Gerber, 22, is the daughter of 90s supermodel Cindy Crawford, and yes, she has inherited every single cell of her mother’s asymmetrically perfect features. She’s now a successful model in her own right but also a keen reader, a book reader, and in the past few years, she’s made it part of her public identity.

Since 2020, she’s worked hard to cultivate the image of a stylish book-worm. She’s made sure the world knows she reads and that we know she’s a thinker. Gone are the days of the bookworm image, of the girl with glasses reading in her pjs in bed. 

In September 2020, Gerber posted a screenshot to her 10 million followers on Instagram of a scene from Richard Benjamin’s 1990 movie Mermaids, starring Cher and Winona Ryder. 

The image shows Cher in a bathtub, reading Grace Metalious’ 1956 novel Peyton Place, looking beautiful, focused and cerebral. Next to her, Winona Ryder, who plays her daughter in the movie, peers up towards the corner of the camera, obviously distracted by some agitated feelings towards her mother, who seems lost in her book. 

Suddenly, I was interested. 

The book Gerber was promoting that week, Chloe Benjamin’s The Immortalists, had nothing to do with the film, but that single post piqued my interest. 

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A few months earlier in March, Gerber had started a virtual bookclub via her Instagram as a way for her to connect with writers, other celebrities and friends during the pandemic. The first book was Sally Rooney’s Normal People – whose fans are the OG of ‘the stylish reader’. In her first live chat, she spoke with Daisy-Edgar Jones and Paul Mascal, stars of the screen adaptation of the novel. 

Her book selections were diverse, and her intentions were noble. In May, she selected Spring Awakening, the late 19th century classic play by German dramatist Frank Wedekind, in order to “raise awareness for the performing arts industry in nyc. theaters are closed for the time being, putting so many actors, writers, and crew members out of work,” as Gerber described in a post on Instagram.

“It’s really important that we keep supporting the community that plays such a large & important role to the city.” 

Over the next few months and years, Gerber would invite the likes of Lena Dunham, Jia Tolentino, Michelle Zauner (Japanese Breakfast) and Raven Leilani onto her platform to talk about their books. These women have huge cultural capital and radiate an equal measure of affable coolness, intelligence and obtainable beauty. 

Gerber would continue to post images on Instagram of beautiful women reading, either from photos, or screenshots from movies. It didn’t matter that most of the images had nothing to do with the books themselves. Gerber knew how to get someone like me interested.

I’m a female reader, a book reader, and I aspire to be beautiful. Inevitably, in my own life, I separate these two pursuits. When I read, I’m mostly always in some loose, flimsy outfit, sprawled across my sofa chair in my study, looking more like a sloth on a tree than a presentable woman. The last thing on my mind is trying to appear beautiful. 

But these women, women like Gerber, and her fellow supermodel friends who read, including Dua Lipa, Emily Ratajkowski and Camille Rowe, have harnessed Instagram’s most fundamental currency — hot privilege, and began a movement to aestheticise book reading.

And by book reading, I mean, actual books. Physical, paper items. You won’t see a kindle anywhere here. 

The books on Gerber’s bookclub list are carefully selected to exude a certain sensibility. Think east-coast elites. Think oat-milk drinking hipsters who wear white linen shirts and own more than two pairs of Birkenstocks. Carrying a book, or at least, appearing to consume its content, has become another gesture towards aspirational living. Not only do we need to appear to be taking care of our outward appearances — we need to cultivate the right kind of intellectual and cerebral agendas. 

This week, Gerber, along with her friend Alyssa Reeder, (a New York City-bred writer and editor who writes for Into the Gloss) launched Library Science. 

The site collects all the books she’s had on her bookclub so far; all 34 books, it’s 33 authors, most of them American. Joan Didion appears twice. And of course she does. Her books (along with her cult status among liberal white women) is the basis upon which all the other books instantiate. 

Another late author on the list is Françoise Sagan, who has an equally pertinent status among women who pay very close attention to the fabric of their clothes. 

The majority of authors on Gerber’s list are women and out of the 33 authors, nine are people of colour, or mixed race. Five are late authors. There is one trans author. Most of them went to Ivy league colleges, or were born into privilege and celebrity, as Gerber has. 

Wealth and affluence can provide one with a certain cultural capital – in Gerber’s case, she’s used it to curate a literary milieu. They can be “taste” makers. But what does it mean to have “taste”? More importantly, who adjudicates this metric? Today, it seems that the answer is beautiful people who know how to market themselves. Personally, I believe the gay American writer, Ocean Vuong was the first to aestheticize that very singular, New York City-artist image. Just check out his IG to know what I mean.

Initially, I was drawn to Gerber’s ethereal beauty. I love looking at pretty people. But pretty people who read?! Irresistible. Before my private divorce from social media, my favourite Instagram account was @hotdudesreading. The female equivalent is @coolgirlsreadingbooks. Somehow, it feels less of a novelty to see an attractive woman reading than it is to see an attractive man reading. The Internet agrees with me, because the former account has more than a million followers, while the latter has only 48.7K followers. 

As I said before, Instagram runs on hot privilege. And Gerber knows how to milk it. Looking to be well read is now a visual pursuit. It’s aspirational to appear to be well-read. And though her Library Science hasn’t inspired me to amend my break-up with Instagram, I agree with the platform’s philosophy: “We learn the most from the stories that aren’t our own.”

