#Feminism
Why Sony Needs to Stop Freaking Out About the Trolls Attacking“Ghostbusters”
The New York Times published a piece yesterday detailing how Sony was excited that the “Ghostbusters” cast was going to be on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” this week to promote the film, which...
Men Intentionally Sabotage Reviews Of Entertainment Aimed at Women
It didn’t come as a surprise that a particular subset of men online set out to sabotage the upcoming all-female “Ghostbusters” remake. But surely that kind of intentional, misogynist scheme...
Quote of the Day: Pedro Almodóvar Says Hollywood Guilty of “Diobolical Sexism”
Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar has worked with many women throughout his eclectic career and made some of the most female-centric films coming out of Europe. Now at the Cannes Film Festival to...
Kerry Washington, Julianna Margulies, Sarah Paulson, and More Women of TV Talk Sexism on THR’s…
Kerry Washington, Julianna Margulies, Sarah Paulson, and More Women of TV Talk Sexism on THR’s Roundtable The Actress Roundtable: The Hollywood Reporter The Hollywood Reporter has put together...
Chloë Sevigny Was Sexually Harassed During Auditions
It seems no woman is immune from sexual harassment, especially in the film industry. At the Cannes Film Festival this week, Chloë Sevigny, who is at the fest with a short film she directed called...
An Update on the EEOC Investigation Into Discrimination Against Women Directors
This week marks the first anniversary of the ACLU sending its landmark letter to the EEOC formally requesting that they look into the systemic discrimination against women directors in Hollywood. We...
The Dudeocracy of Film Writers
Yesterday, Owen Gleiberman was appointed chief film critic at Variety. We congratulate him on the position, and consider him a great writer, but his hiring has capped off a bothersome trend we’ve...
Katherine Heigl Clarifies Her ‘Knocked Up’ Comments But She Was Right All Along
Katherine Heigl seems to have begun an apology tour for the nearly decade-old “Knocked Up” scandal that simply seems rooted in sexism. Appearing on Howard Stern this week, Heigl referenced her...
Watch: “Hello, Academy,” Women and Hollywood’s Annual Oscar Video
Welcome to Oscar Week. In anticipation of the big night on Sunday, Women and Hollywood is proud to share its annual Oscar video. As we all know, it’s been another shitty year (when hasn’t it...
Emma Watson Taking a Year Off From Acting to Focus On Her Feminist Activism
Emma Watson is taking a hiatus from acting to concentrate on her feminist activism. Watson famously enrolled as an undergraduate student at Brown University in 2009 despite her budding film career....
Producer Reveals the Incredibly Terrible Ways Screenwriters See Female Characters — And Women
Producer Ross Putnam has created a new Twitter account that reveals the myriad ways Hollywood screenwriters devalue female characters and, by extension, women. The mastermind behind...
Mainstreaming the Conversation About Discrimination Against Women Directors
The New York Times has written about Hollywood sexism before. Last year, we saw a three-part series from ManohlaDargis on the institutional discrimination against women directors in the industry. But...
Ashley Judd Calls Out Studio Mogul for Sexual Harassment
Ashley Judd is making headlines for describing how she was sexually harassed by one of the industry’s “most famous, admired-slash-reviled bosses” as a young actress. The actress and...
Male Privilege Watch: First-Time Film Director Seth Grahame-Smith To Direct ‘The Flash’
In today’s chapter in the annals of dude with no experience gets job no woman would ever get, our dude with no directing experience is writer Seth Grahame-Smith of “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire...
Quote of the Day: Nancy Meyers on Sexism in Hollywood
There is a long (not yet online) interview in NY Magazine with Nancy Meyers. A lot of it focuses on gender and Hollywood. The reality is Nancy was really one of two women (the other being Nora...
Hollywood Turd of the Day: Michael Eisner
Michael Eisner, formerly of Disney, formerly of CAA, currently irrelevant, decided to do what so many men in Hollywood do — stick his foot in his mouth. He knew he was going to get in trouble...
Another Bastion of Maledom in Hollywood: Stuntmen Groups
A view of Hollywood’s antiquated gender roles is beginning to take shape, with popular actresses and industry members calling out the lack of childcare, equal pay and diverse roles for women....
