Every time Mara Wilson opens her mouth, we like her even more.
Wilson, who made a name for herself as a child star in "Matilda" and "Mrs. Doubtfire," and is now a prolific writer and tweeter, joined video blogger Laci Green in the latest installment of her Sex+ series to talk about sex ed, first times and growing up in the entertainment industry. "It's important to accept sex as a part of life, and as a positive part of life," Wilson told Green.
Like many women, Wilson, now 26, found that her current views on sex and feminism were shaped by her early experiences of sexism. "There is a lot of casual sexism that I encountered growing up, and that I kind of internalized," she admitted. "I look back on some things and I realize, 'that wasn't right. That was really disturbing.'" Perhaps because of the sexism she encountered, Wilson was reluctant to call herself a feminist -- a label she now fully embraces. "For a while, I did the 'I'm not a feminist, I'm a humanist' thing. But it's not about hating men -- it's about judging women for their actions, rather than their gender or their appearance or things like that."
Wilson also offered some great advice on how to know if you're ready to have sex with someone: "I think you really need to check in with yourself, you need to feel safe and you need to feel desire. You need to be able to communicate with them."
Wise, wise words, Wilson. It's these frank discussions about sex -- and life -- that we need to see more of.
[h/t Refinery 29]
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