5 women who pushed back against red carpet sexism

At the Golden Globes, the Screen Actors Guild Awards and now at the Grammys, some female celebrities have been making headlines by calling attention to or refusing to take part in pageantry on the red carpet.

The complaint is that male actors and singers are occasionally asked about their appearance, but more attention is paid to their careers. Women, though, spend much of their time answering questions about their diet, dress and even what’s in their purse.

Upworthy recently made a supercut of some of the most inane of the questions, including the ubiquitous “what are you wearing?” The ever-optimistic viral content generator ended the video with a plea to “ask better questions.”

Upworthy isn’t alone in its exhortation, as The New York Times reported earlier this month. The Representation Project and Amy Poehler’s Smart Girls have used the #AskHerMore campaign in the past year to encourage more relevant, substantive lines of questioning.

“We kept getting messages and tweets like, ‘God, why do they ask these questions on the red carpet?’” Smart Girls’ executive director Meredith Walker told the Times. “Our viewers and followers are interested in these women, interested in deeper questions that help us learn anything interesting. They don’t want that time wasted hearing them saying what they’re wearing and all this stuff that really doesn’t matter.”

Poehler’s organization recently used the Golden Globes as an opportunity to promote #AskHerMore, where the red carpet questions were in stark contrast to the feminist banter and more serious conversation going on inside the show.

Amy Adams, who won Best Actress in a Comedy for her role in Big Eyes, thanked “wonderful female role models” for inspiring her 4-year-old daughter.

“I am so grateful to have all the women in this room,” she said. “You speak to her so loudly. She watches everything and she sees everything, and I am just so, so grateful to all of you women in this room.”

Some women are using the red carpet itself as an opportunity to take a stand. Here are a few of them:

Jennifer Aniston

Jennifer Aniston made a statement at the 2015 SAG Awards when she refused to walk her hand around E!’s Mani Cam, a camera with a mini red carpet meant to show off — you guessed it — manicures and rings.

“No, no, no!” she said, before making a motion like cracking a whip.

Cate Blanchett

Cate Blanchett made headlines at last year’s SAG Awards for calling out a camera operator who panned the length of her dress.

“Do you do that to the guys?” she asked, pointing into the camera.

Keira Knightly

At last year’s Hollywood Film Awards, a reporter asked Keira Knightly how she balances her career and personal life.

“Are you going to ask all the men that tonight?” she responded, before the reporter backed away from the question.

Elisabeth Moss

Elisabeth Moss didn’t feel the need to vocalize her disdain for the Mani Cam at last year’s Golden Globes.

Instead, she just pretended to play nice before flipping off the camera.

Nicole Kidman

Nicole Kidman attended Sunday night’s Grammys with husband Keith Urban. When Ryan Seacrest asked her about her outfit, she was silent for a moment before replying, “I don’t know what to say.”

Seacrest asked her who designed the dress and she paused again, at which point the TV personality asked Urban who designed his T-shirt.