“The thing that I’m getting better and better at is protecting myself,” Pugh stated. “Every time I work on a movie, I get more confident in the way that I can protect myself and the way that I can lead a film set, and just not stand for bullshit anymore. I’m not doing it. I’m not standing for bullshit behavior. I’m not standing for bullshit attitude. I’m not allowing for people to be rude to the crew.” Pugh, while not naming any names or past projects, was similarly unsparing about pervasive show business sexism, explaining, “You just get bolder and bigger and more confident with time, and you want to be around and work with the right people. And the moment someone is making that vibe feel off, everybody feels it. I don’t want to deal with messy. It’s just about surrounding yourself with professionals who have the same way of working in mind: Show up on time, don’t be rude, don’t be a misogynist.”
That last point crossed over into Pugh’s offscreen life recently, when she claimed her social media comments condemning the culture of toxic masculinity behind the alleged gang-rape of a Cornell student were censored by Instragram. Pugh told the magazine that she felt compelled to speak out about the incident “because I’m a woman who cares about women,” reminding anyone seeking to silence her, “No one fucking censors me. Don’t even try. That’s just going to add fuel to the fire.” Pugh, currently about to hit screens in both Avengers: Doomsday and Dune: Part Three, has also used her influence to speak out about issues ranging from female beauty standards in Hollywood and the ongoing genocide in Palestine, saying of the latter, “I don’t know why it took so long for people to start talking and for people to actually feel sympathy.”
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