Female Actors
by Veritas ObviamExplain to me why we can’t say ‘actress’ anymore? “She’s such a brave actor”
Doesn’t ‘actress’ MEAN an actor of the female gender? And isn’t ‘actress’ infinitely more elegant than ‘female actor’? Who starts this nonsense?
Um, romance languages routinely differentiate between genders without any perceived value judgment. Maybe we should reach out to the Spaniards on the Senor/Senora front. Get those Latin sisters into the movement. (Or maybe not.)
The function of language is the efficient transfer of information. We don’t say “Oh look at the female bear parent protecting it’s cubs.” We’d be an idiot.
It’s not a diminution to say ‘actress’…it’s information. Now we know it’s a woman playing the role.
We gotta stave off some of this stupidity. What’s next? How about the skirt silhouette on the bathroom door? It’s not a judgment on preferred urinary posture. Its just information. The female pee-ers who encounter this very lucid potty icon are advised there’s a reasonable chance of finding some piss-free porcelain to sit on. It’s a win.
Besides, if we’re really being ideologically pure and correct, why stop at just dropping ‘actress?’ Shouldn’t we fold the Best Supporting Female Actor category into the Best Supporting Male Actor category since the very existence of gender separation is offensive and condescending to women?
We could shave a good twenty minutes off the Oscars. And think of the money we’d save on gowns.
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72 Comments
Absolutely! A field that by its very nature discriminates by age, race, gender and ‘type’ (look at casting calls if you don’t believe me) manages to produce the most absurd ‘protests’ imaginable. If you’re neither competing with ‘actors’ for a job nor recognition,you are an ‘actress’. Get over it.
The way the Oscars are going, they ought to just reduce the categories to Best Ensemble Cast, Best Crew, Best Post-Production and Best Film — it’d remove those annoying and highly-contested rewards for individual achievement entirely.
Obviam, what makes this lunacy even stupider is that the leftists say that gender-neutral language discourages sexism, yet Persian is naturally gender-neutral — and the area where it is spoken (Iran) is far from being a feminist utopia.
For more information on this, search “Against the Theory of Sexist Language” (with quotes.)
take heart Veritas. The current quest for uber-equality under political correctness eventually leads to even worse prejudice.
Remember when Hale Berry won the Oscar (more or less for showing off her fantastic physical playland)?
What was the talk of Tinseltown for the months following? “Halle Berry great female actor”? No. “Great performance by Halle Berry, pretending that she would actually have sex with Carl from Sling Blade”? No.
It was “First African-American woman to win Best Female Actor Oscar” — with emphasis always on her race. Not her talent. Not her performance in that film, but her skin color.
Political Correctness is just prejudice and intolerance in sheep’s clothing.
Question, do people call you a writess?
No, they call you a writer. It’s about what you DO, not the gender of what you do. That’s why many female actors prefer to be called actors. Even the most objectified of women are called strippers, not stripperesses.
Of all things in the world that are worth tightening your spincter over in the film and television business, this ain’t one of them.
Bart,
You’d have a point if it wasn’t for the fact that this is a recent change to the language for specific political reasons.
And, acting is a profession where gender makes a difference. Just like classical dance. Ever hear of a “male ballerina”? Didn’t think so.
Um if I had not gotten ill years ago and had been able to follow my dreams I sure as heck would have preferred to be called an actress. I am not a guy, wasn’t born that way and like being titled appropriately. John Wayne actor: Maureen O’Hara Actress. I am pretty sure two classics such as those two were would have not appreciated the non generspecific wording and probably would wonder why anyone would actually stop to care so much? Isn’t life a little too short to be fooling around with well foolishness? Be a woman, be proud. Wear it! Its awesome. Whats the problem with saying Actress? Waitress, Stewardess? Why on earth do people care that much?
However, it is not discriminatory to call female actors “actresses” if, by convention, “actress” means “actor that is female” and nothing more.
What’s next? We have to use “he” as a third-person pronoun whether the referent is a male or a female, since language that makes distinctions between the sexes is sexist discrimination intended to shackle women to the kitchen? While we’re at it, let’s get rid of the words “woman” and “female” altogether!
Spare me.
