Here's the rest of the quote.

"And it’s quite valuable to have the courage and the confidence to say, ‘No, fuck off, leave me alone, thank you very much. You see, I couldn’t help saying ‘Thank you very much’, I just couldn’t help myself.”

And a link to a summary of interview if you're interested.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2371979/Helen-Mirren-words-shed-taught-daughter-f--off.html

But that's isn't surprising is it?

It's the way we've been raised to never reject outright. I read a great blog post on that once, about how society continually teaches us to never say a clear no - and then demand that we say a clear no in one, very specific situation - as we're about to be raped. I wish I could find that blog post again...

If by chance you remember where you saw it, please post it.

their motto is "Use your words!"

I ended up asking for help on Shakesville to find it, and it has been found. Considering I linked to another post on that blog just a few days ago, I should have gotten it, but sometimes the brain just works that way.

Mythcommunication: It’s Not That They Don’t Understand, They Just Don’t Like The Answer

http://yesmeansyesblog.wordpress.com/2011/03/21/mythcommunication-its-not-that-they-dont-understand-they-just-dont-like-the-answer/

Exactly

I remember those kinds of days-- a bit different for me. I hung out with hard partiers, tough women and men in their own way. What we would do was avoidance--- give out the wrong number, ditch them, find someone else. They want to by drinks fine, they want to do their drugs fine. It didn't get them laid. Sometimes maybe

Often we'd just stick with a group of friends male and female, same crowd, same party.

If we wanted to get casually laid we'd do that to, but that didn't give anyone license over our bodies.

A repeat performance wasn't guaranteed.

That's just one of the many reasons that the claim that women have drunk sex, then get ashamed, or upset and cry rape is so irritating. We were exchanging notes by the next morning and laughing our asses off.

No, I wasn't a nice person in my youth.

I was almost seriously raped twice, long, ugly stories, and there are people here and now who would say because I partied, was a bit of a hedonist that I "deserved it". The reason I wasn't raped, (broken nose and bruises only) is I just have a bit of fight in me before flight and had some damn good luck. And neither time was I "partying"

On some very good advice By the time I was in my late twenties, I spent a year saying "no". With an honest valid reason if I cared to give one. I stuck with it. I stuck with honesty. I stuck with it strong.

It was freedom.

I began to be able to differentiate between men, and men's behavior, understand women and women's behavior; (I never did respect predators or so called 'bad boys'; the ones I knew were in and out of jail or prison-- Fuck That) which is probably how I ended up with my husband, a kind, decent honest man who genuinely respects women. I gained sympathy for women stuck in vicious cycles of poor choices in partners. ( I used to think, why doesn't she just dump him-- yes, I was one of THOSE--Ick)

Funny thing about him, my husband he'd get girlfriends just by being a "nice guy" because he was and is a genuinely "nice guy"

Of course aren't really nice. They are simply unsuccessful bad guys, trying to play the bad guy game but sucking at it.

I remember how guys said that if women weren't "clear" about their 'no's, then how could they know they were rejected? It was really frustrating, because you KNOW they understand it's a socially acceptable refusal, they just refuse to accept it. They're exploiting the fact that society has taught us to coddle their egos instead of protecting our boundaries.

We should totally have a HOF post about it. I'm going to see if I can find the article you're talking about, too, because I think I remember it.