Kristen Stewart got pap’d so much in NYC last week, I didn’t even get the chance to use all of the new photos of her. So here’s a hodge-podge of K-Stew pics from the last week. Enjoy! Kristen managed to avoid being pap’d with Nicholas Hoult, even though he came out to her NYFF premiere and after-party – they were reportedly pretty tight at the party, so take that however you want. Kristen also sat down with The Daily Beast for a lengthy interview about Camp X-Ray last week (it was published on Saturday). You can read the full piece here. Most of the conversation is about Gitmo and the politics of Gitmo and terrorism. Kristen also talks about the people who think she cannot act, plus her thoughts on feminism. Some highlights:
Taking two years off, then working with a first-time director on Camp X-Ray: “I’m never really that precious about choosing projects that don’t have every sure element that is a guaranteed good experience and/or success. There’s a lot of risk involved in this job, and it doesn’t bother me… I’ve had experiences that have made me go, ‘Ugh, I have to be careful and make sure that every part is sturdy and that I won’t be let down.’ If I was a director, I would be extremely conscious of my filmography. It says so much about the difference between putting your name on something and owning it instead of being one tiny part of it. Actors get to work all the time. If I make a bad movie every once in a while, I don’t care. I didn’t work after Snow White for about two years, but it’s because a lot of these projects didn’t come together. I’m decisive, but I’m definitely not a planner.”
The criticism that she can’t act: “Honestly, I don’t care. It’s fine. I’m really happy doing what I’m doing. I’m sure there are a ton of people out there who would hate my movies even if they saw all those, just as I’m sure there are people out there who are obsessed with Twilight and say, ‘I watched the series, and she completely let me down, and then I watched every one of her other movies, and I f–kin’ hate her!’ And that’s cool! Just don’t watch my movies.”
Whether she’s politically active: “I don’t want to talk about that s–t at all. Trust me, I’m only asking for it. When it comes time to stand up and affect change, I’m not the type of person to shout from the rooftops. Just because you’re an actor and in the public eye, people think that’s how you must be. But there are other ways to do that. That’s not me.
She’s confused why some young women don’t identify with feminism: “That’s such a strange thing to say, isn’t it? Like, what do you mean? Do you not believe in equality for men and women? I think it’s a response to overly-aggressive types. There are a lot of women who feel persecuted and go on about it, and I sometimes am like, ‘Honestly, just relax, because now you’re going in the other direction.’ Sometimes, the loudest voice in the room isn’t necessarily the one you should listen to. By our nature alone, think about what you’re saying and say it—but don’t scream in people’s faces, because then you’re discrediting us. Relating it to my one little avenue, people say, “If you want to make it in the film industry as a woman, you have to be a bitch.” No, you are going to ruin any chance you have and give us a bad name. It’s the overcompensation to where our generation goes, “Relax,” because it’s been easier for us, and because we don’t have as much of the anger, so it’s like we can’t get behind it and it’s a bit embarrassing. But that being said, it’s a really ridiculous thing to say you’re not a feminist.
Kristen’s answer on the feminism question is classic Kristen – for most of the answer, I thought she was going off in one direction (the “women need to stop complaining about inequality” direction) and then she does an about-face at the very end with the “of course you should identify with feminism” direction. Can you talk sincerely about feminism if you had a high-profile affair with your married director? I’m honestly asking.
There’s also a somewhat interesting discussion about Catherine Hardwicke, the director of the first Twilight movie, and how Hardwicke was basically chased out of Hollywood after the failure of Red Riding Hood. Kristen doesn’t defend her former director and champion specifically at all, but she does say that what happened to Hardwicke was “f—ked up” and that women need to “persevere” in the industry to make it.
Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet.
Thank you, Kristen. Let’s all not try and find a reason to bash this woman and instead focus on her spreading awareness for a great common cause.
Yeah, I find no reason to bash her because I get exactly what she’s saying. Like any group that isn’t embraced by the mainstream, feminism has a very vocal fringe group who are angry, don’t shave or wear bras and look at you crazy if you do, and hate men. These are the loudest on college campuses and most regular young people don’t identify with that. They think that’s what feminism is. Clearly it’s not, and she’s saying that those women do a real disservice to everyone, which is true.
