By now, most of us have heard that the Oct. 13 edition of the Lenny Letter, Lena Dunham’s e-newsletter, included a letter penned by famed actress Jennifer Lawrence. Lawrence used the letter as a platform to address wage inequality in Hollywood, stating that she “got mad” at herself for not standing up for fair wage when her contract for the film “American Hustle” was drafted. The actress realized she had made less than her male co-stars when Sony’s emails leaked in December 2014.
“But if I’m honest with myself, I would be lying if I didn’t say there was an element of wanting to be liked that influenced my decision to close the deal without a real fight,” she wrote. “I didn’t want to seem ‘difficult’ or ‘spoiled.’ At the time, that seemed like a fine idea, until I saw the payroll on the Internet and realized every man I was working with definitely didn’t worry about being ‘difficult’ or ‘spoiled.’”
Lawrence questions if we are built this way as women, that if we automatically assume that if we fight for something, we will be disliked. We don’t want to “offend” or “scare” men.
She writes, “this might have NOTHING to do with my vagina, but I wasn’t completely wrong when another leaked Sony email revealed a producer referring to a fellow lead actress in a negotiation as a ‘spoiled brat.’ For some reason, I just can’t picture someone saying that about a man.”
Unsurprisingly, conservative backlash has come out against Lawrence for her comments about the wage gap. Some claim that she was “difficult to work with,” or that she had spent less time on set than her co-stars. Fox News commentator Pete Hegseth argued on an Oct. 19 broadcast that Lawrence’s point was moot because she had allegedly made $52 million that same year.
But one particular comment from RedState writer Kimberly Ross stood out: “It is illegal to pay a woman less than a man solely based on gender. (See The Equal Pay Act of 1963.),” the author wrote. “Factors such as education, experience, ability, skill, and availability will all impact someone’s salary. In the case of comparing men vs. women in the real world, much of the pay inequality outcry looks at the life of a career, sees a woman makes less, and outrage ensues. Over the life of a career, though, a woman’s time on the job may be much less, as family and maternity responsibilities call her away.”
The same source referred to Lawrence’s actions as “a bratty display from a wealthy youngster.”
The chalking up of the wage gap to the fact that women take family and maternity leave is preposterous, as is the “but women are so much better off than they used to be” argument. Just because women are “better off” doesn’t mean that they are equal. And while we can type out laws about wage equality all day long, the fact is that women still make 79 percent of a man’s salary.
We look to Hollywood for guidance as a culture because it is common to all of us and because these people are more prominent than any other person who may decide to stand up for what they believe in. And while not all of us can relate to Lawrence’s $52 million salary, it’s important that women like her act as a mouthpiece for women in the general workforce.
However, we do need to address the fact that there are other alleged nuances here — this isn’t to say that the wage gap doesn’t exist, because it certainly does. But if it is true that Lawrence was in fewer scenes than any of her co-stars, regardless of their gender, it seems logical to say that Lawrence should have made less money if Sony’s pay was defined by screen time and not by overall experience and popularity. We should look at Lawrence’s situation specifically to see if there is wrongdoing, as we should with all other situations like it. But we can’t make a blanket statement attributing the wage gap every time a actress is paid less than an actor.
Even still, the fact that Lawrence makes $52 million a year and still had the courage to stand up for herself speaks to her character as a whole. Lawrence doesn’t need the money, and yet she advocates anyway. Her fear of speaking out about her salary as a woman is real — often women who stand up for themselves are called “sassy” and “bitchy,” but men who stand up for themselves are seen as “strong.”
Remember that the actress made headlines with reports that she had made about $10 million more than her “Passengers” co-star, Chris Pratt. It was a huge deal, and many argued that Lawrence had a responsibility to come forward fight for Pratt’s equal pay. Lawrence allegedly didn’t even know about the wage differences until after the Sony emails leaked — so why is it her responsibility to address the issue? By contrast, it’s fantastic that “American Hustle” co-star Bradley Cooper has agreed to fight alongside Lawrence for fair wages moving forward. But at the same time, he shouldn’t receive an enormous amount of praise for just being a good person.
Lawrence isn’t necessarily the beacon of hope for all of feminism, though. She seems to be most representative of “white feminism” or pop-feminism, a sect of feminism that only cares about these issues when they pertain specifically to those guilty of it. This is in contrast with intersectional feminism, which holds that all women, including women of color and transgender women, can be included in the feminist movement. An example of a white feminist would be Patricia Arquette, who received backlash for her Oscar acceptance speech this year. She said, “It’s time for all the women in America and all the men that love women, and all the gay people, and all the people of color that we’ve all fought for to fight for us now.” This implies that the struggle for equal rights for those populations are over, signaling a focus on the rights of white women.
In essence, while we are glad Lawrence’s essay exists, we shouldn’t be necessarily calling Lawrence “brave.” She decided to stand up for what she believes in, just as everyone should do. But it seems that because she is a celebrity, we glorify what she has said and make it the end-all, be-all.
But in speaking out, regardless of the amount of money she makes, Lawrence has contributed to the feminist movement in that her letter may help her fellow actresses gain momentum in terms of their own wage equality. It’s the principle of the thing — even if these women are making millions each year, there is hope that their fight for wage equality will bleed into other parts of society. Even the fact that we are discussing this topic proves that Lawrence’s letter is successful. It is an action in the bigger scheme of things that will hopefully make things better, even if her letter is just inspiration for someone else to speak up for themselves in another job or market.
