Fifi Box has spoken out after Saoirse Ronan went viral for her powerful words on violence against women, silencing a group of male celebrities.
The Australian radio broadcaster, 47, spoke about Saoirse’s highly publicized comments to her male co-hosts on their Fox radio show Fifi, Fev & Nick on Tuesday.
Irish actress Saoirse, 30, set social media ablaze with an important reminder of violence against women in front of male guests on The Graham Norton Show.
She left the all-male panel – including Denzel Washington, Paul Mescal and Eddie Redmayne – stunned after shouting a joke about self-defence.
Eddie, 42, said he was shown how to use a phone to take revenge in the event of an attack while training for a film, prompting 28-year-old Paul to say no one would think to use his phone grab during an attack.
However, Saoirse boldly reminded the men’s panel: “That’s what girls have to think about all the time,” sending her fellow celebrities into complete silence.
Fifi spoke about the now viral moment and showed her support for Saoirse, admitting that she too always puts safety first, even when driving to work.
“There’s not a day that I don’t drive into our covered parking garage and look around and get nervous,” she told her co-hosts Brendan Fevola and Nick Cody.
Fifi Box (pictured) has spoken out after Saoirse Ronan went viral for her powerful words on violence against women, silencing a group of male celebrities
“Every time I park my car at work, I feel like it’s a Law & Order episode. I lock the door and I get scared to park in front of it if no one else shows up.”
Fifi said she would never go out alone at night and is always aware of ‘threats’ as she gave an honest insight into the reality of safety amid rising violence against women.
‘I am very risk averse. If I went out at night and parked my car outside on the street, I would always think about that. “I walk past cars and look inside to see if anyone is there,” she continued.
“It’s just constantly being aware of threats. I don’t know if it’s just specific to women, but it’s definitely something I would consider.
“I would never walk through the park at night, gosh, I barely leave the house at night!”
Her co-host Nick admitted he doesn’t walk through alleys at night, but AFL star Brendan, 43, confessed he’s never had to think about his safety that way.
“I’ve never been afraid of being attacked,” Brendan admitted.
“Not once in my mind did I think, ‘Something is going to happen to me, I might get jumped, I might be attacked, I might be killed.’
‘It just doesn’t occur to me! I don’t know if that’s arrogant or misogynistic.’
Fifi assured him it wasn’t misogynistic, but simply the reality of his experience, with Brendan then asking what could be done to combat the ‘fear’ felt by women and others.
Irish actress Saoirse (pictured), 30, set social media ablaze with an important reminder of violence against women in front of male guests on The Graham Norton Show
Radio broadcaster Fifi, 47, spoke about Saoirse’s much-discussed comments and the reality of women’s safety with her male co-hosts Nick Cody and Brendan Fevola on their radio show
But Fifi aptly pointed out that as much as she would like her daughters Beatrix and Daisy not to have to worry about safety when they are older, this is the current reality of society.
“I would love to have a world where my daughters can grow up with a sense of fearlessness and where no threat will intimidate them from walking down the street at night,” she said.
‘But that’s not possible, there are always threats. You can’t eliminate them.’
Brendan also mentioned his role as father to four daughters – Mia, 24, Leni, 17, Lulu, 14 and Tobi, six – during the wide-ranging discussion.
Women around the world have praised Saoirse for ‘speaking her mind’ after silencing her male counterparts with her powerful reminder of violence against women and girls.
The interview clip has gone viral, with sexual assault activists and social media users supporting the actress for confronting the reality of what women “face on a daily basis.”
The moment came on The Graham Norton Show when Eddie told a story about how during his training for The Day Of The Jackal he was shown how to use a phone to take revenge in the event of an attack.
Paul burst out laughing and then joked: ‘Who’s going to think about that anyway? If someone actually attacked me, I’m not going to ‘call’.”
Sharing the joke, 61-year-old presenter Graham Norton pretended to hold a phone to fend off an attacker and joked: “Can you wait a minute?” to which Eddie said, “That’s a very good point.”
But the laughter soon stopped when Saoirse reminded the men’s bank: “That’s what girls have to think about all the time.”
The honest comment prompted a moment of silence from the panel with the live studio audience, before bursting into applause when she added, “Am I right, ladies?”
Saoirse has been widely praised for highlighting women’s safety by intervening.
Saoirse left an all-male celebrity panel – including Denzel Washington, Paul Mescal and Eddie Redmayne – stunned after shouting a self-defence joke
After Paul Mescal joked that no one would think of using their phone to defend themselves during an attack, Saoirse reminded him: ‘That’s what girls have to think about all the time’
Madeleine Black, a sexual violence activist, told MailOnline: ‘It’s so normal for us to feel fear. How do we get home? Are we safe? It’s a shame that that has to be reminded and they [Ronan] was the only single woman on that panel.
‘The silence suggests that they are [the male actors] didn’t know what to do. It made them uncomfortable and I think they should feel uncomfortable because it’s the truth for a lot of women.”
Madeleine, who previously shared her story of being raped at the age of 13 in her memoir Unbroken, added: ‘I think when men joke about it it diminishes the impact. It takes away the gravity of what women have to deal with on a daily basis. It weakens it.
“I think it’s always important to call it out when we hear things like that, even for the women listening, because it’s obviously resonated because it’s gone so viral with so many women. It’s just a normality. It is part of our normal life.
“There’s so much blaming and rape culture, and when we make jokes about it, it just trivializes our experiences. We really need to speak out about it and we also need men as allies.’
Saoirse also garnered even more praise on social media, as people praised her for speaking out about the situation.