It’s the year 2024. Women’s achievements are still being invalidated and ignored, and the Golden Globes proved it to millions of viewers in the country.
I was shocked but not too surprised to watch the various times where interviewers asked inappropriate and sexist questions before the show. Ayo Edebiri, a star of the comedy-drama series “The Bear,” was asked what she thinks about her co-star’s recent Calvin Klein ad instead of asking her anything else about her career. Jennifer Lopez was asked if she knew if her marriage with Ben Affleck would actually last. Leonardo DiCaprio was questioned on how he “mentored” Lily Gladstone, to which he replied not needing to help her at all.
One of the most talked about controversies from the show was Jo Koy’s opening monologue, where he joked that the “Barbie” movie was based on “a plastic doll with big boobies” in comparison to “Oppenheimer,” where he described it was based on a “Pulitzer Prize-winning book.” Worse was the “character-actor” line, where he mentioned “Barbie” went “from perfect beauty to bad breath, cellulite and flat feet,” completely disregarding the important feminist conversations that the film tried to foster.
Even if Koy was limited on time to create jokes for his hosting gig and had to include the jokes of other writers, I find it hard to comprehend why exactly the choice of comedy was to target the physical appearances of women. Much of what was going on at the Golden Globes projected misogyny and undermined the accomplishments of female directors and actors. A few at the event revealed how sexism still weaves itself into the film industry.
I guess I just find it odd that men were not asked these same questions about their female co-stars and their personal lives. However, we know that media outlets did not because they knew the criticism they would receive from doing so. So, why did they not consider this when they thought asking women over sexualized and inappropriate questions was a good idea? Why ask these types of questions at all?
This shows that no matter how much women succeed and how impactful our ideas are on our western society, there is still so much conversation that needs to be held in order for us to recognize where our biases lie. That means looking outward to recognize how sexism is institutional and reshaping how women and feminine-presenting people are stereotypically seen as weaker and more-easily objectifiable than cisgender men. This also means looking inward and analyzing how we have internalized sexism and decolonizing what has been taught to us.
Instead of focusing on a hot Calvin Klein campaign or someone’s love life, let’s reflect on what is more important here.