The post The gentle, slow, agonising beautifying of book-reading appeared first on Women's Agenda.

The show will be hosted by a woman and at least half of its guests will be women. The female-run, independent network will present the show once a month, addressing issues such as the shortage of female teachers, gender discrimination in politics, and the impacts of environmental issues on women. 

According to the Guardian, the show will operate in a similar style to the UK’s BBC Question Time, where a team of reporters will visit venues across the country and invite the public to participate and contribute their opinions.  

Fathi Mohamed Ahmed, the chief editor of Bilan, believes her media company provides a vital alternative to the current media content in Somalia, which “just focus[es] on politics and conflict.”

“There are so many stories to do on Somali society, especially about Somali people, and what is going on here,” she said. “We are going to have all those stories.”

In December, the host Naima Said Salah featured in the show’s pilot episode, discussing menstruation education and health with young women. 

“Women, including me, never had the opportunity to learn about periods as girls; even our own mums don’t discuss it,” Salah said. “People think this is taboo, but it is a fact; it exists and we cannot ignore it.”

The episode was praised for its candid discussions with young women, many who lack access to basic and essential hygiene products, forcing them to use risky forms of protection including tree barks, old clothes, socks and newspapers.

“One young woman in the audience shared her own experience,”  Salah, a senior reporter at Bilan, said. “She remembered the exact time and day when her period started because she had no idea what was happening. She thought she was dying. It was only after she told her older sister, that she understood.” 

Somalia is the most dangerous country for journalists in Africa. More than 50 journalists have been killed in the past twelve years. In the Global Impunity Index by The Committee to Protect Journalists – a list that calculates the number of unsolved journalist murders as a percentage of a country’s population, Somalia ranks last. 

The country was ranked by the UN as the fourth-lowest for gender equality globally. Women and girls in Somalia face harrowing challenges, with maternal and infant mortality rates among some of the highest in the world, and early marriage being one of the most pervasive. 

Director of the Mogadishu schools network, Cabdulqaadir Maxamed Xasan, posted his reaction to the new show on Bilan, saying he was pleased that the show is offering “more knowledge and experience” on education issues to the public. 

“Given the scarcity of female teachers in the education sector, young girls often struggle during their periods to adapt to changing circumstances. This discussion underscored the importance of community support during this critical time, particularly at the onset of adolescence.”

The show will officially launch on International Women’s Day, on 8 March this year. 

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On Wednesday’s episode of The View, Goldberg responded to her fellow host Sunny Hostin’s mention of “the snubs” by saying, “There are no snubs, and that’s what you have to keep in mind…not everybody gets a prize. The movies you love may not be loved by the people who are voting.”

The 68-year old former Hollywood actor, herself an Oscar winner in 1990 for her supporting role in Ghost, continued: “Here’s the deal: Everybody doesn’t win!”

“And it’s not the elites — it’s the entire family of the Academy who vote for Best Picture nominations. We all vote for Best Picture, everybody.” 

“So there are 7 to ten Oscar nominations that happen, and you don’t get everything that you want to get.”

The rest of the panelists commented on Ryan Gosling’s Best Supporting Actor nomination, with one questioning, “Did they miss the whole moral of the story of Barbie? Of course we celebrate just Ken and not the woman who is the lead it in and the icon in it?” 

“But actually, I think this could give Greta an idea for a sequel. Barbie goes to Hollywood and is snubbed by the elites who chose Ken over her. So just throwing that out there for an idea.”

Meanwhile, high-profile celebrities and public figures have continued to weigh in on the controversy. 

Former Secretary of State and 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton posted a message to Robbie and Gerwig on Instagram.

“Greta and Margot, While it can sting to win the box office but not take home the gold, your millions of fans love you,” she wrote. “You’re both so much more than Kenough #HillaryBarbie.”

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During an interview with the Today show on Wednesday, last year’s Best Actress winner Michelle Yeoh said the snubs also left her scratching her head.

“You do think, ‘How do you get nominated for best picture but not best director and not best actress?’” she said. “It happens and I’m sorry it happened to them because it’s obviously one of the most successful and beloved movies.”

“It’s just, for us, it’s not enough nominations to go around. The only take is [that] it’s so competitive out there and there is no guarantee because you’re not the only voter, you know? It’s widespread. Thank God the movie got nominated for best picture.” 

“Joy and disappointment… seems to go hand in hand.”

The post ‘Not everybody gets a prize’: Whoopi Goldberg defends Oscars after Barbie snub appeared first on Women's Agenda.

In this last category, she is among six other female nominees within a total group of ten nominees. Last year, every nominee in the Artist of the Year category (which merged the male and female categories into one award in 2022) was male. 

Reacting to her record number of nominations on the Bring On The BRITs 2024 nominations livestream, Raye said “it’s too much…my eyes fill with tears when we talk about this.”

“The only way I can describe it is as a miracle.”

Responding to a question from host Yinka Bokinni about the most “mind-blowing” moment in her career so far, Raye said, “A year and a half ago, as far as the industry was concerned, I was down and out. Never in my wildest dreams would I think that trying again would mean seven Brit nominations.”

In 2021, Raye accused her record label Polydor of withholding the release of her debut album since 2014. She was subsequently released from the contract before she went on to release the TikTok-topping Escapism as an independent artist. 

Noting this is not her first Brit Award nominations, the singer said seven nominations is “a whole different thing.” 

