After the Sony hack, Jennifer Lawrence found out that she was making way less than her male costars. She expresses her frustration in an essay she wrote for her friend Lena Dunham’s “Lenny Letter” newsletter. She said that she did not negotiate for higher pay because she did not want to come off as unlikable and spoiled.
Lawrence wrote,
“At the time, that seemed like a fine idea, until I saw the payroll on the Internet and realized every man I was working with definitely didn’t worry about being ‘difficult’ or ‘spoiled.”
You tell em, girl.
“I’m over trying to find the ‘adorable’ way to state my opinion and still be likable! F— that.”
In the essay titled “Why Do I Make Less Than My Male Co-Stars?”, Lawrence raises the points a lot of men who want to pretend systematic sexism isn’t real, because a girl tattled on them in fifth grade once, don’t want to hear, and won’t listen to anyway, but are the everyday reality for millions and millions of women.
“I don’t think I’ve ever worked for a man in charge who spent time contemplating what angle he should use to have his voice heard. It’s just heard. Jeremy Renner, Christian Bale and Bradley Cooper all fought and succeeded in negotiating powerful deals for themselves. If anything, I’m sure they were commended for being fierce and tactical, while I was busy worrying about coming across as a brat and not getting my fair share.”
Lawrence makes excellent points. White feminism: 1, Hollywood: 0. Maybe this wave of trendy Hollywood feminism will actually trickle down and help women with actual problems. I doubt it, but that would be cool.