Stephanie,
While I have to admit that most of your posts scare me (especially from the DHP days), I think you hit on a good point here. What’s so f_cking wrong with being a woman? Why do woman shy away from having their femininity pointed out?
Femininity is power. Just ask Cleopatra, Helen (of Troy), Delilah (from the Bible, not the schmaltzy radio show), Sarah Palin, Madonna (pre-steroids), Jenna Jameson, anyone man about his mother, MY WIFE….and the list goes on.
Nothing motivates men more than the right woman. Not God, Not Duty, Not Country.
Why would you ever want to give up that power?
Having a split between male and female actor awards is a bit discriminatory.
Actress now means “actor that is female”. Female actor now means an actress who we don’t think can seriously compete with males on screen so we had to make up a separate awards show category just so one of them can get an award and feel good about their effort.
What’s next, best supporting comedic female Hispanic non-Catholic actor? At least then they’d me more blatantly defining what the actor IS, and not so ovbiously pointing out what they AREN’T. “You like me, you REALLY like me!”
Sex sells and sexism sells. Hollywood, for all it’s pretense of being out for some common good or liberal agenda is really out for $$$.
Feminists hate femalehood. Femalehood is a social construct of the Patriarchy. By rejecting this construct they hope to destroy the Patriarchy.
Spiro I don’t know what to say. Scare you? Cool. A woman with a point of view is a frightening thing and I don’t know why.
If we abolish the term actress, we should abolish “best actress” awards. Let it be “best actor” and let both sexes compete for it.
I say actress all the time.
Dude, if you can’t show your face then just don’t spout, ok?
Paul,
Obviously politics don’t play a role in your position as “head fry cook at Burger King.”
For those of us in academia (like me) or entertainment (like the author) it does.
Think.
Hey Spiro can I use that?
For what it’s worth, as a critic, if I was referring to more than one performers, I’d say actors (as in “all of the actors do good work”). If I was referring to an individual female performer, I’d say actress (as in “she is an exceptionally talented actress”).
Spiro, what makes you think Paul qualifies to be the HEAD fry cook at Burger King?
Femalem actors become actresses only when awards season rolls around.
Adopting the term “actor” is yet one more misbegotten so-called feminist pose: being “just as good as” men requires being “just like” men. In the future as I conduct business as an actress, director and casting person, the word “actress” will once again fall trippingly off my tongue.
Paul, there is nothing wrong with pseudonyms. You are familiar with Publius, are you not? Or do I incorrectly presume you’ve been educated about the early days of our nation?
You do know what the Federalist papers are, don’t you?
Geez.
I think the problem is that “actor” is used as the generic term for both males and females who act. This does not give clarity. If the statement is made, “Actors are hard-working professionals,” it’s unclear if only men, or, women and men are meant. It makes a great deal of difference.
When Charlie Rose interviewed Angelina Jolie, the title on the screen called her an “actor”, which I find frankly and starkly offensive.
Calling an actress exactly that is no more or less than calling her what she is. It is not meant to belittle her worth or abilities. I mean, who’s better – Meryl Streep or Danny Davito?
Interestingly enough, some of the perpetrators of this same sort of nonsense insist on calling female members of the U.S. House of Representatives “Congresswoman”.
Jesus Christ, please remove the stick from your ass! People like you who are offended and angry about the use of “actor” instead or “actress” are just are annoying and idiotic as the people you are complaining about. No reasonable person is going to take you seriously after reading your post.
Everything is so sensitive these days. I am frankly sick of the wussification of it all.
Don’t women like to be known as a “woman?”
Transport me to the days of the 90s when the word “actress” was not derogatory term to a woman in film/TV. Are we being sensitive to transvestites?
Why is someone calling themselves “Veritas Obviam” using a synonym and a blacked-out photo?
I’ve noticed that on Charlie Rose before as well, that whenever a female performer is being interviewed they always identify her as an “actor” rather than an “actress”.
Peter – I was thinking the exact same thing. Isn’t this site about taking back Hollywood?
SC – agreed, I am unsure how this became the first topic you see on the page…
Anonymous – you need clarity for every profession? Doctor, accountant, manager…
I am at a loss for words at why this matters, or is even related to Hollywood hating America.
Face it, the political correct crowd is still upset God in His infinite wisdowm made Adam and Eve, and not Adam and Steve.