Her latest accomplishment breaks the previous record of six nominations in a single year held by Robbie Williams, Gorillaz and Craig David.

Raye will compete for this year’s Artist of the Year award alongside Little Simz, Arlo Parks, Jessie Ware, Olivia Dean, Dua Lipa, Dave, Central Cee, J Hus and Fred Again.

Female artists also dominated the list of nominees in the award for International Artist of the Year, with eight of the ten nominees being female, including Taylor Swift, Olivia Rodrigo, Caroline Polachek and Kylie Minogue. 

Last August, Raye released her long-awaited debut record, My 21st Century Blues, which will compete for Album of the Year at this year’s Brit Awards alongside Little Simz’s No Thank You, J Hus’ Beautiful and Brutal Yard, Young Fathers’ Heavy Heavyand and Blur’s The Ballad of Darren.

This year’s rising star prize has already been awarded to The Last Dinner Party, a London-based all-female five-piece indie rock band from London formed in 2021. 

This year’s Brit Awards will take place in London on March 2, with Dua Lipa already confirmed to perform at the event. 

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This is the second time Gerwig has been snubbed for Best Director while her movie is nominated for Best Picture — in 2020, she missed out on a Best Directing nomination for Little Women. 

In the last few hours, Ryan Gosling issued a statement expressing his disappointment over his co-star and his director missing out on a nomination for their work on Barbie.

“There is no Ken without Barbie, and there is no Barbie movie without Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie, the two people most responsible for this history-making, globally celebrated film,” he said. “No recognition would be possible for anyone on the film without their talent, grit and genius. To say that I’m disappointed that they are not nominated in their respective categories would be an understatement.”

Several posts on social media commented on these latest snubs with comedic flair. 

American activist Shannon Watts shared her dismay on X, writing, “Greta Gerwig: Made a critically acclaimed, culturally profound, feminist movie about Barbie and the patriarchy that made a billion dollars at the box office. Oscar nomination goes to … Ken.” 

Author Laura Tisdall wrote, “So Greta Gerwig created one of the most original films of the decade, one that completely blew apart people’s expectations of what a #Barbie movie could be & resonated with millions … yet apparently that’s not *quite* worth a nomination for best director???”

One post from a parody account read: “No Oscar nomination for Greta Gerwig. No Oscar nomination for Margot Robbie. Ryan Gosling gets an Oscar nomination. The is actually the whole plot of “Barbie.”

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The statements made in this last post are not entirely true. Gerwig has received an Oscar nomination – just not for her directing. She shares a Best Adapted Screenplay nomination alongside her husband, Noah Baumbach. And technically, if Barbie wins Best Picture, Robbie will be up on stage accepting the award along with the other producers of the film. 

Other key nominations for women

The good news is that for the first time in Oscars’ 96 years, three movies directed by women scored nominations for Best Picture: Justine Triet’s Anatomy of a Fall, Greta Gerwig’s Barbie and Celine Song’s Past Lives. 

Nevertheless, Hollywood’s surprising snubs are nothing new. Each year, we lament the lack of female artists nominated in technical categories. Men continue to dominate the awards for Best Directing, Best Cinematography, Best Editing and Best Sound. This year, just one female director has been nominated in the Best Directing category. French filmmaker and writer Justine Triet is nominated for her film, Anatomy of a Fall, which has secured five nominations in total. 

Triet, 45, becomes only the eighth woman in Oscars history to be nominated for Best Director. 

Speaking to Hollywood Reporter after she received news of her nomination, Triet said, “I was surprised because there are no more women beside me. So of course, I’m so, so lucky and very proud of all these things.”

“Most of these [other nominees] since I was a child I’ve admired so much, and of course to be involved in this history, it means a lot for me. It was not a dream because I could not imagine.” 

Lily Gladstone, the female lead in Killers of the Flower Moon, becomes the first Native American acting nominee in Oscars history, nabbing a nomination for Best Actress in a Leading Role. Reflecting on her nod from the Academy, the 37-year old said, “It’s long overdue. I feel like it’s circumstantial that it’s me because there have been so many immense, incredible performances. I stand on the shoulders of some unbelievable talent.” 

Gladstone will compete with Annette Bening (Nyad), Sandra Hüller (Anatomy of a Fall), Carey Mulligan (Maestro) and Emma Stone (Poor Things) for the award. If Stone wins – as she is predicted to by some critics, it will be her second Oscars. In 2017, she won Best Actress for her role in La La Land. 

In a statement provided to CNN, Stone said she is “beyond grateful to the Academy for including me as both an actress and producer among this group of exceptional nominees and for recognising our film in so many categories.”

“The team of artists who contributed to ‘Poor Things’ gave it everything and I am forever thankful for the opportunity to play Bella and see the world through her eyes. She has shown me that life is so much more than just sugar and violence.” 

Earlier this month, Stone won Best Female Actor for her role at the Golden Globes and the Critics Choice Awards. Poor Things picked up a total of 11 nominations for this year’s Oscars. 

Gerwig’s Barbie secured a total of eight nominations, including Best Costume Design, Best Original Song and Best Production Design. America Ferrera is nominated for Best Actress in a Supporting Role, going up against fellow first-time nominees Emily Blunt (Oppenheimer), Danielle Brooks (The Color Purple), Da’Vine Joy Randolph (The Holdovers). 