I don’t think it’s fair to say she can’t have part in a feminist conversation when one can say she is a victim of the paternal construct. Her experiences define our society not necessarily her philosophy. We wouldn’t tell a prostitute her views don’t matter when it comes to how men treat women. Stop making women’s voices not count, even if it’s not the voice you agree with.
For the first time ever I agree with her 100% and adore her haircut. And yes, women can chat about feminism post-affair!
Oh and ‘The Lake of Dreams’ is a great novel about women’s rights and the suffrage movement. It really got me on fire for the true meaning of feminism.
What does feminism have to do with monogamy and illicit sex? and making mistakes… The promiscuous and the foolish can’t be feminists?
This! I really dislike labels, and if anything I would be closer to an “equalist”, but since when is “feminism” the paragon of perfection? People who self-identify as feminists are still prone to errors of judgement just like everybody else. I very much doubt that people double check that every single action in their lives is consistent with their views on femininism or anything else. That would be a burden and not at all human nature.
Thank you. If we’re waiting on someone who’s lived a perfect life to extol the virtues of feminism, we’re gonna be waiting a long time.
Well said, thank you.
All people make mistakes, but women and feminists get absolutely pullover for it.
“When a man does something stupid, people say, “Isn’t he stupid?” When a woman does something stupid, people say, “Aren’t women stupid?”
Her comments are persecuted people are just as shallow as those of What’s-Her-Face, Sunny HooHa. Wait, lemme take a moment out of being persecuted for something other than having a voluntary affair, to consult Miss Manners so I don’t offend somebody who makes a couple million dollars a film. Wonder if anybody even THINKS that about anybody BUT women.
Agree!
Agree! Feminism asserts that women have the right to be viewed as “human” rather than defined by/confined to gender stereotypes. Does it show a lack of sisterhood?… yea I would say so. However, that is perpetuating one of the negative spins many like to place on Feminism. That it’s supposed to be this sisterhood against all things masculine.
I thought maybe Kaiser’s question was not so much about the hypothetical sisterhood, but the idea of sleeping one’s way up the ladder, to the top. I could be wrong about her intention in the question.
Yeah but Kristen was much more famous than him at the time, so how would that be a move up the ladder? She was already kind of at the top. If anything, this ruined (temporarily?) her career.
@kiddo
There is zero proof that Kristen ever slept her way up the ladder for a part in a film so why hint at it now? Kristen was more famous than Sanders when Snow White was filmed. Most people never heard of him prior to SWATH.
I think it’s really sleazy to take up with a married man but he’s the one in the marriage so why don’t people go after HIM? He’s the homewrecker, not her. He made that choice.
Besides the lack of sisterhood, sleeping with your boss and claiming that women should get equal pay for equal work don’t fit together very well. I see her point, but I see all of your points as well. We can’t claim that an imperfect person has no right to believe in any cause.
That’s what I thought too, GNAT. It’s a question of ethics in the workplace, and although not all feminists are ethical and bound to this hypothetical sisterhood, sleeping with the boss does give someone an edge over others and creates unfairness, or at least the appearance of preferential treatment, real or perceived.
“sleeping with your boss and claiming that women should get equal pay for equal work don’t fit together very well”
Why not? The two are not connected. There’s nothing wrong with her sleeping with her boss and demanding equal pay for equal work. If she demanded more pay that her share of work allows, that would be anti-feminist.
Also, I agree with people above. Her sleeping with a married man doesn’t make her anti-feminist. It’s just a thing they both did and regret it later (because they were caught). Human error.
Agree with Crocuta.
Saying that someone who is “sleeping their way to the top” is wrong is simply making a value judgment about sex.
For instance, I know a guy who works for a competing firm and has little-to-no-knowledge about our industry as a whole. He’s worked his way into a very prominent position simply by befriending higher-ups and possessing some pretty impeccable golf skills (huge asset for schmoozing in the insurance industry).
He’s very well-liked despite his lack of actual credentials and no one ever accuses him of ass-kissing his way to the top, even though that’s exactly what he did. He used his natural charisma, charm, and likability to get ahead in a very competitive industry, so why should women not use their attractiveness to get ahead?