Jill said politically correct and God in the same sentence…ROFL
Not all gender-specific titles are equal, apparently. Some – like songstress and sculptress – have naturally fallen to the wayside, for the pc and un-pc alike. Though the term “actress” has become declasse for the pc crowd, I’ve seen many celebrities forget themselves, lose their cool and use the perfectly accurate and acceptable word, “actress.” Yet, for some weird reason, the very feminine term “goddess” is considered a cool pc title for women. Or can we expect that women will soon be referring to themselves as “gods”?
Doesn’t the “female” in “female actor” draw more attention to gender than “actress?”
I really want to be enlightenend but it’s all so confusing.
So by the logic that both men and women are “actors”, there should only be two academy awards for acting instead of four, right? Since gender distinctions represent an inherent inequality, anything other would be hypocritical and sexist. Not to mention shortening the Academy Awards presentations which would be a public service.
Funny, in German the “differences” are clear cut. However, the move to eliminate some gender defining suffixes seems to always meet incredible disapproval by the militant lesbians. It’s funny.
I guess we could all continue in English with:
- waiter/waitress
- steward/stewardess
- driver/driveress
- leader/leaderess
- President/Presidentess
Need I write more?
I’ve noticed this “Gender Neutral” format creaping into other areas besides Hollywood as well. Anyone else play D&D? They’ve been using “She” instead of “he” to “act as either a male or female character” since 3.0 I believe. Ever since they did it I’ve noticed it in more and more RPG systems.
That’s not as bad as the Actor/Actress thing, but an interesting shift toward this “gender neutral” idea.
John Nolte, When is there a need to say female actor, unless you are also saying male actor as the counterpart? We don’t add the male/female title to singers unless it is for a specific reason, like an award.
K: That’s still not taking it far enough. As I suggested earlier, why not eliminate all those awards in favor of a Best Ensemble Cast Oscar? That would remove entirely all those petty squabbles over individual achievement, in favor of rewarding collective effort — I don’t see how Hollywood could say No to an idea like that.
John, I will enlighten you anytime you need me to about Gen X right-leaners. I think there is a strong disconnect between the generations when it comes to conservatism.
I think everyone is missing the point here, and blowing it up, this issue does not bleed into other areas. It is simply modernizing a word people.
I would propose that the use of actress demonstrates an unmarried female actor.
Oh, it’s a lot more dystopic than that, I think. lol
Eliminating words that convey shades of meaning, and therefore complexity of thought, is not the modernization of a language, it’s the applying the principles of IngSoc in real life by the leftist academic clique that strongly influences our education policy. The idea in Orwell’s novel “1984″ was the introduction of a modernized version of the English language called “NewSpeak” which reduced “thoughtcrime” by literally removing certain words that make certain ideas possible. By deconstructing the English language, and therefore the ideas of the people, the political power of the ruling clique was assured.
That novel rightly exaggerates and parodies a lot of real features of the modern neo-liberal political order.
The use of the word “actor” by females who act for a living is as offensive to me as those “actors” who show up for interviews wearing spectacles and looking disheveled so we know how “intelligent” and “serious” they are.
To spoof p.c., Rush calls female reporters “reporterettes.” Of course it diminishes them and most reporters definitely deserve that.
Oh, I totally agree. And to all those people who insist that the “-ess” suffix is inappropriate because it’s actually a diminutive should get with the program. Don’t tell me that the English language doesn’t actually have grammatical gender! No one is going to convince me that the language of Jesus is imperfect!
Another reason you “be an idiot” for saying, “Oh look at the female bear parent protecting it’s cubs,” is that there shouldn’t be an apostrophe. Everyone who can hear apostrophes would immediately know you’re an idiot and that you meant “its cubs.” Otherwise an interesting article!
CL2006 – lol
Peg – I don’t think he’s spoofing…
If it’s so important for a woman to be called an “Actor” does that mean that the Oscars will just have best “Actor” category, combining female and male and we can shave another hour off the longest awards show in history?
bs’d
The best PC story I ever lived and it is soooo weird. I was an English prof for SUNY. I had a text that I used for about 16 years. It had 3 plays in it. Merchant of Venice, Othello and Romeo & Juliet. The chairman of the dept, who was a former prof of mine, died (chutzpah, right?) & they brought in someone from outside the system. After 3 weeks, we realized that the new person was a woman. She would not allow anyone to refer to her as anything but Madam Chairwoman or The Chair. I went with the chair, which was an insult to chairs. She did an in depth study of all courses & the material we used. She actually told me I had to ditch my text in favor of a book which;
1-Had Romeo & Juliet written without gender based pronouns (I am not kidding),
2-Had Merchant written with no references to Jews or Christians,
3-Had Othello as a sort of off white dude. (Dessie did not die at the end.)
