Women have spent centuries in the shadows of their male counterparts. And now even with growing feminism movements and decade long problems of inequality being discussed, women still struggle to be treated equally in the workplace, including the workplace of many beloved celebrites.
Female celebrities have been hated simply for existing, from Marylin Monroe to recent stars, like Brie Larson and Taylor Swift. Men usually don’t have to worry about losing their careers in a second the same way women do. A female celebrity’s career can end in a day because of a rumor or just because she wore her hair in a ponytail.
Brie Larson, best known for her role of Captain Marvel in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, received massive backlash after the film was released. Some fans of Marvel liked to complain about the movie being bad, but then blamed it on Larson and proceeded to complain about her personality in interviews. Some people claimed they hated her because she is a feminist, and while that is a sexist, pointless reason to hate someone, it also doesn’t impact her ability to do her job in the slightest. Even if “Captain Marvel” isn’t the greatest Marvel movie, many other Marvel movies weren’t revolutionary. Her co-stars like Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Hemsworth, don’t get as much hate for their roles. When the first two “Thor” movies were not well received by fans, they took it out on the movies for bad writing, not Chris Hemsworth for playing the role. Brie Larson instead got the full force of the blame for how the movie was received.
Like Larson, Emma Watson, best known for playing Hermione in the Harry Potter movies, gets a lot of hate for being a proud feminist. Watson often gets harassed after she gives a speech about how much she “fights for women.” People look for reasons to hate on Watson, saying she’s a hypocrite for wearing a ponytail after saying she doesn’t like them, and saying she stuffs her bra, which is in no way anyone’s business but hers. Haters of Watson claim that her acting in the Harry Potter films was uninspired, but she was 12 years old at the time and her acting has improved since then. Watson often gets hate for her role as Belle in the live action “Beauty and the Beast” remake. Common complaints about the movie involve the poor CGI and the overused autotune, but these were out of Watson’s control. She is often compared to other celebrities that people think could have outdone Watson in “Beauty and the Beast,” but Watson was cast for a reason and it isn’t her fault that other actors weren’t offered the role. She shouldn’t get hate because she got a role someone else wasn’t even up for.
Rachel Zegler is a female celebrity whose “claim to fame” came somewhat recently with only the “West Side Story” remake under her belt. Zegler received hate after some select comments about the upcoming live action Snow White remake, in which she plays the lead. She said in an interview that she was “terrified of the original movie” and that “it’s no longer 1937… she’s not going to be dreaming of true love.” Fans were upset that Zegler was insulting her own movie before it even released, and took her comments about the character’s love story to mean she didn’t think women should want to be in love. Zegler also recently started as one of the leading characters in the film rendition of “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” book as Lucy Gray Baird. Zegler sings quite a bit in the new movie and she sounds fantastic. She also delivered a great performance throughout the movie. Haters of Zegler started rumors about things she hasn’t said just to have more excuses to hate her, such as when critics started rumors of her insulting her “Hunger Games” co-star, despite them being very close friends. She is a talented woman and hopefully will continue a gratifying career.
These problems have been happening for decades and an excellent example of this is Marylin Monroe. Monroe’s career was flourishing the most through the 1950’s, when she was seen as a sex symbol. She is still viewed as a sex symbol in recent pop culture moments, such as “Blonde,” released in 2022. The movie had Ana de Armas portraying Monroe in a pornographic light with her being half or entirely naked through the majority of the movie. Despite how she is viewed in modern day media, Monroe spent a lot of her life supporting the less fortunate and fighting for equality. She was considered a sexual revolutionary in the 50’s and 60’s but she deserved to be known for her strong and hard-working personality. She wasn’t just some “blonde bombshell,” and she deserves better than to be remembered as such.
Male celebrities in modern society have to do a lot more to get canceled than women do. Women can be told their reputation is destroyed over a slight complaint about inequality or their lower wages, but the “most hated” Hollywood men are hated for sexual assault or cannibalism accusations, which are real reasons to cancel someone. Armie Hammer’s career is still thriving after accusations of sexual, physical, and emotional abuse came up from multiple ex-girlfriends. Women who are rumored to be rude to fans get canceled and called bratty like Jennifer Lawrence. But men who are accused of the same behavior on and off set, like Henry Cavill, are beloved by men and women alike. Men barely get hated for abusing their exes, women can get hated for being abused.
During the Johnny Depp vs. Amber Heard trial, the majority of fans took the side of Johnny Depp. While Depp had an excess of proof of Heard’s abuse, fans chose to overlook Depp’s history of abuse, misogynist behavior, and violence. Fans were not in their marriage and have no way of knowing what happened for sure, but people chose Depp over Heard without doing an ounce of research. Fans of Depp refused to look at the proof against him, because he was an actor they liked. Fans hated Heard just because they liked Depp, but outsiders looking in are only hearing part of the story and have no right to make such strong judgements. Even if Heard isn’t innocent, it doesn’t make Depp any less atrocious.
Society proves time and time again that they aren’t always trying to hold people accountable, women are just more likely to get the blame. Some female celebrities have evidence against them proving that they are racist, homophobic, ableist, or bigoted in any way, but people decide to hate them regardless of that. Lea Michele, lead in hit show Glee, received hate since the show’s debut for her character’s “annoying” personality. Michele was getting hate long before co-stars of Michele came out with accusations of racism and on-set abuse. Haters ignored those accusations and started rumors of Michele not being able to read instead. If fans really wanted to hold her accountable for genuine reasons, she wouldn’t be hated for being supposedly illiterate and “infuriating”. If you’re going to preach your hate for someone, hate them for the right reasons.
Celebrities get paid when they do their job. Actors get paid to act, and singers get paid to sing. Fans rarely dislike a celebrity because they genuinely aren’t good at their job, it’s usually hidden within another reason. A popular reason to hate Taylor Swift is to argue that she isn’t a good singer, which is simply not true. If people hate Swift for another reason, that can be argued, but Swift is, logistically speaking, a good artist. If a celebrity can do what they are paid to do, and do it well, fans shouldn’t go looking for reasons to hate them.
Famous women deserve to be treated with respect, just like the rest of us. But they also have the added stress of looking over their shoulder at every turn, being told they don’t deserve their fame, or that they didn’t deserve that award because “he” was better. Living in the everyday world as a woman is hard enough, but when every single person is ready to judge your every move, it makes it needlessly harder.