Furthermore, what about Rupert Sander’s responsibility as a director? If K Stew gets accused of sleeping her way to the top, then at the very least Sanders should be accused of using his position of power to get sex. And on a personal level, I don’t think that’s what happened there at all. I think those two genuinely dug each other. *shrugs*
@Kitten, Ruppert has unethical behavior on a variety of levels, including betraying someone he made a commitment to, using his power to gain favors and potentially creating a hostile work environment, but no one posed a question about him.
Men are typically paid men’s wages, whether or not they sleep with anyone at work. Women, on the other hand, are paid about .77 to the dollar of men’s wages, so whatever else they bring to the table, including sexual favors, may make the difference in pay and treatment. Again, I don’t know what her motivations were. She may have just found him very attractive aside from the power dynamic. Just putting this in a different perspective, with her other comment of don’t be a bitch, “you’ll ruin it for us”.
If someone wants to make a living via sleeping around or even being a sex worker, it could be argued that that is their choice, if you remove the legality equation.
That’s not a position I’m hinging the question on because she is a straight forward mainstream actress.
Hear, hear. We can’t very well argue for sexual equality, then clutch our pearls when a lass flings her biscuit around as she pleases.
@crocuta
The two are connected in that for generations, successful women have been accused of using sex to get ahead. This stereotype has held women back and been used to belittle the abilities of women as compared to men. I’ve seen it in the workplace many times when an attractive woman got ahead sooner than expected. It was never her ability, as would be the assumption if she was a man. It was something sexual she did. Women have also been exploited for generations in “casting couch” situations.
Also, as Kiddo says, how can you claim you work is “equal” when you are using an unfair advantage over both male and female coworkers? Perhaps you are as good at your work as they are, but by sleeping with the boss, that argument is shoved aside. The reason for your advancement is unclear.
So, while I agree with you that you can have an affair with your boss and still be a feminist, and I don’t think KS was trying to get ahead with her affair, nor do I think she DID get ahead because of it, I think women who use sex to advance their careers are detrimental to the cause of feminism in general, just as men who exploit women in return for career advancement are. It muddies the waters.
@Kiddo-I don’t think the question being posed or not negates my point that most people glossed over Rupert Sanders’s professional misconduct and focused on K Stew’s behavior when this story broke. Not unusual that the woman would take the fall, BTW.
As far as the discrepancy in pay, I don’t think that sexual favors is relevant to that, at least not in the context we’re discussing here. Speaking specifically about climbing the corporate ladder, higher positions warrant higher pay, regardless of gender. So a man using his ability to “bro out” with his boss, talk sports, and grab after-work beers while watching the football game to advance his career isn’t any different to me than a woman using her appearance, flirtation (or sex, if she so decides) to get ahead. That was my only point.
There are certain advantages inherent to men in a playing field that is largely run by men. Men don’t see it as problematic to take advantage of that, and neither should women. Now, it stands to say that if sexual relationships between higher-ups and their subordinates is against corp policy, then you’re rolling the dice with that kind of a move. Still, it’s interesting that fraternizing outside of work between higher-ups and subordinates is rarely, if ever, frowned-upon. On the contrary, bonding with bosses is largely encouraged in Corporate America. Advantage: Men.
In the end, it’s a personal choice based on one’s own sense or morality. I just don’t see why one gender should be crucified for using what essentially amounts to a competitive edge.
@Kitten, Sharing sports stories and bro-ness doubles down on the culture of men in power. These are interests and hobbies. Reverting to sexual submission for equal consideration is a different thing altogether and reemphasizes that body and sexual appeal are what women most have to offer, rather than any common ground found in humanness, in general. Again, I’m not proffering that that was her goal. Just adding a different dimension to the question being posed.
*Higher on ladder=higher pay, but necessarily equal regarding gender on the same step or rung.
I don’t really think anyone was crucifying her. To be frank, I thought at the time that the affair was a set-up to make her more interesting and to kill the narrative of she and sparkles together. The photos looked so staged. What the hell do I know, obvs?
@ GoodNamesAllTaken
I know women have been accused of that, but by agreeing with them you only contribute to the problem. None of us knows how much she was paid and why. Most likely her contract was negotiated before filming & the affair anyway. Also, comparing wages of actors is extremely hard: first of all, we usually don’t know the numbers, second, some are more bankable than others and hence earn more money. I doubt there are 2 that are 100% comparable. Also, she was the highest paid woman in Hollywood in 2011/2012 because of her Twilight popularity, so she worked her way to that money (no mater how crappy her films and her acting is).
