Throughout history, women have fought for their rights in all walks of life. We’ve fought for the right to vote, the right to equal pay and complete equal rights among the sexes. We won some of those battles, like suffrage leading to the 19th amendment, giving women the right to vote. However, we haven’t quite achieved others. Patricia Arquette reminded us at the Oscars this year of the continuing fight for equal wages for men and women performing the same jobs. On top of that, the Equal Rights Amendment, drafted in 1923, has been brought to Congress over and over again throughout the years. A sad but interesting fact that many people don’t realize…It still hasn’t been passed. These facts are disturbing, especially since we are in a modern society, where the idea of inequality seems unfathomable to many people. However, there is still enough people who see downfalls in equal rights and want to keep the system as is.
Along with the battle for equal rights, women all around the world of all ages have faced an issue of feminine expectations. The expectations that a woman will be focused on materialistic and beauty related standards more than anything else. The expectations that a woman should strive to be a size two while still bearing large breasts and a voluptuous bottom. The expectation that all a woman needs to know or care about is what she’s wearing, rather than her favorite book or most memorable college professor. That’s where the #AskHerMore campaign took off. The campaign was created by The Representation Project last year, but took on more speed this red carpet season due to support of amazing ladies such as Reese Witherspoon, Lena Dunham and Amy Poehler. Women of celebrity status often deal with the same destructive expectations as we all do. Witherspoon, a major proponent for the campaign, stated her support of the idea saying “We are more than just our dresses,” a comment directed towards journalists on the red carpet who seemingly only ever ask woman what designer they are wearing, or how long it took them to get ready. Not only this, but women are consistently asked presumptuous and gender based questions on the red carpet. Taylor Swift shot down one journalist who told her that her legs looks so great she’d be going home with “lots of men.” Taylor, as the fierce woman warrior she is, was sure to respond politely but candidly, assuring the reporter she would only be spending the night with her friends and cats, no men (The Huffington Post). With these issues occurring for years on the red carpet, some celebrities and journalists attempted to make a change this year at the Oscars.
Ryan Seacrest and Billy Bush attempted to broaden the questions they asked on the red carpet. To say they succeeded wouldn’t be entirely accurate. Billy Bush started off his interview with Jennifer Aniston saying that he could “get handsy” with her. The two, along with other reporters, made some valid tries at communicating more in depth with these inspiring women. Seacrest was sure to ask Best Supporting Actress nominee, Emma Stone, about her work on the Oscar winning film, Birdman. Bush asked Margot Robbie about her potential life if she hadn’t pursued acting. He even asked Kevin Hart’s fiancé what the best advice she ever received from her mother was (it was to be humble, by the way). One interview showed the biggest controversy of the campaign. Ryan Seacrest had an insightful conversation with Patricia Arquette and completely forget to ever ask about her.
Some fashion and glamour professionals are upset by the #AskHerMore campaign. They feel their work to create these dresses, and do the makeup and hair for these actresses, is an art (no disagreement here). By not asking these women about their fashion for the evening, the opponents feel it is an insult to those artists who prepared the actresses. One thing that is important to remember is the name of the campaign, #AskHerMore. More. This doesn’t mean reporters can’t ask at all about the looks of these women, but to acknowledge that these women have more to offer than their beauty. They have intelligence, passions, and have worked on amazing cinematic feats. It is important to praise both the art of the designers and artists as it is to praise the art of our performers. There’s no reason both things can’t happen.
Despite the lack of real change on the red carpet this year at the Oscars, social media took the opportunity to #AskHerMore. Questions were directed to celebs throughout the night on twitter. Fans asking women about more than just what they were wearing. Hopefully this uproar on Twitter will encourage reporters to #AskHerMore in future red carpet events. Until then, we can keep the campaign in mind in our everyday lives for men and women alike. Despite being a college student, my father still asks me every day– “so, what’d you learn today?” His curiosity about what’s in my brain is greatly appreciated, and we should all strive to ask one another, no matter our sex, more engaging and insightful questions. Let’s get to know each other for the people we really, truly are.