1700 People Have Signed the ACLU Petition. Have You?
Less than a month ago, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) launched a petition with the hopes of gaining more support and momentum in the struggle to end the industry’s gender-biased hiring...
Amy Sherman-Palladino Discusses Casting Melissa McCarthy, How to Achieve Equality in Hollywood
Amy Sherman-Palladino, best known for creating the WB mother-daughter hit “Gilmore Girls,” shared great insights about women in TV during a panel at the ATX Television Festival in Austin....
Country Music and Cannes: Blaming Women for Sexism
At first glance,country music and the Cannes Film Festival couldn’t appear more culturallydifferent. And yet, recent events reveal that some high-profile individualsassociated with these...
New Research from Women’s Media Center Concludes “Media On All Platforms Are Failing Women”
The Women’s Media Center has released their annual report tracking the status of women in both entertainment and the news. We’re feeling more optimistic about the future of women in Hollywood...
Study: Books About Women Are Shut Out of Major Awards
Of the eight films nominated for Best Picture at this year’s Oscars, none were about women. Lest you think that was some freak coincidence, novelist Nicola Griffith has come out with an informal...
Study: How Much Older Are Male Leads in Romantic Films than Their Female Co-Stars?
Last week, Oscar-nominated actress Maggie Gyllenhaal revealed that, by Hollywood standards, she was “too old” to play the on-screen love interest of a 55-year-old man. She’s 37. Following...
‘Game of Thrones’ Star Lena Headey Pens a Letter to Her Unborn Daughter and Girls All Over the World
Actress Lena Headey, best known for her role as the conniving Queen Cersei on HBO’s “Game of Thrones,” has written a letter to her unborn daughter and girls worldwide about the relative...
Frances McDormand on Shoegate, Hollywood’s Pay Gap and What Makes Her a Successful Producer
Frances McDormand made quite the statement on Shoegate — and sundry other issues relating to women in the film industry — during a Women in Motion panel at this year’s Cannes Film...
Get Involved: A Call to Action about the Representation of Women at the Tony Awards
On June 7th, when girls across the country turnon the Tony Awards, what do you want them to see? This is the question we’re posing to the Tony AwardsManagement Committee and CBS in a petition...
Maggie Gyllenhaal Told 37 is “Too Old” To Play a 55-Year-Old’s Love Interest
“There are things that are really disappointing about being an actress in Hollywood that surprise me all the time,” Maggie Gyllenhaal admitted in a new interview with TheWrap. Among...
Quote of the Day: Gina Prince-Bythewood Supports ACLU Action, Declares “Talent Has No Gender”
Director Gina Prince-Bythewood (“Beyond the Lights,” “The Secret Life of Bees”) has released a statement voicing her support of the ACLU’s request for the government to investigate sexist...
Cannes 2015: Gender-Policing the Red Carpet
Cannes is like an alternate universe. At 9am yesterday morning, I went to see a fantastic movie called “Mustang” by a woman director named Deniz Gamze Erguven. It is about five sisters in a...
Oops! I Made a Feminist Manifesto: George Miller and “Mad Max”
It’s been three days since I saw “Mad Max: Fury Road” and I still can’t shut up about how phenomenal it was. I often think of this Onion article when attempting to reconcile my love of...
Salma Hayek Drops Truth Bombs About Hollywood’s Gender Problem
Salma Hayek is my new heroine. This morning at the Kering Talks (Kering is a sponsor of the festival and Hayek’s husband François-Henri Pinault is the CEO) this woman dropped epic truth bombs for...
A Critical Moment for the DGA: Will They Stand Up for Women?
What I am about to say is not going to make me any friends at the DGA, but it has to be said: The Guild is part of the problem, not the solution. Women directors’ underemployment is not all their...
Quote of the Day: Kathryn Bigelow on the “Horrific Situation for Women Directors”
The first and only woman to win a Best Director Oscar in the 87-year history of the Academy Awards has spoken out against the rampant sexism that plagues Hollywood. Kathryn Bigelow released a...
About F-cking Time: ACLU Requests Feds Investigate Systematic Bias Against Women Directors
Today is a great day for gender justice in Hollywood. There are not many great days in this fight, but this is one of them. News broke today that the ACLU has asked the Equal Employment Opportunity...