My point is, she can have sex with whomever she wants and you can’t accuse her of putting women’s issues down because of that. She earned her big bucks. Your prejudice is not her fault.
@Kiddo-Yeah I get what you’re saying. I really do. But that’s why I made the comment that people who have a problem with it are making a value judgment about sex. If women had the ability to bond with men the way men are able to bond with each other, then sex wouldn’t enter into the equation, because it would be an equal playing field.
I posted below that at 25 years old, I had the opportunity to have an affair with my boss at the time. I didn’t do so because it’s against my moral code-it’s unethical. My decision had nothing to do with some obligation to uphold my feminist ideals, or a fear that others might find out and accuse me of using sex for advancement—it was simply morally reprehensible to me. That being said, I don’t think that a woman who has sex with a married boss for the sake of professional advancement instantly loses feminist cred– but I WILL side-eye her for what I perceive to be immoral behavior. I would do the same to a man, by the way.
EDIT: Ugh so many redundancies in my post. Sorry, I’m having trouble with brevity (again) today.
@Kitten, Just happy to see you back, anti-brevity or pro-brevity, lol
Only that people still try to spin the story as if Rupert Sanders was her boss. he was not. He was a first time director and Kristen came from a huge franchise. SHE had the power in that relationship. if she didnt want to work with him, the studio would have agreed, they always do for major talent.
also look where their careers are now. if Sanders hadnt done it he would be in big demand now, Snow White was a success. Kristen is doing great, being considered as an Oscar contender, Rupert is not.
there was a clear power imbalance, it was in Kristens favour. the fallout from their affair was also imbalanced, in Kristens favour. Rupert lost a lot of jobs and more than half of his net worth. i dont feel sorry for him, but its really not like women get punished and men walk away from it. in this story its the complete opposite.
@Crocuta
I’m not making myself clear, or you’re putting words in my mouth, or both. In any event, we will just have to agree to disagree. I can’t do these 10 inch columns where I end up defending myself against things I never said. It just bores and frustrates me. You are missing my point entirely. But that’s your problem, not mine.
“Most likely her contract was negotiated before filming & the affair anyway.”
It ABSOLUTELY was. You do not commence filming until talent contracts are locked down and the ink is dry. Her salary, wage schedule, and bonus ladder (if one existed) would already have been negotiated. Any riders for potential sequels and the pay-out clauses should those options not be taken would already be agreed upon. Whether you believe Kristen Stewart and Rupert Sanders started messing around during filming or not until the movie was already complete (their timeline of events), any way you cut it Kristen’s financials were already locked down.
She is a terrible example to use for the sex in the workplace debate. Rupert Sanders had no power over her. He couldn’t have gotten her removed from that project. She was one of the marquee names the producers were banking on, he was first-time features director. He was not her “boss”, he was her director. The boss on a film set is the producer, who does all the hiring and firing. She worked for the studio, not Rupert Sanders.
She did something selfish and dumb, but that in no way affects her ability to be a feminist or discuss feminism. Her comments about Catherine Hardwicke and how hard it is for a female director to bounce back after a failure are much more germane.
I don’t think her involvement with Sanders has any impact on her ability to be a feminist. She wasn’t sleeping with him as an opportunist, she already had the job and he wasn’t her boss, but her co-worker.
Honestly, true equality would mean that your sex life has NO implication on your employment (unless you are an employer, of course).
Please excuse the autocorrect madness in my posts. I swear to god, I correct it all, then it laughs at me and mischievously switches it all merrily back.
Agree with Dolce Crema. It’s almost as if this affair disqualifies this woman from life. Of course you can be a feminist and get caught up in a seduction by an older married man. The latter is not the right thing to do but that has nothing to do with the presence or absence of feminist values. None of us knows exactly what Rupert told her about the status of his marriage, and his ex-wife has since publicly admitted that they had known each other for so long that the relationship had become stale and they had been living like brother and sister. That is a marriage that was over. The problem for Rupert is that his wife was not ready to break up their family — and that is a perfectly reasonable position. But Kirsten had nothing to do with any of that and should not be blamed for the inevitable end of an already dead arrangement. Heck if public outcry was not so severe, Kirsten might be living with Rupert right now. But as a woman she dare not take that risk. We still have a looooooong way to go.
