Feminism ruled the internet the day the 2024 Oscar Nominations came out. The debate focused on the director of “Barbie,” Greta Gerwig, and the lead actress and producer, Margot Robbie, not receiving individual Oscar nominations for their ground-breaking work in creating the highest-grossing film of 2023, the 14th highest grossing film of all time, and the biggest opening weekend in history for a movie directed by a woman.
The core question at the heart of the debate? How dare the academy deny the film’s leading feminist representation and the woman who brought feminism to the forefront of a major film production not receive the recognition they’re entitled to?
Many who blasted the nominations across social media platforms failed to note the film received eight nominations, including Best Supporting Actress for America Ferrera, a proud Latina actress who played Barbie’s humanity until the real-life doll fully discovers her own.
Ads boasted the film’s intention to create an inclusive and intersectional representation of womanhood. The story, however, focused on the journey of a white blonde woman, with Ferrera’s character journey being a subplot meant to help the protagonist, Robbie, grow.
The outrage wasn’t due to the film not being recognized for its accomplishments. It was due to its leading white woman not being celebrated the way we are accustomed. This response shows this era of modern fourth-wave feminism is failing.
The failure to support and acknowledge non-white cisgendered women goes well beyond the entertainment industry.
On January 20, the Women’s March organization hosted its seventh annual national march in cities across the United States. The turnout was dismal. Many people weren’t even aware it was happening.
The women’s march failed in the same way as the” Barbie” movie. Its claims of inclusion and diversity were PR talking points; in reality, the Women’s March from day one centered on the acknowledgement of white women and failed to support individuals who didn’t identify as one.
In 2017, the Women’s March made national news in outlets like NPR, The Washington Post, BBC, CBS News, The New York Times, Vox and Teen Vogue – all reporting on women all over the country demonstrating an act of resistance and protesting gender discrimination, bias, and assault as an accused predator took his seat in his new temporary home in the White House.
The Women’s March packed a lot of steam behind it as the potential to become the most notable act of resistance on American soil in the 21st century. Ironically, America Ferrera made a passionate speech at the first march, which raised the same sense of awakening and call to action for many listeners in the same way as her monologue in “Barbie.”
But like the “Barbie” movie, the march centered around the journey and experiences of white women. Women of color and women who didn’t identify as cisgendered white women were relegated to supporting acts there to assist the palatable “feminist” through her journey in a patriarchal society. In 2017, Sherri Williams wrote about the history of various women’s movements intentionally leaving out Black women from the Suffrage Movement. There isn’t trust between the two groups of women and with good reason. The trust isn’t there and with good reason.
The magnitude of the on-going disconnect and lack of support by self-identified feminists is even more alarming considering the decrease in women’s rights since January 2017. Women across the United States have lost access to safe reproductive care through the overturning of Roe vs. Wade. They’ve witnessed an accused rapist get a seat on the Supreme Court, watched funding cut for the United Nations Population Fund and endured losses for family planning programs. In the Trump era, they saw protections revoked against sexual harassment, assault and discrimination at the workplace, and much more.
If the ongoing neglect or outright dismissal of non-white feminists continues, we all will experience the consequences. Outrage when the “palatable” feminist does not receive what society conditioned them to expect only hinders real progress.
The Financial Times recently reported on widening gender gaps in ideology between men and women and not just in the United States. As women become increasingly liberal, and feminism is often included in the liberal ideology, men have become more conservative.
The goal of feminism is to end the patriarchy and turn the world into a more equitable system. Feminists must stand up and show up for other women. Without all of us, there is no movement, and there is no march.
We will celebrate when a woman makes a huge accomplishment even if she doesn’t look like the woman you pictured in your head. It means speaking up when a non-white woman is mocked for being on the receiving end of domestic violence even if she doesn’t fit your idea of a “perfect victim.”
It also means, on Sunday when we watch this year’s Academy Awards, we won’t sit around and pout about the women we decided were owed a nomination. Instead, we stand up and celebrate the women that are nominated, and the women that will win. And, it means taking a second before you type to think about how your action might be belittling to a woman who doesn’t look like you or sound like you and learn to relate to those individuals, just as we have related to you.
Consumers who are infuriated by Margot Robbie and Great Gerwig’s “snub” have centered their revolution on whiteness. Until they make a change, their “feminism” will never succeed.