Women in Film: The Battle of Sexism On Screen

What does it take to be considered a serious actor? Moving someone to tears? Making the world shatter with emotion? Bringing a character to life with conviction? No, for women, all it takes is going nude. Or so that's what I've been told.

For as far back as I can remember, women have been essentially forced into nudity. If you want to be considered for parts in films, the first step is dropping your clothes at the door. But the worst aspect of all of this is that the nudity is usually just an embodiment of a man of power's fantasy. Female nudity often has no cinematic necessity, just like that of males. It's just a ploy by the writer, director, or both, to get a woman to be naked in front of them. It's closeted sexual assault, and it needs to stop.

Natalie Portman recently stated that she would not partake in filming any sex scenes that were written or filmed by a man.

Sharon Stone was duped into doing that infamous scene in Basic Instinct.

Did Kate Winslet really need to be shown nude for Titanic?

There are ways for nudity to be done tastefully. Not too revealing, respectful of the art form, not voyeuristic. But far too many times we see way more of a woman's body than we really needed to see, just to make sure we all saw her naked. A form of male domination over a woman's body. Women are shown nude with the sole purpose of appealing to straight male viewers, and it's sickening.

A far too protracted amount of time in Hollywood showed women taking a backseat to male counterparts, used only for a quick nude scene and then discarded to allow the male character to speed along his storyline. This was case in point illustrated by the overused, and sometimes still seen today, shot of a woman whose name was barely mentioned in the trailer, ripping her shirt open and thrusting her chest forward.

Seriously, not even Colin Farrell is worth ripping my damn shirt over. Do women ever actually do this? Do they? I'm honestly curious, because I've never felt the need.

Circling back, trailers are my favorite calling card for this kind of sexism. How many do we see where the only time a woman is shown is either engaging in sex, showing her chest, or spreading her legs? It's not as commonplace now, but take a stroll through any film trailer from the 90s, 2000s, and even 2010s, and you'll see what I'm talking about. Maybe it was subliminal and you never noticed. Or maybe you got as sick of it as I did.

Nudity isn't necessary. It never has been and never will be. Seeing or not seeing a woman's breasts or ass doesn't impact the story one way or the other, and it's way too easy for men of power to use this gimmick as an excuse to see women naked. If a woman was asked to take her top off at a job interview, the man would be fired. Or Harvey Weinsteined. But let a director say it and suddenly it's all okay, right?

I'm not shaming anyone for going nude. My issue isn't with whether or not a woman wants to do scenes this way. It's entirely the decision of the actor. If she feels empowered, then more power to her. But if a woman is being coaxed into being nude against her will, there needs to be a time where enough is enough. No woman should feel like she's going to lose her part in a film or television show simply because she doesn't want to go nude.

Not too long ago, Emilia Clarke raised this issue. After countless hours spent shooting nude scenes for Game of Thrones, she finally began to protest. And wouldn't you know she was pressured into continuing. What a surprise. You can read more about her protest and experience here.

Having a view on all of this from a producer's standpoint, and having read my fair share of screenplays as research, you may be surprised to know that most of the time, the sexism starts on the page. A woman's character is often introduced with adjectives like "beautiful", "stunning", "sexy", or "having curves to die for" prefacing her name. But these same sorts of adjectives rarely if ever appear in descriptions of male characters.

It's so bad, that Sweden has even begun using the Bechdel Test to determine if a film has the proper representation of women, making this information mainstream to all who may view it. The Bechdel Test is a little-known measurement of female representation in films. It determines how realistic the female character(s) are depicted, how many women make an appearance, and of what their dialogue consists.

But don't let me hog all the fun. Take a stroll on over to their official site here and see how your favorite movie measures up.

While times are progressing and women are being viewed as more important characters in stories to be told, we're still far away from perfect. Especially in the action genre. Women still act like cardboard cutouts of real women, behaving in ways that aren't realistic just so she can be sent down the right path to show her naked. And, let’s face it, real women are never naked as often as they are in movies.

A simple comparison:

John Wick. A super popular action film. It's spawned sequels, spin-offs and merch galore. It reignited Keanu Reeves' popularity and resuscitated not only his career, but The Matrix and Bill & Ted. And the most we got to see of Keanu? His back tattoo in the shower. Wow.

VS...

Atomic Blonde. An equally lauded action film. Even directed by one of the same directors as John Wick. It launched Charlize Theron's career from dramatic into action. And what else? Oh, that's right. It featured plenty of nudity, showing her bruised and battered body as a symbol of sexuality, her outfits are "sexy beyond practicality", including but not limited to revealing costumes and high heels, and let's not forget her female counterpart is introduced solely for the purpose of having an excessively long lesbian sex scene that's filmed and plays out like the fantasy of a 14-year-old boy with a bottle of lotion on his nightstand.

So perhaps someone can explain to me why two films, shot by one of the same directors, with similar subject matter, in the same genre, with equally talented actors, had such vastly different styles? Why didn't we see Keanu Reeves dressed in a Chippendale outfit to impress a powerful woman at The High Table? How come he didn't strip down naked before he had to fight off 20 men in his house?

Putting it simply, it's because the lead character was a woman, tailored to the taste of a straight man. Films like this suffer for having a man behind the camera.

And it doesn't stop there.

Any male action star is painted as a macho man (also a representation of toxic masculinity, as well, but I'll save that for another article.) They don't need to be naked. Nudity isn't for them. They take their shirt off at just the right time to make their female love interest (because God forbid a male action star would be gay or bi, right?) swoon and - you guessed it - rip her shirt open for him and engage in passionate sex. Score! Give your buddies a high five! Just make sure you washed your hands first, because it's obvious what you were doing beforehand.

And the counterpoint, any female action star is subjected to sexist cruelty by the boatload. Women are brutalized, sexualized, and mistreated. They're raped, tortured, vulgarly ridiculed, and it's all considered okay. I've seen so many female "spies" and "assassins" have to strip down to sexy lingerie to (insert shallow plot device here) and please a powerful man, it's bordering on absurdity. They're forced to either be nude for or have sex with vile, disgusting men, for the sake of a supposed plot point. And, for the love of God, rape isn't the only reason a woman can become capable of murder or intelligence.

Just in the last few years, there's been Atomic Blonde, Anna, Red Sparrow, and Salt, all featuring one or more of these tropes.

And don't even get me started on how many of these women are lesbians for no reason other than to please male viewers (again with the straight white man's lens telling another person's story. Yet another point to be raised in a later article.)

Just try to find a female-centric action film, written and directed by a woman, that doesn't have the female lead described as "sexy", "seductive", or some other sexualized terminology. I'll wait.

In fact, you may have more luck finding a male-centric action film, written and directed by a man, where the male lead is described in the same fashion. A sexy, seductive man has to use his body to infiltrate a top-secret facility. Hmm... Still struggling to find one? Yeah, me, too.

Even this year’s Wrath of Man featured yet another sexist depiction of women. We have a "one of the guys" female character who appears for literally two or three scenes, and says even fewer lines before she's naked in bed next to our macho man lead in Jason Statham. After having sex with her, he proceeds to threaten her life with a gun while she's nearly nude. How this made it into a film in 2021 is beyond me.

Regardless, I hope this article has drawn your attention to these overused, tired tropes of sexism, misogyny, and downright female objectification. Next time you watch a movie, particularly of the action genre, keep an eye out for them. They're all there, I assure you.