Exactly! Why put down another woman for her personal indiscretions? That’s not exactly feminist either is it?
Thank you! Affairs have nothing to do with equality. I think Kristen said her piece about feminism pretty well. She at least knows what the hell it means, unlike most young women in Hollywood.
Thank you. I thought that was a cheap shot. Unless you are suggesting that she is sleeping her way to the top instead of getting there through her work. Although I don’t think that was the situation at all.
Personally I thought she gave a really good response. I especially liked her point about being the loudest person in the room. It IS overcompensation. Sometimes that is necessary. It really is. But a lot of times it is counterproductive. She makes a good point.
I’m not sure why having an affair would prevent her from being a feminist, they aren’t related at all.
ITA. Not sure why anybody would think that having an affair would disqualify a woman from being and/or talking about feminism.
Having an affair with her boss…
” Can you talk honestly about feminism if you had a high-profile affair with your married director?”
Yes, of course. What does that have to do with feminism?
Ding!
Why couldn’t she talk honestly about feminisn because she had a high-profile affair with her married director? The one has nothing to do with the other.
Feminism has nothing to do with the director tryst. I think what she says here is ok, at least she knows what it means.
She rambles. But her answer on feminism says to me that she actually understands the argument and not only that, she also understands why some people are misunderstanding it. She’s as inarticulate as hell but at least there’s understanding in there, once you’ve parsed out the waffle!
Agreed. And I don’t think having an affair disqualifies you from being a feminist.
On a superficial note, I like her hair. It suits her style really well.
Yes, I actually thought her reasoning behind the reluctance by some women of her generation to get behind feminism was very sound. They HAVE had it easier, and the anger isn’t there, so they just don’t relate to very strident feminists. I think that applies to a lot of women. But she also gets what feminism really is, and I loved her saying that it’s stupid for a woman to say she’s not feminist. Because it is.
While I agree with your notion in theory, there’s a part of her philosophy that comes across as ‘be nice’, don’t cause ripples, “you’ll ruin it for us”, and this is kind of problematic coming from someone who may or may not have slept with the boss for gain, which is really sort of an old world phenomena. I can’t speak to motivations. He might have simply been irresistible without the power dynamic and potential for advancement as being most attractive.
As an aside, I’m really sick of the feminism questions posed to actresses. She’s right in that most shouldn’t be spokespersons for any causes.
@GNAT – you should market yourself as a Stewart interpreter! Maybe the issue is when her spoken responses are transcribed, they lose something, because I was having hard time understanding what she was really trying to say. Thanks for the clarity.
That said maybe it also had to do with what @Kiddo pointed out, that her logic seemed faulty. At first, feminism yeah! But then she sort of couches that enthusiasm by calling women out for being too loud and “bitchy” about it.
If anything, this perhaps serves as a pretty good example of the conflict many of her generation have with feminism.
In terms of framing her comments in context if her life, what complicates this more in my eyes is not so much sleeping with her director, but the fact that she gained fame and fortune playing a character many believe was a strong non-feminist example.
@Kiddo I see where you’re coming from, but I don’t think any of that pertains to her. What would she have to gain from sleeping with her director? This wasn’t a situation where she was an unknown actress trying to get a part or trying to get ahead. She’d already had her breakout role and in my opinion already “made it.” The affair hurt her, certainly didn’t give her any advantages.
Kiddo, I see your point, too.
@MrsB, I didn’t state anything definitively, I don’t know her, I was responding to Kaiser’s question in the way that I parsed it, although I wasn’t certain what she intended.
To be abundantly honest, I don’t really care, one way or another. I was questioning the aspects of this situation from different angles.
@Kiddo: But Sanders was not her boss. he isnt Spielberg who would have had all the power. he was a first time director. Kristen could have gotten rid off him if she wanted, he couldnt have gotten rid of her. the studio wanted her and they would have found someone else to direct.
i also agree that Kristen at least tries to understand the other side, Emma Watson simply said “it has to stop” instead of adressing that the movement has a problem with lots of vocal people being jerks and damaging the whole movement.