Jodie Foster (Nyad) is also nominated in the category, marking her third Oscars nod. She has previously won two Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role — in 1989 for The Accused, and in 1992 for The Silence of the Lambs.

Ferrera, 39, told Variety she is still shocked by the nomination.

“I still haven’t really been able to get in my feelings because I’m still on like the top layer of ‘I can’t even believe that this is real,’” she explained. “[My husband] was screaming and emotional. And I just heard my kids in the back, like so confused. ‘What are you screaming about?’”

Ferrera then jumped on to a Group FaceTime with her The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants co-stars Blake Lively, Amber Tamblyn and Alexis Bledel.

“It was hilarious and funny and emotional and it’s wonderful to be celebrated and held up by my sisters. These women who I’ve had the honour of growing up with in this industry and being loved and cheered on and supported by them. Which we all do for each other. They’re amazing, and such a gift in my life.”

“It’s an overwhelming amount of love and support and congratulations to me,” she continued. “I feel it so deeply and am so grateful for their love and support and in this moment. It’s been a long ‘Barbie’ journey — I mean longer even for Greta and Margot and Noah, it’s been years and years and years — everyone’s really excited that we get to celebrate and to end this journey at the biggest party of the year.”

Ferrera also commented on Gerwig and Robbie’s snubs, saying “I was incredibly disappointed that they weren’t nominated.” 

In a separate statement, she expressed her joy at the increasing diversity of representation in movies. 

 “I’m so proud to get to bring Latiné representation to this year’s Academy Awards, along with my fellow Latiné nominees,” she said.

“May the diversity of voices acknowledged by the Academy continue to grow! I’m thrilled to celebrate my phenomenal Barbie family and all their achievements. Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie made history and raised the bar with Barbie. The cultural and industry impact they’ve achieved will be felt for generations and I’m so thankful to them for asking me to be a part of it.”

Meanwhile, in other major blows, Sofia Coppola’s eighth feature, Pricilla received no nominations at all. Emerald Fennell’s second film, Saltburn, also received no nominations. Both films have been critically acclaimed. 

Although her film, Past Lives is nominated for Best Picture, director Celine Song missed out on a Best Director nomination. She has been nominated for Best Original Screenplay, a nod which she has described as a “tremendous recognition” and “unbelievable honour.”

“I am overwhelmed with emotion and gratitude, and for my first film… crazy,” she said in a statement.

“Some of the experience working on a debut film is secretly questioning if you belong, if people will support your vision. It has been equal parts scary and rewarding to make this film and release it into the world. It is with immense gratitude to those who championed my vision that I now get to be among these giants of screenwriting.”

The indie-darling has been universally adored since it premiered at the Sundance Film Festival almost year ago, picking up countless glowing reviews from both critics and the public. Song’s directorial feature won the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best First Film, and the Gotham Independent Film Award for Best Feature. 

The 2024 Academy Awards will be held on the evening of March 10. Australians will be able to watch the live stream starting at 10am on March 11th. 

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Before presenting the award to the evening’s winner (Ayo Edebiri, for her role in The Bear), Applegate was introduced by the show’s host Anthony Anderson, who said the actor had made her television debut at the age of one. “She grew up on TV,” he said. 

As the 52-year-old actor walked on stage with a cane, she was applauded by an audience who rose to their feet. 

“Thank you so much! Oh my God! You’re totally shaming me [and my] disability by standing up,” she joked. “Body not by Ozempic.” 

“Some of you may know me as Kelly Bundy from Married… with Children,” she continued, as the audience gave her another round of applause. “We don’t have to applaud every time I do something,” she said. 

“Or [as] Samantha from Samantha Who, or probably, maybe my last job… Jen Harding, from Dead to Me.” 

“But very few of you probably know me from that debut…I’m going to cry more than I’ve been crying — Baby Bert Grizzle, from Days of our Lives.” 

A photo of Applegate as a baby was displayed on the screen behind her. 

The Primetime Emmy Award winner revealed her multiple sclerosis (MS) diagnosis in August 2021, while she was filming Dead to Me. 

In November the following year, she received her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, appearing alongside her Married…with Children co-stars Katey Sagal and David Faustino, and her Dead To Me co-star Linda Cardellini.

“This day means more to me than you can possibly imagine,” she said at the time. “I don’t say that I have friends. I have family. These people take care of me. They take care of me every day of my life, and without them I don’t know what I would do.”

In May 2023, she opened up to Vanity Fair in a candid interview, saying that living with MS “f**king sucks.”

“You just have little s****y days…people are like, “Well, why don’t you take more showers?” she said. “Well, because getting in the shower is frightening. You can fall, you can slip, your legs can buckle. Especially because I have a glass shower. It’s frightening to me to get in there.”

“There are just certain things that people take for granted in their lives that I took for granted. Going down the stairs, carrying things – you can’t do that anymore.” 

“It f**king sucks. I can still drive my car short distances. I can bring up food to my kid. Up, never down.”

“I can’t even imagine going to set right now,” she said. “This is a progressive disease. I don’t know if I’m going to get worse. I actually don’t want to be around a lot of people because I’m immunocompromised.”

“I also don’t want a lot of stimulation of the nervous system because it can be a little bit too much for me. I like to keep it as quiet and as mellow as possible.”

The main symptoms of MS include fatigue, pain, brain fog and impairment in different areas of the body. There is currently no cure for the disease, however treatments are available to help control the condition and ease the symptoms. 

