Everyone’s been freaking out about the Oscars- and for good reason. Monumental things happened: Leo finally won an Oscar and Chrissy Teigen made this glorious face throughout most of the ceremony:
And honestly, I don’t blame her because there was so much to cringe about. From Stacey Dash’s embarrassingly awkward Black History Month joke to Chris Rock’s jabs at Asian-Americans, it was a miracle half the audience didn’t just get up and leave. Maybe they stayed because of the Girl Scout cookies Rock convinced them all to buy? Who knows. All I know is that his handling of the #AskHerMore campaign completely missed the mark. It’s just disappointing that he had a captive audience and the potential to change a lot of people’s minds, but wasted his opportunity.
The #AskHerMore campaign is basically society’s incredible reaction to how women are treated in interviews and on the red carpet. Have you ever noticed that women are always asked “Who are you wearing tonight?” and “What’s your beauty routine before a big event?”
If you need a little proof, check out this interview with Scarlet Johansson and Jeremy Renner for the new Avengers movie. Take note of the types of questions they’re each asked, it’s absolutely absurd. Johansson had the perfect response after an interviewer wouldn’t stop asking her what underwear she wore under her wetsuit in the new Avengers movie.
It’s sad to see that someone like Chris Rock would poke fun at a movement that is validating women and their appropriate reactions to sexist and downright awkward questions. During his monologue, he claimed that “everything is not sexism,” as if to say that the #AskHerMore campaign was some ploy to make men feel bad. Personally, I would’ve liked to go on stage and ask Rock if he was wearing boxers or briefs and see how weird he felt after.
He also went on to say that “They ask the men more because they’re all wearing the same outfit,” so I guess every female celebrity is going to have to show up in overalls next year to avoid any unfortunate questions. My guess is that their outfit choices will still spark some buzz no matter what they decide to wear.
#AskHerMore is an extremely important and harmless campaign, but it goes to show that even a simple hashtag can cause a ridiculous amount of controversy.