@Sara, point taken, as said below, I thought the affair was staged. I was playing devil’s advocate and working out other points of views out loud.
But on a personal note, I very much dislike anyone advocating or dictating tone to any other person navigating an imbalance. It’s almost a throwback to enforcing being ladylike and not raising your voice, don’t be uppity and most of all, don’t be a bitch. KWIM?
She may not have been articulating that as her own position, but ascribing it to the debate at large. Still, “don’t ruin it for us’ part is irritating.
kiddo, im not talking about the tone but about the content. dont tell me you never saw vicicious feminists hating men in a very public way. i tried to argue that with a couple of feminist friends but they shut me down saying “the oppressed have a right to hate their oppressor” well first of all men are not the opressors, you cant hold Joe from accounting responsible for what men in management do or men centuries ago did. second of all: i am generally against hatred, so finding excuses for it makes my blood boil. as if the hatred would suddenly stop when equality is reached. ridiculous.
im fine with women yelling and being angry but not fine with blatant bigotry masked at social criticism.
i read a lot of the times that men are responsible for the actions of other men. no they are not, we all are. And frankly if feminists expect men based on their gender to be responsible for other men than feminists are also obivously responsible for the nutters in their movement. there i always hear t he excuse “you have extremists in every movement” the same could be said about men “you’ll always have violent people”.
and feminism has historically always been exclusionary, first against non white women, then after transexualism became more known to the public against transgender people etc. so there are good reasons why people have problems with that label and only blaming it on right wing nutters spewing lies wont help.
@Sara, I’ve heard of all of the man hating feminists, but in my life, I have never known one personally. That’s not to say that they don’t exist or haven’t existed. But I don’t think they are the loudest voices today. I understand the sentiment about the movement being exclusionary. Still, her comment was about not being a bitch, which isn’t descriptive of any of the other points above, so it does go toward tone. You can be angry without hating any group.
I got that too! I appreciated the acknowledgement that her generation has not dealt with what my generation dealt with and certainly my mother’s generation. I see progress in attitudes. Still work to be done of course but there is improvement.
Yes! That’s what I was coming to type but ended up getting sidetracked by the comments and being relieved that other posters got that having an affair with a married director does not at all discount you from being a feminist.
Have never been a fan of hers but her answer is as perfect as an answer as we’ll get from her generation. Take note, Shailene, Taylor, and others.
Now stop making me like you, Kristen.
What does her having an affair have anything to do with her being a feminist? Because she went back behind Liberty’s back and had an affair with her husband? (And didn’t support her fellow female?). I think the question we should be asking instead is, why the affair has affected Kristen’s career so much? Because we don’t expect women to act in that way? Isn’t that what feminism is trying to fix?
how has it affected Ruperts career? a lot of more than Kristens.
I’m going to create a drinking game for every time a celebrity uses the word feminist. its getting to be overkill now
You’re going to be inebriated for a while, Daria.
It really has been treated like a fad/cause du jour lately.
I don’t see it as a trend. I see it as a reflection of the female awakening that is happening right now. Around the world, we have been the majority for a long time but our numbers are not reflected in the societies we live in. Women are starting to take action to acknowledge and correct this injustice.
It isn’t “why are they talking about this now”, but really “why weren’t they talking about this before?”
But people *were* talking about feminism before. It’s not like any of these celebrities are the next Gloria Steinem or Naomi Wolf; they’re saying things that I’ve heard even in middle school back in the 90s. I mean, it’s certainly better than saying that they’re against it, but to me it seems like another celebrity cause like how AIDS, environmentalism and “Africa” were back in the day.
Feminism has been around for decades, but it is having a resurgence now. I don’t understand the idea of being against something *just* because it is more popular or common than it was before.
Those celebrities that rallied around AIDS back in the day…yeah, that actually did some good. It brought in funds, it de-stigmatized AIDS and now we are in a place where those with the disease can live for long periods of time. When AIDS first came out, nurses would leave patients sitting in filth and wouldn’t care for them because of the disease. Things are much different now, and it is for the better. So maybe we don’t have another Gloria Steinem in this bunch, but perhaps we have a Liz Taylor, who used her celebrity to make great strides for a great cause.