In 2018, actor Selma Blair was diagnosed with MS. She told British Vogue she’d experienced the symptoms of the disease for four decades before she was officially diagnosed.

“If you’re a boy with those symptoms, you get an MRI,” she said. “If you’re a girl, you’re called ‘crazy.'” After her diagnosis, Blair underwent a hematopoietic stem cell transplant in 2019. Since 2021, the MS has been in remission.

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The online reaction was swift. Some users on X (formerly Twitter) called the 94-year old competition of going “woke” for crowning a woman who didn’t have the conventionally feminine hairstyle of long, luscious locks. 

Perhaps the term ‘woke’ is being thrown around a bit too carelessly (and irresponsibly) these days? 

After Gilles’ win last weekend, the 20-year old said “We’re used to seeing beautiful Misses (sic) with long hair, but I chose an androgynous look with short hair.” 

“[Every] woman is different, we’re all unique. No one should dictate who you are.” 

During the contest, which took place in the eastern city of Dijon on Saturday, Gilles said she wanted to “show that the competition is evolving and society too, that the representation of women is diverse, in my opinion beauty is not limited to a haircut or shapes that we have… or not”.

It goes without saying that her comments are contained within an industry where nobody is larger than size 6, or over the age of 30— so her definition of ‘diverse’ doesn’t actually reflect the true representation of women’s bodies across society. 

Nevertheless, her comments and her short hair are starting conversations around the world. Why? Well, because of the backlash of course. 

Backlash

First reported by UK’s Telegraph, several users on X expressed their anger and distain for Gilles and her win. 

“Miss France is no longer a beauty contest but a woke contest which is based on inclusiveness,” one user complained.  Another said that crowning a short haired woman indicated the competition was “instilling wokist (sic) values into society.” 

Another wrote, “The androgynous body is clearly to serve woke propaganda.” 

Nevermind the fact that Gilles meets every single measure of beauty the patriarchy has imposed upon us about the repressive idea of feminine beauty — she has a sculpted, symmetrical face, slim tall figure, appears to not have any excess fat on her body, and basically looks similar to every other winner who was ever been crowned in beauty pageant history. 

Nevermind that conventionally attractive women who have had short hair (Linda Evangelista, Audrey Hepburn, Natalie Portman, Edie Sedgwick) have still been accepted as undeniably beautiful. 

It seems that when it comes to the world of beauty pageants, some fans believe beauty has only one hairstyle. 

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Admirers 

Where there’s hate, there is always love. Several users expressed their joy at seeing a short-haired woman being crowned the winner. One described Gilles as “sublime”, while another pondered aloud: “Aren’t women allowed short hair anymore – I must have missed the memo.”

French ecofeminist and Greens MP, Sandrine Rousseau said, “So, in France, in 2023, we measure the progress of respect for women by the length of their hair?”

On X, the 51-year old wrote, “I’m shocked by the comments on #MissFrance2024 I didn’t imagine we were there. Our hair, and what we do with it, how we style it, is none of men’s business. Point.” 

Other female politicians weighed in on the win, including fellow Greens MP Karima Delli who wrote, “Big support for Eve Gilles in the face of hateful tweets on social networks of incredible violence!” on her socials. 

“Swallow your venom, she is not only superb, Miss Nord pas de Calais is intelligent in embracing her diversity!”

Giles was crowned Miss Nord-Pas-de-Calais (the northern region of France) in October this year. 

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The hit-movie, directed by Greta Gerwig and grossing almost US$1.442 billion worldwide has been nominated for Best musical or comedy, Best female actor, Best male actor in a supporting role, Best director, Best screenplay, three entires in the Best Song category (Duo Lipa’s Dance the Night, Ryan Gosling’s I’m just Ken, Billie Eilish’s What was I made for?) and a brand new category — Best cinematic and box office achievement. 

Gerwig’s Best Director nomination marks her first in the role, despite directing two previous critically acclaimed films (Lady Bird, and Little Women). 

Barbie’s sweep makes it the second most nominated film in Golden Globes history, tying with Bob Fosse’s 1972 classic musical, Cabaret. The highest number of nominations was given to Robert Altman’s 1975 movie, Nashville, which had 11.

Gerwig joins just one other female director nominated in the Best Director category — first time director Celine Song for her indie darling Past Lives. 

The two are also among the few women competing in the Best Screenplay award. French filmmaker and screenwriter Justine Triet is nominated in the category alongside Arthur Harari for the film Triet directed, Anatomy of a Fall. 

Emerald Fennell’s Saltburn secured two nominations — both in acting: Rosamund Pike for Best female actor in a supporting role and Barry Keoghan for Best male actor. 

Australian actor Sarah Snook is nominated for Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series Drama for her role in Succession. Snook took home a Golden Globe in 2022 for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series for the same role. 

Another Australian actor, Elizabeth Debicki, picked up a nomination for Best Supporting Actress, Television for her role as Princess Diana in The Crown.  

In the award for Best Performance in Stand-Up Comedy or Television, half of the nominees are women: Amy Schumer for Emergency Contact, Sarah Silverman for Someone You Love, and Wanda Sykes for I’m an Entertainer. 

The awards will take place on 7 January next year, and will be broadcast live on CBS. Read the full list of nominations here. 

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Recent trend pieces celebrating former Hollywood A-listers going grey and showing off their faces without makeup has become catnip for those of us who wish to believe the world is becoming a less horrible place for women. 

