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| Emma Stone in Teen Vogue, August 2012; photographed by Josh Olins |
It’s no surprise sexism permeates the media. Women are constantly judged and praised for their beauty and appearance. Not their merit, intellect or accomplishments. This incessant importance on women’s appearances over their talent reduces us to objects.
As I perused my Pinterest feed last week, I came across a picture courtesy of
Upworthy of Emma Stone calling out sexism. Could it be? Is Stone a secret feminist?? I had to investigate.
In its August 2012 issue, Teen Vogue conducted a joint interview with Emma Stone and Andrew Garfield to promote The Amazing Spider-Man (Sidebar, do we really need a Spider-Man reboot?? How about a Wonder Woman or Catwoman film first…ugh). After the interviewer inquired, “Emma, I have to ask about your hair color,” Stone talked about how she preferred being a blonde because it’s the hair color she possessed as a child. But then here’s where things get awesome.
Emma Stone: But people do always ask that. They ask who is my style icon, what’s the one thing that I can’t leave my house without. I’m always like, “My clothes!” I can pretty much leave without anything.It’s fine as long as I’m not naked.
Andrew Garfield: I don’t get asked that—
Emma Stone:You get asked interesting, poignant questions because you are a boy.
Teen Vogue: It’s sexism.
Emma Stone: It is sexism.
Women and men getting asked different questions strictly based on their gender? Yep, it sure is sexism.
I already knew Stone was pretty fab. In addition to her hilarious public appearances at the Emmys and the Oscars, she’s a funny and talented actor. The same woman who convinced her parents to let her move to Hollywood with a power point presentation seizes the moment to point out sexist gender disparities in the media. What makes her astute comment even better? She calls out sexism in a fashion magazine…for young women.
At first glance, it seems to make sense fashion and beauty magazines would ask celebs questions belonging to the realm of fashion, hair, cosmetics, diet and exercise. I mean that’s their job, right? So why do I care that Stone — or any celeb — is constantly asked about her hair color or her style icon? What’s the big deal?
The media constantly dissects, critiques and polices women’s bodies. Men don’t face the same bombardment of scrutiny. This sexist double standard perpetuates the notion that men lead while women serve as objects of beauty.
As much as I love clothes, fashion and beauty magazines can wreak havoc on women’s and girls’ self-esteem and body image. According to Miss Representation, “3 out of 4 teen girls feel depressed, guilty and shameful after spending 3 minutes leafing through a fashion magazine.” But beauty and diet questions aren’t merely relegated to fashion and fitness magazines. Mainstream media outlets obsessively ask women these questions too.
At a press conference for
The Avengers a few months ago,
Scarlett Johansson exhibited her exasperation at the way the media treats women differently than men. Johansson’s co-star Robert Downey Jr. received a lengthy, “interesting and existential question” about Iron Man’s growth and maturity, which would have allowed him to talk about his inspiration, motivation and talent. What question did this same reporter ask Johansson? She was asked about what food she ate…another sexist diet question.
A reporter for Extra also interrogated Johansson about the underwear she wore under her svelte Black Widow suit and Anne Hathaway about her diet and exercise regimen to fit into the slinky Catwoman costume — while he asked their male co-stars about the films and their characters.
The media treats men as complex, introspective artists while simultaneously reducing women to objects, only interrogating them about their hair color, clothing, diet, and fitness regimens. The message is clear: women’s talent and intellect don’t really matter. Only their outer beauty and thinness matters.
Thankfully, we’ve also witnessed
Ashley Judd,
Meryl Streep,
Zoe Saldana, Scarlett Johansson,
Anne Hathaway (in an albeit subtle way),
Sarah Polley,
Rashida Jones and now Emma Stone calling out sexism — objectification, body policing and double standards — in the media and Hollywood. Teens have also started speaking out with
petitions against Seventeen and
Teen Vogue to cease photoshopping and increase images of diversity. We need more people — women and men — denouncing misogyny and sexism. Only then can we hope to attain equality.
