When the Oscar nominations came out, the two words that everyone associated with them were “sexist” and “racist”. It was so easy to blame the Academy, whose composition of old, white men has been criticized so many times, without looking at the rest of picture.
In fact, a study from 2013 revealed that only 13% of the top 100 films of that year featured an equal number of major male and female characters. Women also accounted for only 15% of protagonists, 29% of major characters and 30% of all speaking characters. Is it just me or are those numbers a little low?
Now, let’s talk Fifty Shades of Grey. First, I should say, I am not discouraging anyone from seeing the movie. If you think it’s a sexy movie, that’s great. But just keep in mind the following points: BDSM and abuse are two completely different things. The movie (and book) have a hard time making that distinction, so I’ll do it for them, because every woman out there has to know that she deserves better than the relationship Anastasia and Christian have. Second of all, this article uses Fifty Shades to make the great point that movies, especially ones with sexual scenes, seem to be made with the man’s point of view in mind. On the other hand, Hollywood tends to shy away from “female-focused erotic pleasure”.
This inequality isn’t just in movies, though. Of all Fortune 500 companies, only 24 have female CEOs (that’s about 5%). You can check out more statistics on women in business, here. And just look at how women in the STEM fields are getting treated. So, here’s my question: What century are we really living in?