In part, it is. This so called “pro-ageing” movement ostensibly celebrates the ageing process – but only with women. We don’t see click-bait pieces marvelling at George Clooney’s grey streaks, or Steve Carrell’s salt and pepper beard. Why? Because as men age they just become sexier, we’re routinely told.

Indeed, it’s not lost on anyone that brands promoting the idea that looking your age is aspirational while charging $450 a bottle for lift-firming serum is a mind-bending yet ordinary paradox of existing as a women in today’s society. 

Things have shifted for feminists in recent years; we have always armed our fists against a host of injustices (reproductive rights, gendered violence, pay inequality…just to name a few) and yet when it comes to the idea of beauty (wholesalely created by men) it appears that showing up to a public fashion event at 56 without makeup can be seen as “an act of courage and rebellion.” 

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That’s how Jamie Lee Curtis described Pamala Anderson, who attended Paris Fashion Week a few months ago sporting a “makeup free” look. 

The press went wild. They went wild again last week, when she rocked up to the Fashion Awards in London without makeup. We’ve come to a point in time where articles titled “Pamela Anderson Makes Another Makeup-Free Appearance on 2023 Fashion Awards Red Carpet” can inspire other articles, like Glamour UK’s “Pamela Anderson Going Makeup Free Is Not An Act of Rebellion” and another in Forbes, titled: “Here’s Why We All Need To Pay Attention To Pamela Anderson.” (Answer: “Pamela Anderson, stepping out au naturel is a powerful reflection of the growing desire for authenticity.”)

In August, Anderson was interviewed by a fashion magazine about her stray away from conventional beauty aspirations, preferring to embrace a make-up free lifestyle which she said has been “freeing and fun.”

“I think we all start looking a little funny when we get older,” she told Elle. “And I’m kind of laughing at myself when I look at the mirror. I go, ‘Wow, this is really…what’s happening to me?’ It’s a journey.”

Last week, she told another magazine, “I’ve always been in the [fashion] world and I’ve always been photographed. I can look at the past, but I like to always move forward. I just want to keep on moving forward, keep on doing new things and challenging myself and challenging beauty.”

Anderson described the noise she created when she showed up to Paris Fashion Week with minimal makeup. 

“Everyone was asking me about it,” she told Harper’s Bazaar. “ I didn’t know anyone was even going to notice it. But I was doing it for me. I felt like … ‘Am I going to continue this makeup thing for the rest of my life?’ I mean how much more makeup could you put on someone?”

“I just peeled it back. For me, it’s either no makeup — or a showgirl. You know, like something for a character for a film or a photo shoot. Like, I love makeup. I love to play with that. But it’s not an everyday thing and so for these things that I’m promoting and where I’m working, but being me, I just don’t see the need for it.”

She went further in another interview, expressing her wish to coin an alternative description to the word, ‘ageing’. “I like to say the word ‘life-ing’ instead of ageing,” she said in a TikTok interview. “Chasing youth is just futile. You’re never going to get there, so why not just embrace what’s going on? And since I’ve really just walked out the door as me, I feel a relief, just a weight off my shoulders. and I actually like it better.”

Sarah Jessica Parker gave a candid interview in July about “missing out on the facelift”.

“I think about all of it. I ask people all the time, ‘Is it too late?’.” I mean, I’m presentable. I don’t really like looking at myself… I think I’m fine.” 

The 58-year old went on to describe the double standards women face when it comes to ageing. 

“There is so much emphasis put on, especially women – and primarily women – about looks.”

“Even last year when we first went on the air with the new season [of And Just Like That…], there were so many endless articles about ‘ageing’ and ‘ageing gracefully’, and you know, ‘Sarah Jessica’s hair is grey’ – and I was like, first of all it’s not, but who cares? I’m sitting next to Andy Cohen whose head is covered in grey hair and you’ve not mentioned that at all.”

More recently, she told Prevention “It’s important to me that someone is minding my skin versus somebody who is like ‘I can make you younger,’ which is of no interest to me and isn’t a reality.” 

Other female actors have joined this bare-faced movement including Helen Mirren, 78, Andie MacDowell, 65, Michelle Pfeiffer, 65, Jennifer Aniston, 54. Last December, the Herald showcased midlife celebrities “embracing the no-make-up selfie”.

Then there’s the pro-greying champions who’ve spoken out about wanting to let their hair evolve the way nature intended. 

If your whole professional artifice is based on looking reasonably youthful and conventionally put together, then it can’t be dismissed that showing up to a public event without all the conservative trappings of ‘beauty’ is a fantastic and gusty move.

But let’s not forget too that these women are all white, abnormally beautiful and lithely skinny. A win for a few female celebrities does not shift the sexism and ageism ordinary women face. 

We are subjected to more pressure to look a certain way — more of us worry about ageing than our male peers or partners. A recent survey of over 2,000 Americans found that 70 per cent of men report feeling unconcerned with ageing, while just over fifty per cent of women report feeling the same.

The same survey found that while an overwhelming majority of women had no trouble equating old age with beauty, just 65 per cent of men believed in this idea. 

A higher percentage of women than men report changing their hair style and hair colour to look younger. Bottom line is that women spend more money, time and energy to looking youthful, hairless, and pristine. We are more complicit in the pursuits towards extreme beauty ideals that are asked of us under patriarchy. We still live in a misogynistic society – a society that “insists that a woman’s appearance is of paramount value,” as Jia Tolentino write in 2019.

