'Big Bang Theory' Star's Harvey Weinstein Op-Ed Sparks 'Vicious' Backlash for 'Victim Blaming'

In the article published this past Friday, the brainy, Emmy-winning actress talked about her experience with sexism in Hollywood as a "prominent-nosed, awkward, geeky, Jewish 11-year-old."

"Back then we didn't have the internet or social media or reality TV, but I didn't need any of that to understand that I didn't look or act like other girls in my industry, and that I was immersing myself in a business that rewarded physical beauty and sex appeal above all else," she wrote.

She said that "young girls with doe eyes and pouty lips" were often favored for roles by powerful men like Weinstein, an observation that led her to consider plastic surgery to help her career.

The op-ed took a controversial turn, however, when she wrote: "I have also experienced the upside of not being a 'perfect ten.' As a proud feminist with little desire to diet, get plastic surgery or hire a personal trainer, I have almost no personal experience with men asking me to meetings in their hotel rooms. [...] I have decided that my sexual self is best reserved for private situations with those I am most intimate with. I dress modestly. I don't act flirtatiously with men as a policy."

"In a perfect world, women should be free to act however they want," she added. "But our world isn't perfect. Nothing — absolutely nothing — excuses men for assaulting or abusing women. But we can't be naïve about the culture we live in."

A lot of feminist critics felt that Bialik was implying that Weinstein's victims were partly to blame because they looked or dressed a certain way, with some even wondering if Bialik secretly felt this was payback for "pretty" actresses who were favored over her.

Bialik responded on Twitter Saturday night, saying "a bunch of people have taken my words out of the context of the Hollywood machine and twisted them to imply that God forbid I would blame a woman for her assault based on her clothing or behavior. Anyone who knows me and my feminism knows that's absurd and not at all what this piece was about. It's so sad how vicious people are being when I basically live to make things better for women."