her director. Despite the seriousness of the situation, it seemed that he simply did not believe her. “Women do not get to have a side,” she stated simply in her article. “They get to have an interrogation. Too often, they are questioned mercilessly about whether their side is legitimate. Especially if that side happens to accuse a man of stature, then that woman has to consider the scrutiny and repercussions she’ll be subjected to by sharing her side.”

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Amber Tamblyn then continued onwards and discussed the most likely reason why some women do not file a report for abuse. Based on her experience, and some statistics that she discovered, she boiled the problem down to fear. Since so many people seem skeptical of women's’ assault reports, many women are simply too frightened to even think about notifying authorities. “It’s no wonder that the federal Bureau of Justice Statistics reported that from 2006 to 2010, 65 percent of sexual assaults went unreported,” she detailed. “What’s the point, if you won’t be believed?”

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Thankfully, many other women in Hollywood are also speaking out against sexism. Amber Tamblyn mentioned in her excerpt that she was a part of a phone group that some actresses and producers started. The group functions as a place for women in Hollywood to vent and discuss their struggles, and encourages women to support other female Hollywood stars. Eventually, many of them, including Tamblyn, hope to see the reduction of sexism.

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“We are learning that the more we open our mouths, the more we become a choir,” concluded Tamblyn in her essay to the Times. “And the more we are a choir, the more the tune is forced to change.”