I quit, needless to say. So much for my tenure
Mama
PC creeps ruined it for writers everywhere when they banished the generic masculine pronoun in English. To avoid the problem, we now have this sclerotic, wooden approach of making all subjects and verbs plural. BAH! Time to fight back! I’m an actress and a writeress and I say the hell with it.
I still say actress.
I still call young women “Miss” and older women “Ma’am”
I still open doors for women regardless of age.
I do all this and yet I’ve never oppressed, exploited, discriminated against or raped any woman.
So see, it CAN be done
“Actress” is like a slave name. It reeks of oppression by The Man.
Actually, when I heard a woman referred to as a “brave actor,” the word that strikes me as odd isn’t “acotr.” It’s “brave.”
I mean, what was “brave” about Hillary Swank’s performance in “Boys Don’t Cry” or Halle Berry’s performance in “Monster’s Ball”? Were they at risk of serious injury or dismemberment on the set? Did they receive death threats during shooting? What was the WORST thing that could have happened to either woman? A”thumbs down” from Ebert and Roeper?
Running into a burning building to save a trapped child takes courage. Play-acting for hefty paychecks and critical acclaim does not.
I loved the post! It was witty and epitomizes the very issue of feminist gone wacky!
The day that I believe that Hollywood actresses are serious about feminism and not simply preening is the day that one gives up her Oscar on the grounds that it is sexist to have a separate category for women.
And I will truly die of shock the day that feminists push for the elimination of the LPGA, WNBA, women’s college athletics, etc and demand to compete with men in all sports areas.
Sex discrimination is wrong, unless it helps women get shiny trophies!
I hate, hate, HATE “female actor.” Like several of the other posts have suggested, if these actresses want to be considered equal to their male colleages, why not compete with them in the same categories for awards? It’s an unwarranted P.C. attempt to further destroy the language for stupid purposes. Has “female actor” resulted in better roles, better pay, and more respect? Far as I can tell, the girls still have to flash the boobies and are limited to playing prostitutes, sex partners, and strippers. Until they’re old and then they don’t get any roles at all.
“Brave” is Hollywood slang for “showing your wee-wee.”
[...] at Big Hollywood, “Veritas Obviam” (a pseudonym) vents about the irritating expectation of politically correct gender referencing in the business. As a [...]
You guys who are afraid to identify yourselves may think you’re taking back Hollywood but you’re not. You are just throwing meat to the dogs.
I’m fine with anonymous. Just don’t parade around like your panties aren’t soiled.
Does it really matter that much? When the Left is trying to convince America that the war is bad…It just seems like we’ve got bigger battles to fight.
This is the only interesting post on the blog as of now.
I loved this article, as the “female actor” deal has annoyed me as well. So to counter maybe I can fight back and idenify myself and others as an “Actoress”
This is a fantastic blog entry.
Cicely Tyson, Tantoo Cardinal and Meryl Streep are all incredible performers that you can’t take your eyes- off – they have such presence you follow them into the depths of the story beyond the page much less the edited film. Why is it that we see less and less of them and that Cicely and Tantoo are relegated to actresses of colour designation while Meryl is embraced as an actor of actors?
Then I think about a few of the younger performers that steal every scene they are in by just standing there- huge presence- tiny parts- they generally get supporting roles-in lackluster films- Im thinking of Lisa Bonet, Stacey Dash and Didi Pfeifer. Amazing actors and since they don’t get cast as the protagonist – why shouldn’t they be considered actors instead of actresses? Their performances are five times better than any males with such small roles. They draw more interest and viewers.
This is a fantastic blog entry.
Cicely Tyson, Tantoo Cardinal and Meryl Streep are all incredible performers that you can’t take your eyes- off – they have such presence you follow them into the depths of the story beyond the page much less the edited film. Why is it that we see less and less of them and that Cicely and Tantoo are relegated to actresses of colour designation while Meryl is embraced as an actor of actors?