I don’t see where I said I was against feminism? I said that celebrities are treating it like a fad.
I get where you’re coming from re: Liz Taylor et al., but like other posters said below, the current discussion on feminism seems superficial – it’s just hashtag activism but doesn’t lead to action. and it’s jarring, at least for me, to read about celebrities who have spent most of their careers crafting a “I’m not like those girls, I’m better because I [insert trait here]” persona suddenly talking about how they love feminism and how not everything has to be a girl fight, etc.
I didn’t say you were against feminism, but you are against people speaking out about it in 2014, apparently.
Activism isn’t just about grand gestures. It is the little things that make an impact as well. Correcting misconceptions about what feminism means IS a form of activism, and it is beneficial to the overall good.
I get what she was saying about femminism, and I’m glad she didn’t give a (completely) stupid answer.
what does having an affair have to do with feminism? nothing
I don’t see what her affair has to do with feminism. Plus she was still pretty young at the time, that situation was more his fault, he was older and married and should’ve known better, she was 22 at the time, I cringe thinking about the things I did at that age! I’m a completely different person 10 years later, so glad my mistakes weren’t played out in the media.
I didn’t know Catherine Hardwicke got chased out of Hollywood, that’s unfortunate. I’ve always thought Twilight was the best movie out of the series, she seemed to get the characters and I liked how she interlaced a lot of music in the film. The other movies I thought were a little ridiculous, Eclipse was especially bad with the make up worn by the vampires, it just wasn’t believable and I’m shocked any director would look at them on film and think they looked good.
Anyway, I’ve thought way too much about this, lol.
I didn’t know about Catherine Hardwicke being chased out of Hollywood either. Honestly, I thought she was still directing but more low key projects these days. I hope it’s not true. I liked Hardwicke’s Dogtown and Twilight alot. I still think the first Twilight movie was the best of the saga even on a very tight budget.
i wrote this in another thread: we sent people to war at 18, so we can expect at 22 year old to act in a responsible way.
We can expect 22 year olds to act in a responsible way, but we shouldn’t be surprised when they don’t.
Algernon, true but that goes for people of all ages. what i want to say is simply that at that age the age cannot be an excuse as we expect so many other things from 22 year olds and rightly so. in every country i know you are treated like an adult legally when you hit 21.
@Sara What is your definition of ‘acting like an adult’ is though? KSew has a career, she makes her own decisions, just like an adult. Regardless of her affair with a married man, she is an adult who acts like an adult. A soldier might do/say stupid shit too, being an adult doesn’t mean being sensible, intelligent and wise. What K.Stew did doesn’t negate her adulthood or feminism, it only indicates that she might not be an honest person. In time she may turn into an amazing person but right now she is young and making some mistakes.
I sort of understand what you’re saying but I don’t think you can compare the two, going to war is completely different than having an affair. Plus, the government decided to put that responsibility on them at 18, doesn’t mean they’re actually mature enough to handle war, they just don’t know any better and military life is glorified. They offer financial stability and freedom from parents, which is what all teenagers want, they don’t realize how hard it’s going to be, and I think the government knows that and uses it to their advantage, most kids aren’t thinking about getting married or having a family at 18, so they’ll be more likely to sign up for the military. That was my point about Kristen, she probably just didn’t know better, she likely wasn’t thinking about Rupert’s children or wife and the family she was intruding upon, we’re ruled by hormones and selfishness at that age, for the most part, he however knew better. He was in his 40’s and made a commitment to his wife and children and knew the possible consequences, that’s why I say it’s more his fault, I don’t give her a total pass, but she was young and naive, and that’s my opinion on the situation.
She’s gotten very savvy about how to answer these tough questions. in the past, she was a mess, now she seems to know how to say something without saying anything at all.
I don’t give a sh!t about any “ism” anymore. All these great XX century ideas are dead in my opinion. We got to the point where it starts to eat its own tail because we are not able to figure out what next.
Yes, you can talk about feminism if you had an affair with your director. Feminism is here to make sure that women are treated as humans, and humans are not infallible. Feminism makes sure that you’re responsible for your actions, BECAUSE you’re a capable, adult human.
