The bare cheek of Hollywood ‘feminists’ like Jen
Hollywood actress Jennifer lawrence hit the headlines this week for wearing a revealing dress in a promotional photoshoot for her new film. I know what you are thinking. Surely only a Hollywood actress not wearing a revealing dress in a photoshoot would be worthy of comment, but we live in strange times.
Jennifer was on the roof of a london hotel on a freezing February day, a million goosebumps on display in her plungefront, split-to-the-thigh Versace gown.
She looked fabulous and no one would have cared a jot were she not posing with her male co-stars, all of them wrapped up in three layers apiece; warm jackets and scarves, nice big boots, mummy’s boy cosy vests, the lot.
How depressing, said concerned feminists, antennae forever attuned for she-slights, real or imagined. To them, the image seemed to say everything about female objectification in Hollywood.
despite everything that has happened, male stars are allowed to just be, while the female stars still have to be sexy. And I think they have a point.
Not so, cried Jen. why hide the gorgeous dress from photographers? She was a supporter of fashion, after all, and this was about style, not titillation.
‘Nobody can tell me what to wear and not what to wear. It’s my choice to wear a dress that I feel fabulous in,’ she told my colleague Baz Bamigboye in yesterday’s Mail. ‘Feminism is equality. It’s social, political and economic equality.’
what does that mean? That she can wear what she pleases. well, quite. Good on Jen. However, I do wish that Hollywood actresses and their equivalents in the fashion and music industry would be a little more honest about what is going on here.
MISSlawrence wearing her lovely frock was neither a feminist nor an anti-feminist act, it was just good old-fashioned showbiz.
From Marilyn Monroe, in her second skin sequins, to Cher, in her peek-a-boo Bob Mackie creations, beautiful young stars have always known that much of their power and boxoffice appeal depends on their allure and razzle-dazzle.
who was going to pay attention to lawrence’s costar Jeremy Irons’ grizzled face next to her attention-grabbing blaze of her creamy cleavage? Absolutely no one, and it is hard to see any equality in this age-old marketing advantage so enthusiastically embraced by the sisters. And why not? However, I might start a support group on behalf of all overlooked, old- boy actors such as Irons, and call it The National Truss.
Anyway, that’s just one reason why it is getting irksome hearing all these female stars complaining about the objectification of women while wearing not much more than two strips of tit-tape and a pair of invisible knickers.
Even as the Time’s Up and Me Too protests continue to dominate red carpets and award ceremonies, one can’t help but wonder if these stars are actually part of the problem and not, as they so fondly imagine, the solution.
At the Golden Globes and the Baftas recently, actresses wore black to denote their allegiance to the causes, while at the Brit Awards in london this week, female pop stars carried white roses as a mark of their support. These movements are protesting against sex crimes in Hollywood and elsewhere, while pushing for greater respect and equality for women. Sexy black dresses? long-stemmed roses? Hardly a sacrifice or an act of sedition that might actually make a difference, are they?
In this diamond- drenched citadel of privilege and prestige, female celebrities are making a lot of noise, while being really, really careful not to do it in a way that might impact detrimentally on their careers. Even for one second.
while they are to be admired for trying to inject meaning and principle into the award season, from the cheap seats all it looks like is self- serving aggrandisation masquerading as concern.
If the system is so rotten, why not refuse to take part in a ceremony that celebrates it? or perhaps swap the boobilicious glamour and endless leg shows for the anodyne embrace of overalls? That would have certainly forced industry chiefs and millions of viewers to sit up and take notice.
Instead, it was business as usual, complete with va-vavoom outfits, and on with the show. The awards ceremonies proceeded smoothly. The women all looked sexy and gorgeous in their monochrome gowns or clutching flowers like diligent maids of honour.
Perhaps they actually looked even more attractive, with that air of piety adding to their monstrous lustre.
Everywhere you looked, there was no loss of cachet and position for these women, just the echo of their repeated exhortation that This Is wrong And Things Must Change.
women such as Jennifer lawrence may mean well, but in one glamorous swoop they seem to ignore collective responsibility while citing their individual freedom to dress as sexily as possible in a bid to attract the male gaze, all in the name of commerce.
It seems a muddled narrative upon which to launch a feminist cause. But, as usual in Hollywood, different rules apply. ones that benefit them, not us.