Demi Moore shocked viewers with her win and moved them with her speech, shining a light upon the harsh reality of being a woman in a competitive field. Despite progressions in feminism and women’s suffrage movements, it is still next to impossible to find a workplace where women are not pitted against each other, no matter how unfair it may be.
At the Golden Globes this past weekend, there was a lot of controversy surrounding winners and “snubbed” films. From Wicked to The Wild Robot, audiences were stunned by how some of the best performing movies did not receive awards to match. However, in all of this argument, the Best Actress Winner Demi Moore seemed to unite everyone in the crowd with her moving acceptance speech. Moore was told early on in her career that she was a “popcorn actress”, so she could be famous without being recognized by critics or by nominations. So, when she was nominated and won for The Substance, it became a celebration of her worth and her serious talent for acting.
Despite the wholesome moment, the press was quick to pit Moore against fellow attendee Kylie Jenner. When Moore approached Jenner’s table to celebrate with friend Elle Fanning, fans were quick to assume that Moore had come to gloat about her win over Jenner.
Moore’s daughter, Tallulah Willis, was quick to shoot down these rumors with a quick tweet explaining the friendship between Moore and Fanning, but the damage had already been done. The narrative had made its way to social media, where creators had the partial story and took it as gospel. Had the news been about a man, videos would have been made defending him and seeking answers to make sure he was in the right. But because it is a woman, no one thinks twice about the story.
Although women appear to be equal in today’s society, there is still a large presence of underlying misogyny just below the smiling surface of industries like Hollywood. Men can congratulate one another, but women can only rub it in their fellow nominees’ faces. From moms boasting about their kids to female engineers gloating about awards received, women are consistently being too much, too loud. The double standard between men and women is real and affects women across the globe every day. The first step we can take to eliminate it is to acknowledge it. So, the next time you read about actresses that seem to be on the outs with one another, make sure you know the whole story instead of being a part of today’s anti-feminist world.