Rose McGowan’s Seven Bold Tips for Fighting Sexism in the Film Industry
The following speech was originally delivered on April 21 to the Sisterhood of Traveling Producers, a small, invite-only group of young female executives and producers founded three years ago by...
Quote of the Day: Kristen Stewart Calls Hollywood “Disgustingly Sexist”
Kristen Stewart’s career trajectory has taken an interesting and exciting turn as of late. But in a new interview with Harper’s Bazaar UK, the young actress argues that the odds are against...
Watch: #makeitfair Video Highlights Gender Inequality with Humor
A new video from #makeitfair, a project calling for gender equality in the entertainment industry, politics and beyond has us nodding our heads in agreement while laughing out loud. Rita Wilson,...
Talking Women’s Issues and the Intersection of Feminism and Film in Kolkata, India
It is a very exciting time to be in India. The country is having a national conversation about gendered violence. There are not only the very heated debates about “India’s Daughter,” but new...
Quote of the Day: Paul Feig on Women Directors and Sexist Reactions to All-Female ‘Ghostbusters’
Paul Feig isn’t mincing words when it comes to sexism in Hollywood and beyond. While doing press at SXSW for “Spy,” his third collaboration with Melissa McCarthy, which premiered at the...
Quote of the Day: Salma Hayek Explains Why She’s a Feminist
Salma Hayek has been making headlines for identifying as a feminist in a recent interview with The Guardian. Hayek is the co-founder of Chime for Change, a charity dedicated to advancing women and...
A List of All of Women and Hollywood’s 2015 Oscars Coverage
The road to the 2015 Oscars was rocky indeed. While we were disappointed by the fact that white males accounted for the overwhelming majority of nominees — so much so that we commissioned a...
Marisa Tomei to Play Gloria Steinem in HBO Movie About the Founding of Ms. Magazine
Just days after signing a producing deal with HBO, Marisa Tomei has announced her first project with the premium cable network: a biopic miniseries of Gloria Steinem, focusing on the 1971 founding...
Patricia Arquette Elaborates on Her Call for Equal Pay
We were thrilled to see this year’s Best Supporting Actress winner Patricia Arquette use her time at the podium to call for equal rights and equal pay for women. But Arquette’s call for change...
Mo’Nique on Being “Blackballed” and Labeled “Difficult” After Her Oscar Win
In an eye-opening interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Mo’Nique has revealed that she was “blackballed” after winning an Academy Award for her supporting role in “Precious.” The...
Quote of the Day: Anna Kendrick on Aging and Still Having to Play Pretty
Anna Kendrick is speaking up about the pressure to project a certain image as a young actress in Hollywood — namely, being seen as “hot.” Kendrick previously poked fun at her appearance in...
Watch: ‘Hey Academy, I’m a Woman’ Mocks Male-Dominated Oscars
A new video directed by Leslie Korein and written by Kim Kalish offers a comic takedown of this year’s Oscars. As the video’s description notes, of 26 individual Academy Award nominees for...
Producer Gale Anne Hurd: Sexism Against Women Directors Hasn’t Changed Since the 80s
Superstar producer Gale Anne Hurd reflected on her three decades in the film and TV business in a Hollywood Masters interview yesterday. Most famous for her behind-the-scenes contributions to...
The Big O: Look to the Past for Solutions to Hollywood’s Current Female Troubles
When did featuring a woman as the driving force in a movie become a liability instead of a strength? This question came to mind when the films in the running for the best-picture Oscar were revealed...
Quote of the Day: Producer Nina Jacobson on How to Fix Broken Hollywood
High-profile producer Nina Jacobson (The Hunger Games franchise, Ryan Murphy’s upcoming American Crime Story) wrote a guest column for Variety’s Broken Hollywood feature, which focuses on...
Joss Whedon: Blame Hollywood’s “Genuine, Intractable Sexism” for Lack of Female Superheroes
As the director of The Avengers and its upcoming sequel The Avengers: Age of Ultron, Joss Whedon has worked within the Marvel machine for the last five years. But the Buffy the Vampire Slayer...
USC Annenberg to Issue Report Cards Grading the Entertainment Industry on Diversity
In the aftermath of #OscarsSoWhite, the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism is launching an initiative aimed at improving diversity across the entertainment industry. The...