Imagine my surprise to be reading Parade magazine on Sunday (Parade being the insert in many Sunday newspapers), and see a feature on Jessica Alba where she discusses surmounting the anti-woman attitudes in the entertainment industry! Although she doesn’t exactly espouse the title “feminist,” she’s raising her voice, which I like is important:
But if you want to know what really bugs her, just turn her loose on the Hollywood powers-that-be. Like a persistent toothache, it’s a topic to which she returns more than once: “I’m in a business that’s completely driven by white males. The majority of the writers and directors are men.” She takes a breather to apply some lip gloss. “And even though I’m not, like, such a huge feminist, I do want to produce movies on my own that are female-driven and empowering to women. Variety is good. The woman’s voice really isn’t present in Hollywood.”
Although, as a feminist journalist, I have one little problem with this segment from her interview: as Jessica Alba is talking about how women are infantilized and not taken seriously, is it really necessary to mention that she reapplied her lip gloss? That’s the kind of thing I’d hear in a profile of Ashley Tisdale in Twist (which would be appropriate in that context), but not while Jessica Alba is super-seriously talking about changing the film industry.
3 responses so far ↓
1 Jamia // Jun 6, 2007 at 10:28 am
i love that alba is stepping up but wish she had the courage and fortitude to state her values without lessening the potential backlash related sting of her comments undermining a movement that advocates for her equality… there’s still time and hope though. “)
2 Maddie Lear // Jun 6, 2007 at 8:00 pm
First of all, whoever was writing the article seemed pretty obnoxious, saying that her talking about feminism is “like a persistent toothache,” but I think it’s great that she took a stand. I think her reluctance to full-on say she’s a feminist comes from exactly what I talked about in my problem with feminists. Some feminists, (not nearly all-at all, just some) make the word seem like a bad thing opposed to good. But, I agree with Jamia, there is still time and hope for that to be turned around, opposed to other major issues like global warming….
3 Hollis // Jun 6, 2007 at 8:19 pm
I thought the exact thing while I reading the excerpt you just posted. I feel as though the writer needed to still have Jessica presented with a coating of materialistic attitude so he/she added in the lip glass part. It’s ridiculous, but ironic that her point is made inside her own words. The lip gloss comments deters the reader away from the point at hand. That tiny sentence takes away her severity and makes her “just another hollywood star”. Wrong!
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