It might be a small victory to see a woman who was once considered the sexiest woman alive to reject the use of makeup. It would be an even bigger victory if such acts signified a larger move away from equating a woman’s worth to her physical appearance. 

The post Pamela Anderson’s bare-faced “rebellion” is a small step for our right as women to age on our own terms appeared first on Women's Agenda.

Here are our top-rated moments from her interview:

She’s currently in her happy place

“It feels like the breakthrough moment of my career, happening at 33. And for the first time in my life, I was mentally tough enough to take what comes with that.”

“This is the proudest and happiest I’ve ever felt, and the most creatively fulfilled and free I’ve ever been.” 

“I’ve been raised up and down the flagpole of public opinion so many times in the last 20 years.”

“I’ve been given a tiara, then had it taken away.”

“Over the years, I’ve learned I don’t have the time or bandwidth to get pressed about things that don’t matter. Yes, if I go out to dinner, there’s going to be a whole chaotic situation outside the restaurant. But I still want to go to dinner with my friends.”

“Life is short. Have adventures. Me locking myself away in my house for a lot of years—I’ll never get that time back. I’m more trusting now than I was six years ago.” 

Gruelling workouts in preparation for her Eras Tour

“Every day I would run on the treadmill, singing the entire set list out loud. Fast for fast songs, and a jog or a fast walk for slow songs.” 

“I had three months of dance training, because I wanted to get it in my bones. I wanted to be so over-rehearsed that I could be silly with the fans, and not lose my train of thought.” 

Swift hired choreographer Mandy Moore (not the pop star actor) who Emma Stone worked with during La-La Land. 

“Learning choreography is not my strong suit,” Swift said. 

She also stopped drinking, because “Doing that show with a hangover — I don’t want to know that world.”

During a hiatus from consecutive shows, she rests for a full day: “I do not leave my bed except to get food and take it back to my bed and eat it there. It’s a dream scenario. I can barely speak because I’ve been singing for three shows straight. Every time I take a step my feet go crunch, crunch, crunch from dancing in heels.” 

“I know I’m going on that stage whether I’m sick, injured, heartbroken, uncomfortable, or stressed.” 

“That’s part of my identity as a human being now. If someone buys a ticket to my show, I’m going to play it unless we have some sort of force majeure.”

On performing her songs on Eras Tour

“Every part of you that you’ve ever been, every phase you’ve ever gone through, was you working it out in that moment with the information you had available to you at the time.”

“There’s a lot that I look back at like, ‘Wow, a couple years ago I might have cringed at this.’ You should celebrate who you are now, where you’re going, and where you’ve been.”

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On the challenges working in the music industry

Swift’s life changed dramatically after Kanye West’s infamous VMAs disruption in 2009 when Swift was onstage accepting the award for Best Video by a Female Artist. 

“I realised every record label was actively working to try to replace me. I thought instead, I’d replace myself first with a new me. It’s harder to hit a moving target.”

“By the time an artist is mature enough to psychologically deal with the job, they throw you out at 29, typically.”

“In the ’90s and ’00s, it seems like the music industry just said: ‘OK, let’s take a bunch of teenagers, throw them into a fire, and watch what happens. By the time they’ve accumulated enough wisdom to do their job effectively, we’ll find new teenagers.’” 

On the two major career events: 

“It’s not lost on me that the two great catalysts for this happening were two horrendous things that happened to me.”

“The first was getting canceled within an inch of my life and sanity. The second was having my life’s work taken away from me by someone who hates me.”

Kim Kardashian feud 

In 2016, Kanye West released a song, “Famous” where he sings: “I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex / I made that bitch famous.”

West later said that Swift had consented to the lyrics. Swift denied this. A few months later, West’s then-wife Kim Kardashian claimed in a GQ interview: “[Taylor] totally approved that. She totally knew that that was coming out. She wanted to all of a sudden act like she didn’t. I swear, my husband gets so much shit for things [when] he really was doing proper protocol and even called to get it approved.” 

She also called Swift a snake on Instagram. The following month, Kardashian released Snapchat receipts of Swift appearing to give Kanye permission to release “Famous.”

Swift immediately released a Notes app statement: 

“Where is the video of Kanye telling me he was going to call me ‘that bitch’ in his song? It doesn’t exist because it never happened. You don’t get to control someone’s emotional response to being called ‘that bitch’ in front of the entire world.”

“Being falsely painted as a liar when I was never given the full story or played any part of the song is character assassination. I would very much like to be excluded from this narrative, one that I have never asked to be a part of, since 2009.”

After the scandal, Swift told TIME this week she felt like she was in “a career death.”

“Make no mistake—my career was taken away from me. I had all the hyenas climb on and take their shots.” 

“You have a fully manufactured frame job, in an illegally recorded phone call, which Kim Kardashian edited and then put out to say to everyone that I was a liar.”

“That took me down psychologically to a place I’ve never been before. I moved to a foreign country. I didn’t leave a rental house for a year. I was afraid to get on phone calls. I pushed away most people in my life because I didn’t trust anyone anymore. I went down really, really hard.”

“I thought that moment of backlash was going to define me negatively for the rest of my life.”

“The Scooter Thing”

In June 2019, Scooter Braun’s Ithaca Holdings acquired Scott Borchetta’s Big Machine Label Group, which included Swift’s entire catalog at that point, which was valued at US$140 million. 

