The stringent aesthetic expectations placed on women are many and varied. They are often hard to keep up with. The rules are tough to figure out – am I wearing too much make up, or not enough? Is this skirt too long, or too short? Have I tried too hard or not hard enough? It’s very confusing. Two stories doing the rounds this week illustrate just how perplexing and hard to win the game of life is for women.
The first was the discovery of Rebel Wilson’s real age. The acclaimed Australian actress claimed to turn 29 this year, but ASIC records revealed on Monday that she is actually 36. Questions surrounding the actress’s age have been circulating for a few months now, since she implied that she didn’t land a role in the all-women remake of Ghostbusters because she was too young, even though in reality she is the same age as one of the actresses cast in the film.
Journalists this week dug up Wilson’s high school transcript and academic records to discover that she is actually a 36 year old name Melanie Elizabeth Bowndes.
The new information about Wilson’s age was first published in Women’s Day and then on women’s website Mamamia. The Mamamia article, has been criticised for attacking Wilson, opened with the lead: “She’s one of Australia’s most successful movie stars. But that’s pretty much the end of what we know for sure about Rebel Wilson.” Shock horror.
Since the story broke, most commentators have agreed that Wilson lied about her age because of the immense pressure in Hollywood to look young. Age is an important commodity in the movie business, and statistics show that women face increasing difficulties getting cast inroles as they get older. So Wilson lied about her age in order to make the most of her career in an industry that disproportionately values youthfulness, beauty and sexuality over talent and hard work. Can you blame her?
Well, the answer is, plenty of people do blame her. How is it that we can place such stringent expectations on women and then turn around and blame them for succumbing to that same pressure? It’s madness.
Almost as mad as a group of women being turned away from a premiere at Cannes Film Festival for not wearing high heels. The festival has always been known to have a strict dress code, specifying that footwear must be “smart” – but since when can shoes not be smart and not wildly uncomfortable?
In one instance, a woman with serious foot injuries was turned away for not wearing high heels. A director’s wife was almost banned from her husband’s film’s premiere for being too flat-footed.
The news has caused an uproar the world over – one male director even suggested he would totter down the red carpet in high heels in protest.
So on the one hand, we insist on imposing impossibly strict expectations on women when it comes to their appearance. Then, we blame them for bowing to this pressure – in Wilson’s case – and we blame them for not bowing to it, in the case of the premiere attendees at Cannes. How can any woman win in these lose-lose conditions?