Kristen Stewart has added her voice to the growing calls for decisive action against sexism in mainstream filmmaking. Speaking to Harper’s Bazaar, Stewart explained her perspective of how women in the industry are systematically sidelined.
“Women inevitably have to work a little bit harder to be heard. Hollywood is disgustingly sexist. It’s crazy…it’s so offensive, it’s crazy.”
Stewart also commented on the frequency and motivations behind nude scenes for actresses – something which, historically, has tended more toward the exploitative, rather than narrative necessity.
“I question when a fairly established actress finally does a scene in a movie when she shows her boobs, and she hasn’t done up until that moment. And maybe she only did it for the prestigious part and it’s OK for the time because it’s classy, and I am like, Oh God, thank you for revealing your treasure.
“I only hate them [nude scenes] when they’re contrived. That’s when it’s grotesquely uncomfortable. On Twilight, we had to do the most epic sex scene of all time. It had to be transcendent and otherworldly, inhuman, better sex than you can possibly ever imagine. We were there like, ‘How do you live up to that?’ It was agony. Which sucks because I wanted it to be so good.”
The sentiments of Kristen Stewart on sexism in Hollywood join a rising tide of similar comments from actresses of her generation – including names such as Carey Mulligan and Amber Heard – who are the recognizable faces that are growing in influence and status within mainstream filmmaking. While this trend of highlighting sexism is encouraging and indicative of some kind of progress, we have yet to hear a significant voice from the world of acting be so specific as to make the link between a lack of female-led stories, and a lack of opportunity for female writers and directors. Such an acknowledgement could truly be hailed as progress, in a time when actresses are wheeled out to promote projects such as Daredevil and Bloodline, which include no female writers or directors whatsoever.