Then I think about a few of the younger performers that steal every scene they are in by just standing there- huge presence- tiny parts- they generally get supporting roles-in lackluster films- Im thinking of Lisa Bonet, Stacey Dash and Didi Pfeifer. Amazing actors and since they don’t get cast as the protagonist – why shouldn’t they be considered actors instead of actresses? Their performances are five times better than any males with such small roles. They draw more interest and viewers.
The term actor might also be a definition of the evolutionary novelty of a performer. Any woman can be an actress but a great performer is an actor -its too bad that piss poor male actors aren’t defined as actorless.
What really bothers me is the widespread practice of using the word “woman” as an adjective, as in “woman candidate.” It always makes me think of “crazy woman drivers,” and wonder whether you’d likewise describe anyone as a “man candidate.”
Well i think it’s only natural that most feminists would like the world to be gender neutral- since most feminists i’ve met or seen on tv also appear to be gender neutral, themselves. I’ve also observed that modern feminists only seem to like when unattractive women succeed. If a woman is in any way sucessful, and somehow manages to retain some sort of physical beauty, she’s a traitor to the “female cause.” Meanwhile, women complain about sexism, and i pay higher car insurance rates because i’m a guy…. not because of my perfect driving record. It’s not ust feminism, it’s political correctness in general. Every “Group” has some problem. People just need to deal with it. But instead of finding a way to elevate themselves- they try to pull everyone else down.
The moral of my story here is: If there’s nothing to complain about- then find something to complain about- Then the world will give in to your demands…. just to shut you up!!!
This comes up occasionally on blogs and forums, and its frankly a silly argument.
I post under the name Zundfolge pretty much everywhere. Significantly more people know me as Zundfolge than Mike Biles (and after you hit google, no I’m not the self help guru/real estate agent in Austin, the cop in Florida or the Housing Ombudsman at some British university and I don’t play lacrosse).
If I were to post here under my real name, THAT would be more anonymous.
You can say “female actor” if you want. But it is incorrect English.
Oh, BROTHER, was I happy to see this. I have never been able to understand why women who act suddenly wanted to be called MEN.
It’s not a put-down to be a woman, is it? Thanks for this piece….the craziness needs to stop.
I’m sure it’s some libber’s intent to equalize, but really, let’s face it, some women are BETTER actresses than their male counterparts are actors..rejoice! Be a PROUD WOMAN!….it’s like they’re embarrassed of femalehood. Silly and sad.
What a non issue. Can we throw it in the bin with the “Merry Christmas” vs “Happy Holidays” debate. I can’t believe people feel strongly enough to comment on silly stuff like this. (Darn it, I just did it too).
Personally, I like the term actress for the very reason you describe.
Unfortunately, I think you weaken your point by using the term “gender” instead of sex; as well as many others who have commented here. I find it interesting that while (rightly) commenting on how silly it is to NOT use the word actress, you fall into the trap you are describing by using the word “gender” instead of the word “sex”. Replace the word gender in your post with the word sex and your point will be much stronger for it.
As one reply states, Actress refers to a “Actor who is Female” and that I believe is the problem. (personally, I don’t care). There is no term for a guy who is an actor. If your an man, your an actor, but if your a female, your talent has to be qualified with a term that says “An Actor who is Female”, like that is somehow makes her talent separate. Imagine if we called Obama something other that president because he is black. People would say, What’s wrong with that, it’s just a term for “A President that is black”
Nice try. Typical leftist projection won't get you very far here. The author is responding to the never ending and anal (since you like the "Spincter" mentaphors) nature of the pc drive to eliminate all "gendered" language. What's wrong with "stripperesses" for that matter? I could just as easily argue that we don't have a female version of stripper b/c our society is soooo sexist (reverent angry feminist sigh) that we just assume that all strippers are women. You want sexist, not to mention classist? I was a French minor and I remember that while there was a feminine form for mechanic in french, there was only the masculine noun allowed for doctor. I could jujitsu your leftist argument and say that all these pc ministrations of truth to reword feminine versions of nouns into the masculine, such as actress to actor, are "erasing" women and hence sexist.
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