The sale meant that Braun owned the rights to Swift’s first six albums, and any time someone requested license to a song, he would pocket the money. 

“With the Scooter thing, my masters were being sold to someone who actively wanted them for nefarious reasons, in my opinion,” Swift told TIME. 

“I was so knocked on my ass by the sale of my music, and to whom it was sold.”

“I was like, ‘Oh, they got me beat now. This is it. I don’t know what to do.’”

“I’d run into Kelly Clarkson and she would go, ‘Just redo it.’” 

“My dad kept saying it to me too. I’d look at them and go, ‘How can I possibly do that?’ Nobody wants to redo their homework if on the way to school, the wind blows your book report away.” 

Swift rerecorded her all her songs, and released them as “Taylor’s Version”. 

“It’s all in how you deal with loss. I respond to extreme pain with defiance.”

“If you look at what I’ve put out since then, it’s more albums in the last few years than I did in the first 15 years of my career.” 

“Nothing is permanent. So I’m very careful to be grateful every second that I get to be doing this at this level, because I’ve had it taken away from me before. There is one thing I’ve learned: My response to anything that happens, good or bad, is to keep making things. Keep making art.”

“But I’ve also learned there’s no point in actively trying to quote unquote defeat your enemies. Trash takes itself out every single time.”

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On Feminism

“If we have to speak stereotypically about the feminine and the masculine. Women have been fed the message that what we naturally gravitate toward—”

“Girlhood, feelings, love, breakups, analysing those feelings, talking about them nonstop, glitter, sequins! We’ve been taught that those things are more frivolous than the things that stereotypically gendered men gravitate toward, right?” 

“And what has existed since the dawn of time? A patriarchal society. What fuels a patriarchal society? Money, flow of revenue, the economy. So actually, if we’re going to look at this in the most cynical way possible, feminine ideas becoming lucrative means that more female art will get made. It’s extremely heartening.”

You can read the full interview with TIME here.

The post ‘It’s harder to hit a moving target’: The remarkable evolution of Taylor Swift laid bare in Time’s Person of the Year Interview appeared first on Women's Agenda.

Grand Theft Auto (GTA), the last iteration of which came out in September 2013, has revealed its long-anticipated sequel – the sixth in the game’s series, will feature a young female lead named Lucia. 

The trailer for GTA6 dropped on Monday this week, and amassed over 26 million views within two hours. 

The 90 second trailer, soundtracked with Tom Petty’s 1989 single, Love is a Long Road, shows the franchise’s first female protagonist traverse through a Miami-like city called Vice City with an unnamed male character, their adventures filled with bank robberies and car chases and violent shoot-outs — classic GTA territory. 

The makers of GTA, Rockstar Games, said the game will likely drop some time in 2025. 

A female protagonist is a pretty big deal, considering the extraordinary gender imbalance in gaming, and the fact that the previous game, GTA5, saw players toggle between three delinquent male characters. 

GTA6 is expected to sell a lot of copies. GTA5 was one of the bests-selling games of all time, selling over 190 million copies since its release, and generating over US$7.7 billion in revenue to date.

Perhaps a female lead might address the historic sexism rife in gaming? 

In March this year, researchers at the University of Glasgow found games included twice as much male dialogue as female dialogue on average. 

The study, which was the largest-ever study of video game dialogue, discovered that 94 per cent of games had more male dialogue than female dialogue, including games with several female protagonists like Final Fantasy X-2 or King’s Quest VII.

In fact, only three games among a total of fifty had more than 50 per cent female dialogue. 

Good news is that the study also found the proportion of female dialogue is steadily rising with more recent games.  If the trend continues however, it will still take more than a decade to reach parity, according to the researchers. 

One expert from Cardiff University warned that more dialogue doesn’t necessarily mean better gender representation. 

Dr Roberts, Lecturer at Cardiff’s School of English, Communication and Philosophy, said “Around half of gamers are female, but they experience a lot of abuse and exclusion.”

“More diverse representation is being called for by players and developers. So we hope that developers will consider addressing the imbalances we found in order to create more inclusive games”.

The post Best selling video game gets its first female lead appeared first on Women's Agenda.

Middleton’ career has seen her involved in events curation, screen production and journalism across multiple institutes including Walkley Awards for Excellence in Journalism, ABC, SBS, The Ethics Centre, and Judith Neilson Institute for Journalism and Ideas. 

Middleton said she is “thrilled” about her new appointment, especially “at this important time as we move to represent more women in all facets of media, creating opportunities that empower them to network, enhance their skills, and attain career progression and well-deserved recognition.” 

With her expertise in editorial leadership, live programming, screen production, and digital strategy, Middleton will work towards generating a more inclusive and supportive environment for women in the industry. 

Co-chair of Women in Media, Anita Jacoby AM said, “Kym brings a wealth of media experience and industry skills to lead Women in Media in the next significant phase of our growth.”

“With more than 6,400 members and growing, we’re delighted to welcome her onboard and look forward to a stellar year in 2024 and beyond.” 

The Women in Media Industry Insight Report 2023 revealed that nearly a third of women working in media were thinking about leaving their job in the next 12 months, while over half said they were either unsure or explicitly dissatisfied with the progress of their careers. 

Middleton will begin her role in January 2024. 

The post Kym Middleton appointed General Manager of Women in Media Australia appeared first on Women's Agenda.