People magazine recently named Sandra Bullock the World’s Most Beautiful Woman in 2015, and “The Blind Side” actress has used the press surrounding this announcement and her upcoming role in “Minions” to offer incisive critiques of ageism and sexism. Miss Congeniality she ain’t — and thank goodness for it.

“I feel like it’s become open hunting season in how women are attacked, and it’s not because of who we are as people, it’s because of how we look or our age,” Bullock told E! News. Want an example of what Bullock is talking about? Look in pretty much any discussion section online, where women’s opinions are deemed worthless because women are deemed worthless. Whether the topic is movies, nuclear arms or frakking, somehow, someway, the conversation will turn to the weight, age and/or marital status of female commenters. Also note the number of magazine covers devoted to viciously attacking female stars’ “bikini bodies” — as if what they look like at the beach is an unforgivable character flaw and grounds for eternal damnation.

Earlier today we published a post on former Disney exec Michael Eisner. He said something sexist and foolish. We attacked Eisner for what he said without describing or even alluding to his physical appearance. Bullock isn’t saying women are beyond reproach, and nor are we: we object to womens’ opinions and entire lives being discounted on account of their looks. This is the type of misogynistic climate the Oscar winner is referring to when she describes “an attack on women in the media.”

Bullock expressed gratitude for the support of her female colleagues in Hollywood, saying, “You’d be surprised at the love that you have in our crazy industry. The women have bonded together and have sort of become this tribe of trying to take care of each other and be there for each other in a way, because the minute you step out it’s an onslaught.”

Bullock voices supervillian Scarlet Overkill in “Minions,” which opens July 10.

[via USA Today]