Sydney Sweeney calls total BS on Hollywood over the false idea of ​​’Women Empowering Other Women’

It’s tempting to watch the ladies in your life interact with their girlfriends and think that women are just better at the friendship thing than the guys are. Their gatherings seem to consist of a lot more shared feelings, honest communication and emotional support, and a lot less Norm MacDonald jokes.

This difference is even more pronounced when you look at their lens through the prism of social media. From that perspective, it’s all girl group footage of girls, cheek-to-cheek hugs, YASSS Queening, Brat Summer and wine glasses. Whereas a friend of mine once pointed out that the only time a group of guys says “This place is great; let’s take a group photo,” is when they’ve just finished a round of golf.

But that is looking at the situation through a particularly narrow lens. According to noted expert on the subject—and if my guess is correct, a grown woman herself—Sydney Sweeney, the interpersonal dynamic between women isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

You may remember that this spring she took something from someone in her own industry:

Daily Mail – ‘She’s not pretty, she can’t act,’ claims Carol Baum, whose films include Father of the bride and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Speaking to New York Times film critic Janet Maslin in front of an audience of fans, Baum (said) ‘I don’t understand Sydney Sweeney. … Explain this girl to me. She’s not pretty, she can’t act. Why is she so hot?’

It’s safe to say that regardless of how you feel about Sweeney’s relative beauty, there’s no doubt that she’s had it with the bitchy cattyness directed at her by the same types of female Hollywood power brokers who claim to be there to support other women trying to make their way in the industry:

Source – This spring, your team fought back when a producer questioned your looks and talent. Anne Hathaway and Jennifer Lawrence have discussed the tendency to put down female artists when they are at their professional peak. Why do you think that is?

It’s very disheartening to see women tearing other women down, especially when women who are successful in other ways in their industry see younger talent working really hard – hoping to achieve whatever dreams they may have – and then trying to beat and discredit any work they have done. This whole industry, everyone says, is “Women empowering other women.” None of that happens. It’s all fake and a front for all the other crap they say behind everyone’s back.

I mean there are so many studies and different opinions on the reasoning behind it. I’ve read that our whole lives we were raised – and it’s a generational problem – to believe that only one woman can be at the top. There is one woman who can have the man. There is one woman who can be, I don’t know, anything. So then everyone else feels like they have to fight each other or take that one woman down instead of saying, Let’s all lift each other up. I’m still trying to figure it out. I’m just trying my best here. Why am I being attacked?

Why exactly? What could ever motivate a successful show business executive in the 70’s to express so much resentment towards this popular young star who is simply out there hustling, getting roles and doing his job of putting ass in movie seats? I can’t think of a single reason…

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Not much to add beyond what I said in the original piece from April:

This just goes to show that you can take the 70 year old woman out of high school, but you can’t take the high school out of her. You can be one of the most successful women in show business for 40 years. But that doesn’t mean you don’t have a little Regina George in you.

Giphy images.

My question is why does a successful female movie executive question her physical appearance? Shouldn’t we have evolved beyond this as a culture? Sometime around #MeToo, didn’t we all agree that appearance-shaming actresses is wrong? That it is harmful? That it leads to all sorts of serious consequences, from body dysmorphia to depression to addiction and worse? Honestly, I thought we moved past body shaming women thanks to amazing and brave body positive celebrities like Lena Dunham and Lizzo. I guess I was too optimistic. And we have a long way to go as a culture.

And I will say now, as I did then, no matter how much Sydney Sweeney is a victim of chick-on-chick crime, no matter how much backlash she gets from wealthy elites who try to run her down because they don’t find her aesthetic delight to the eye, I will continue to support her. Being an ally. And speaking out against this brand of Toxic Femininity. You keep doing you, Sydney. Don’t let the bastards drag you down.