Hollywood, like the rest of society, is far from gender equitable. Female actors earn far less than their male colleagues. Only 33% of speaking roles belong to women. Women write only 10% and direct a mere 7% of the 250 top grossing domestic films. We don’t see nearly enough complex women on-screen as too many films revolve around white dudes. All of these abysmal stats coinciding with the media’s rampant objectification, misogyny and sexism strip women and girls of their power.
With Teen Vogue’s huge readership, who knows…maybe young women will read Stone’s interview, see the discussion of sexism and start questioning the gender disparities in the media’s depiction of women. Maybe Stone’s comment will help catalyze change. Hey, a woman can dream.
Wonderful, i loved the article!
It’s kinda sad when we realize how sexist the treatment and the representations of women in media and Hollywood are. I’m definititly more of a Emma Stone fan now.
Jesus,shut-up.
Seriously?
Seriously. Utterly tired of the endless ‘hey that’s not fair we don’t get to do that’ or ‘hey that’s not fair, we aren’t expected to do that’. You are women. Not everything is the same. If we pointed out every lousy double-standard it would sound like screeching to you too. Here’s a question; how many women died in movies protecting men? You’ve become ridiculous. And listening to beautiful women who made their wealth on being beautiful then complain about it is just… annoying. Ashley Judd?
“3 out of 4 teen girls feel depressed, guilty and shameful after spending 3 minutes leafing through a fashion magazine.”
Suicide is an EPIDEMIC among young men. In fact among men in general. In 1960 the rate of suicide for men vs women was 2-1 in, 50 years later is is 4-1, DOUBLE. Boys are dropping out of school and college at record rates and we have to worry about girls feeling depressed because they don’t look like models? Clue: the only reason you have to or want to look like models is to have access to them who embody the very sexist standards you decry. The only people in fact noticing your extra 5 lbs or the cut of your dress of the perfection of your haircut is, you guessed it, other women. Just shut up and start acting like adults and take the stones and arrows that come with it. The problem with your not being taken seriously has nothing to do with magazines that celebrate your beauty it is your endless whining about it.
Sexist? I feel very sorry for Emma Stone’s tough life with all that sexism she must deal with. What a tough life. Stone is an idiot. There was nothing sexist about the question because it is girls and women who are interested in her opinions about fashion, especially girls reading Teen Vogue. Who the hell does an interview for Teen Vogue and doesn’t expect questions about fashion? The magazine is about fashion. If Stone wanted to rave radical feminism, she should have done an interview with Ms. Magazine not Teen Vogue.
Sure, how about a movie like this; low-level male secretary overhears his female mob boss kill a few people, female cop duo protects her along the way dozens and dozens of women get shot, stabbed, run over, beaten up, thrown out windows, innocent pedestrian women get hit by cars, one of the female detectives gets shot in the gut and ends up in the hospital, along the way a male characters gets beaten up, and the media then points to the violence against men the film portrays. Can we start there with solving media disparity? Of hey I’ve got it; some mexican hotel janitor with no future to speak of catches the eye of a beautiful up and coming female politician, she has sex with him inb her room, he gets upset because she ‘used him’ and at the end after a lot of soul searching, she does the right thing and marries him, lifting him out of poverty forever and providing a fabulous fairy tale life for him using her decades of hard work and effort to do so. That would address some disparity right? Maybe a film showing 10,000 women storming a beach full of barbed wire, and getting shot by the dozens with their brains blown out and ordered to run up a hill while 99 out of the 100 women get blown up stabbed or eviscerated? Or how about the media does this; covers the outrage of various male celebrities who find it sexist their dates expect to be paid for and walked home at night and insist that even suggesting it should work like that is sexist. Or we could interview men about how magazines with tall, well dressed, fit men with full heads of hair standing near 1/4 million dollar cars makes us feel pressured to live up to that ideal and it isn’t fair. SHUT UP ALREADY!