CHILLY: Jennifer Lawrence when she promoted her movie Red Sparrow (Image: David M. Benett/Dave Benett/Getty Images)
A bevy of beautiful women in split-thigh gowns objectifying themselves for male benefit and inviting us to regard them as mere objects of sexual desire? Or a coterie of accomplished and successful Hollywood A-listers power dressing in a way that celebrates their whole selves? Women might see the latter. Men might be more inclined to believe they are looking at the former.
Catherine Zeta-Jones (Image: Steve Granitz/WireImage)
This pantheon of female talent appeared on the red carpet on Sunday night at the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards 2019, where the ladies with thigh-high style ranged in age from 30-year-old Rumer Willis to 60-year-old Angela Bassett and also included Patricia Clarkson, 59, Catherine Zeta-Jones, 49, Lady Gaga, 32, and Amy Adams, 44.
Whether you believe this armada of acting talent was dressing to impress, or merely “flashing a leg” for male benefit, reveals something about the confusion surrounding the MeToo debate.
“Linking the ‘MeToo’ movement with implicit criticism of women’s revealing clothing at one of the biggest awards events in the film industry is pretty much the same as a judge or prosecution lawyer saying an assault victim’s choice of clothing incited the attack,” says writer Cheryl Stonehouse.
“We might have good reason to comment if a young woman wears a swimsuit to an exam, but that should be simply about context.
D’Arcy Carden attends the 25th Annual Screen Actors (Image: Steve Granitz/WireImage)
“Anyone who imagines there’s some other message about self-esteem or suspect morals being transmitted by a woman who wears a skimpy dress to a gala showbiz event? I think they’re probably the one with the problem.”
SO where is the line to be drawn between celebrating female beauty or being treated as objectified public property – or worse – in the eyes of men? “Usually when we talk about objectification, we’re talking about the male gaze,” says Dr Melissa Fabello, who studied for a PhD in human sexuality.
“The male gaze objectifies women because it reduces us to our bodies and appearances.”
The term “male gaze” was coined by Laura Mulvey, a film critic, in 1975. Specifically, Mulvey was talking about the ways in which movies and other media are centred around the assumption of a male viewer.
Mandy Moore (Image: Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic)
“To suggest that women are self-objectifying themselves is dangerous,” insists Fabello. “No one can make you objectify them.”
A journalistic acquaintance of Fabello’s, who used to work at Playboy magazine, put it thus: “Objectification is something the audience brings to the party.
It’s something someone, or society, does to you, not something you create yourself,” she adds. “And no one can ever be blamed for other people objectifying them.
“Generally, when we talk about women self-objectifying, we’re actually referring to women who are celebrating their whole selves – bodies included.
Aja Naomi King (Image: EPA/NINA PROMMER)
But acknowledging, appreciating and glorifying the fact that you have a body is not objectification. And acknowledging, appreciating and glorifying that you’re a sexual being isn’t objectification either. That’s just noting the ways in which you are whole. Which is the exact opposite of objectification.”
In social sciences, the word objectification is used to describe the act of treating a person as an object, thing or possession.
It’s harmful because it turns a person from a living, feeling, human being into little more than an inanimate object.
“You can do whatever you want to an inanimate object because it doesn’t have any rights, need or emotions. And when we look at a person as an object to whom we can do whatever we want that’s a problem,” she points out.
Rumer Willis (Image: Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic)
Yet women are often blamed for giving out the wrong signals due to the way we might choose to dress. And this goes to the heart of the MeToo debate: That women should be able to dress how they wish, and live their lives how they want, free from harassment.
It is nearly a year since the actress Jennifer Lawrence was forced to defend her choice to wear a sexy Versace dress on a chilly street in London while promoting her new film, Red Sparrow.
Criticised for her choice of ensemble, given that her four male co-stars were clad in heavy duty winter-wear, Lawrence, it was suggested, was “a poor starlet forced to wear a sexy dress”.
She hit back, forcibly. “Wow. I don’t really know where to get started on this ‘Jennifer Lawrence was wearing a revealing dress in the cold’ controversy,” she wrote in a characteristically dry Facebook post. “This is not only utterly ridiculous, I am extremely offended. That Versace dress was fabulous, you think I’m going to cover that gorgeous dress up with a coat and a scarf?”
Patricia Clarkson (Image: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)
Her ire then emphasised a serious point: “This is sexist, this is ridiculous, this is not feminism. Overreacting about everything someone says or does, creating controversy over silly innocuous things such as what I choose to wear or not wear, is not moving us forward.
“Everything you see me wear is my choice. And if I want to be cold, THAT’S MY CHOICE TOO!” Of course women should be able to wear whatever they like without fear of reprisal, but appraisal is probably inevitable.
“The uncomfortable fact is that the combination of biological attraction and socialisation is very powerful,” says Jamie Utt, a male writer for Everyday Feminism magazine.
Just about everyone is inclined, biologically, to appraise someone they are attracted to.
“Thus, I have learned that my gaze is more than a simple look and appreciation. It can be interpreted as more of an ogle, and it communicates a multitude of messages. It communicates that all bodies are available to me, that as a man I control all space and thus any body that enters that space is mine to leer at and comment on.
Lady Gaga (Image: Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic)
“But pretty much every human being is capable of rationalising our way beyond simple biological urges. It is a natural part of my attraction to other people to look at another person’s body. But we are not slaves to the subconscious.
“In the end, I have to ask myself, ‘Who is in control of this ship?’ Will I continue to hurt the women in my life with my subtle and not-so-subtle objectification? Or will I choose to walk in the direction of being a male ally?”
The hope is that MeToo will mean fewer repercussions beyond admiration and the chance for women to wear what they like, when they like, without censure.