Jennifer Lawrence, star of Hunger Games, American Hustle, Silver Linings Playbook and a multitude of other movies, is worth a grand total of $52 million dollars. She is known for uniquely opposing Hollywood’s stereotypical female protagonist, which has endeared her to all of her fans. But this reputation may have changed recently after her withdrawal from a movie due to a low pay was regarded as selfish. After Jennifer Lawrence spoke out about unequal pay in an essay published on the feminist blog Lenny, the entertainment industry opened itself up as window into a greater issue of social justice. Jennifer Lawrence may have resurrected the long-term battle between women and money, but the issue is not rooted in society, rather in language. Gender stereotypes in all facets of the world seem perpetual, but due to the recent assertions from female celebrities, the entertainment industry has become an avenue of knowledge, revealing that the issue of unequal pay is a consequence of a long-established women’s rhetoric.
The roots of gender inequality are generally linked to the influence of social media. The portrayal of women objectifies their bodies, causing the development of individuality and persona based on certain absorbed images. In a research essay about social media’s effects on young women, Richard M. Perloff, a psychologist scholar, suggests that internalization of body ideals starts when girls are as young as three years old. Perloff proposes that the Barbie doll, an “icon of female beauty,” acts as the first role model for young women and communicates distorted images of the supposedly “ideal” body. Later, through television programs that celebrate incredibly thin actresses, appearance focused Facebook popularity, and body obsessed Instagram posts and tweets, Perloff finds that “contemporary mass and social media exert a potent impact on the development of thinness ideals and body dissatisfaction.” Rather than emphasizing the character of a person, social media heavily encourages the structure, shape and beauty of the body. Because social media encourages the importance of conforming to the image of a woman rather than individual expression and beauty, women struggle to prove capabilities beyond the boundaries of appearance.
In recent decades, the role of women in the United States has changed remarkably. Starting in 1920 when women earned the right to vote, there has been a rise in women power outside of the home and into the workforce. In 1969, women constituted only one-third of the workforce and today women make up about one half of all workers in the US.
Merely adding women to the workforce does not fix the issue of women’s pay. The rise of statistics does not help if the basic problem still exists. Women may be in the workforce but men still dominate salaries because of language. The famous actress Jennifer Lawrence has carefully reignited the gender wage gap issue and is a key advocate for the advancements of women. She illustrates the wage gap between male and female is often linked to the stereotypical image society has created. Although this concept highly contributed to the disparities faced by women, the issue of gender based wages correlates to the rhetoric restrictions and judgments made based on language. By language, I’m not referring to Spanish, English, Chinese, Italian, ect… I’m talking about the words we use when we speak.
When Jennifer Lawrence published her recent essay regarding women’s pay, she expressed that she may get paid less because she lacks fire, aggression and passion when arguing about salaries. Lawrence also admitted,
“A few weeks ago at work I spoke my mind and gave my opinion in a clear and no bull shit way; no aggression just blunt. The man I was working with (actually, he was working for me) said, ‘Whoa! We’re all on the same team here’ As if I was yelling at him. I was so shocked because nothing that I said was personal, offensive or, to be honest wrong. All I hear and see all day are men speaking their opinions, and I give mine in the same exact manner, and you would have thought I had said something offensive.”
The world reacted to Lawrence’s essay in the exact manner she predicted. Many claimed she is “as far removed from reality as possible” and that her complaining about wage is ridiculous considering she is the highest paid actress in America. But, Lawrence was not specifically complaining about her pay, she was arguing about the concept of linguistics in America as an issue for all women, which was misinterpreted. Many complained that Lawrence’s opinion solely represents the privileged; they castigated Lawrence for speaking out and labeled her as an unappreciative brat. The repercussions of Lawrence’s protest are negative because many cannot look past her fame or money and realize her argument is not a matter of what she is earning, but in fact, a matter of language discrimination.
Lawrence shows it is not about the amount of money earned, but the deeper problem of the language women are allowed to use. The issue of unequal pay faults society’s image of women, but the real fault lies within ourselves. We need to change the way we listen to women and instead of judging, we shall listen openly. The issue does not lay in a woman’s action, rather the way women are capable of speaking up for themselves.