Nicole Kidman: Hollywood plays role in violence against women

Actor testifies to congressional subcommittee as a goodwill ambassador for the UN Development Fund for Women

Speaking out … Nicole Kidman appears before the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee. Photograph: Susan Walsh/AP

Nicole Kidman addressed members of the US Congress yesterday to demand action on violence against women before admitting that Hollywood had probably contributed to the violence itself.

Kidman told a House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee that violence against women was "the most systematic, widespread human rights violation in the world".

But when asked whether the movie industry had "played a bad role" in spreading images of women as sex objects, Kidman said, "Probably." She did add, however, that the industry had also "contributed to solutions".

She also said that she herself chose to avoid such roles. "I can't be responsible for all of Hollywood but I can certainly be responsible for my own career," she said.

Kidman attracted huge crowds to the event, not the norm for meetings of congressional subcommittees. She was speaking in her role as a goodwill ambassador for the UN Development Fund for Women, to promote the International Violence Against Women Act which had stalled in going through Congress.