Last year, hundreds of people from across the U.S. joined Native Americans on the Standing Rock reservation to protest the Dakota Access pipeline.
The controversial pipeline was planned to sit across the Siox people's land, and many feared the leaking oil could bring to ecological damage to area's drinking water, as well as being angered by what was seen as a historical disrespect to the Native inhabitants of the US.
Actress Shailene Woodley was one of the many people who disagreed with the placement of the line, and travelled to support the ongoing protests, which were temporarily successful (Donald Trump revoked Barack Obama's decision to move the pipeline).
In a recent interview the 25 year-old star of Big Little Lies, Divergent, The Fault In Our Stars and more spoke out about exactly what happened when she went to protest the pipeline.
Last October she was at the protests, when she headed to her RV for lunch. It was then she saw two military tanks and thought, 'This is some Divergent shit'.
It was only a few minutes later that, whilst being filmed for Facebook Live, with some 40,000 people watching, she was arrested for criminal trespassing and engaging in a riot.
Once she was taken to the County Jail she remembers, 'I was strip-searched. Like get naked, turn over, spread your butt cheeks, bend over. They were looking for drugs in my ass.'
Woodley status didn't matter and she was treated as everyone else would be.
She found the feeling of being locked up extremely claustrophobic, explaining:
'When you're in a jail cell and they shut that door, you realise no one can save you. If there's a fire and they decide not to open the door, you'll die. You are a caged animal.'
Woodley pleaded guilty and was sentenced to a year of probation, though that hasn't stopped her activist spirit.
In fact, she has even teased that she would consider running for office in the future, telling The New York Times:
'There was a point last year when I was working for Bernie Sanders where I thought, "Huh, maybe I'll run for Congress in a couple years." And you know what? I'm not going to rule it out. Who knows? Life is big, and I'm young.'
A woman who is willing to get her bum searched for her beliefs sounds like a good candidate to us.
Daisy Murray is the Digital Fashion Editor at ELLE UK, spotlighting emerging designers, sustainable shopping, and celebrity style. Since joining in 2016 as an editorial intern, Daisy has run the gamut of fashion journalism - interviewing Molly Goddard backstage at London Fashion Week, investigating the power of androgynous dressing and celebrating the joys of vintage shopping.
