“Separate but equal” still alive and well in Hollywood
I’m listening to a lot of interviews in the campaign season for the Oscars:
Actors, actresses, and directors are putting their names in the zeitgeist, hoping to garner more votes.
As I’ve listened, I’ve found myself wondering:
Why are the best acting awards still divided along gender lines?
While there are athletic endeavors in which the division of the sexes seems reasonable, there is no discernable reason why actors and actresses cannot compete against one another for these professional awards.
In fact, I can’t imagine why they wouldn’t want to vie for the same award.
I would prefer my children, and my daughter in particular, to grow up in a world where they don’t see these divisions along gender lines as necessary or inevitable. I want Clara to have the opportunity to compete against men wherever and whenever there should be a level playing field, and acting would seem to be one example of this.
My friend argues that this division in awards like the Golden Globes and Oscars provides an opportunity for more awards, and therefore, more people can be recognized for their excellence. But if increased recognition is the motive for these gender-based distinctions, why not choose distinctions that matter rather than ones related solely to genitalia and chromosomes?
How about best actor in a fictional and non-fiction role?
Or best actor in a period and non-period piece?
How about best actor in an action film? Best actor in a comedy or horror movie? Maybe best actor playing the bad guy? Best actor doing their own stunts? Best actor in a biopic?
These distinctions at least seem more meaningful than best actor with a penis and best actor with a vagina, which is the distinction that we currently have.
And if we’re really interested in this division of gender to increase the number of awards, why aren’t awards like Best Director or Best Screenplay similarly divided? Women and men are required to compete against one another for the coveted directorial award, while the actors and actresses they direct do not have the same requirements.
It makes no damn sense.
Even the word “actress” provides a dilemma. While many female television and movie stars still use the term “actress” to describe their profession, a growing number now prefer to be referred to as “actors,” which makes sense.
There was a time, for example, when female comedians were referred to as comediennes, but female comics have essentially ended that stupidity. We use descriptors like firefighter, police officer, and flight attendant to eliminate gender from professional titles, and many women in Hollywood are now doing the same.
How long before the word “actress” suffers a similar, appropriate fate?
And what happens when a woman wins for Best Actress but prefers the term actor?
Does she decline?
Does she scrape the word “actress” off the statue and replace it with “actor” instead?
The whole thing is stupid.
It’s the kind of obvious, necessary, and righteous change that should be made immediately. So it probably won’t.
