Sex-for-roles: Say no and walk away – Yvonne Nelson to upcoming actresses

Ghanaian actress and movie producer Yvonne Nelson has advised upcoming actresses to desist from sleeping with movie directors and producers for movie roles.

Popularly referred to as sex-for-roles, Ms Nelson said the phenomena exist in all walks of life and not only limited to the movie industry as it has been perceived over the years.

The award-winning actress said men have made advances at her but she stood her grounds and rejected such advances.

Speaking on Touch of Class on Class91.3FM on Monday, 4 October 2019, Ms Nelson said: “I believe sex-for-roles is everywhere, its in the banking sector, it’s in the churches, it’s everywhere and I think these things happen because of desperation. When a girl is so desperate, she’d want to do anything but I always tell the younger ones that if someone tells you I want to go to bed with you for a role just walk away. You can try again and keep trying, you don’t have to sleep with a man or a producer or a director for a role. How many of them can you keep sleeping with for roles?”

She continued: “I’ve always been vocal; I’ve always been this girl who would speak her mind and just walk away. People didn’t understand, I’ve had people make advances but you say no, but that’s something that we find very difficult to say.”

There have been constant complaints from up-and-coming actresses accusing movie producers of demanding sex before giving them roles.

Some of them claim that even after giving in to the demands they are sometimes not handed the roles promised.

Ms Nelson is premiering her new movie at the Silverbird cinema titled “Fix us” on 6 December 2019. Notable names in the movie include, Yvonne Okoro, Tobi from Big Brother Nigeria, Michelle Attoh, Hajia4real, Irene Logan and Prince David Osei.