In fact I tend to think that it’s quite unfeminist to continuously crap on a person for years upon years and doubting their views on something because they did a dishonorable thing. You cover many male cheaters on this site but only Kristen gets an obligatory reference to her affair in almost every simple article. Might want to examine why that is. Because she broke the ‘girl code?’
I thought feminism was about gender equality and gender issues. Did Kristen take away Liberty’s right to vote or something by sleeping with her husband? (a ridiculous hyperbole to a ridiculous notion presented in this article).
I couldn’t have said it better. KUDOS for your comment.
Great post.
I dislike Kristen as an actress, but I think she’s right in what she’s saying here. She seems to have a good grasp of the issue, as well as the reasons why many of her generation are afraid of the word and don’t understand it, even though they certainly expect to reap the benefits of it.
Catherine Hardwicke did some TV directing and producing, and is now filming a Drew Barrymore/Toni Collette movie, so she hasn’t been driven out of Hollywood. If she stopped getting offers because of one flop, after a big success, that’s not really fair, as everyone has flops. Honestly it might have been the stink of Twilight keeping the good offers from coming in though.
No, it was definitely Red Riding Hood. Twilight made a bunch of money and elevated Hardwicke’s position in the industry, but Red Riding Hood made it look like the (financial) success of Twilight was due more to the material than the director (which is true, given that they ran through what, four directors?, and the movies remained financially successful regardless), and after RRH flopped all her offers went away and she was basically back at square one. What happened to Hardwicke happens any time a woman directs a flop: it takes her much longer to recover than a male director. Even successful female directors find it difficult to get financing for follow-up projects (compare to how many men get huge, high-profile franchise jobs as their first feature film). It’s much, much harder for women to direct than for men.
+1.000!!! let’s discuss how the affair basically
had repercussions only on her career. And why do people assume she slept with him for career advancement? She was already very famous and in demand at the time. She probably was genuinely attracted to him.
Not only on her career. Sanders has not directed any movies since, will not be directing SnowWhite 2.
He’s paying financially through a divorce.
I think the repercussions where fairly equal, she is the more famous of the two, with more visibility so you hear the “affair” mentioned more about her.
But whenever anything it written about him, you can be sure their tryst and his divorce is/will also be mentioned.
Just a few weeks BEFORE she got caught having an affair with a married man in a broad daylight, she gave an interview to ELLE mag,
“Maybe because my life is so perfect… I feel boring. I feel like, Why is everything so easy for me? I can’t wait for something crazy to f**king happen to me. Just life. I want someone to f**k me over! Do you know what I mean?”
It’s not that she is a Female that people are still talking about her affair. It’s because she is an unpleasant humanbeing, period.
It does not have anything to do with some “girl code” hahahaha
Out side of that being a stupid comment. I don’t understand why it makes her a unpleasant human being.
She acknowledges she has a good life and sometimes it’s boring. And she wants something bad to happen. And it did.
Why continue to harp on it?
Like that’s far from the worst comment made by her or any celeb but people won’t let it go.
And a requirement for being considered as a feminist is “not being an unpleasant human being”? Well sh*t sister, in that case I am the raging she-pope Pricktus XI of Patriarchy, residing in the Assholy capital of Jerkia. Currently busy trying to decide which fedora I should wear.
No, pretty, people, especially dumb 22-year-olds can feel bored with life and let’s be honest, up until that point girl must’ve had a very comfortable, uneventful, secure life. 22-yo’s also have the tendency to age, gain more insight and experience. Did she do dumb sh*t? Yes. Does she deserve to be given crap incessantly for it until the rest of her life? Sure why not if it satisfies you and keeps your poisoned knives sharp. But believe it or not, it’s not enough to rip her feminist card in two and ban her from Feminism forever. No, really.
I thought this affair was a set up at the time. It looked so staged. I didn’t really see chemistry. I thought it was a way to completely separate from the Sparkles on screen, off screen romance narrative. Who knows? Maybe it was, maybe it wasn’t. Maybe not everyone was in on the deal, or maybe I am full of sh.t. This has nothing to do with the other topic, the photos just never yelled ‘animal magnetism’ to me.
@Kiddo
I just don’t understand what anyone got out of this deal if it was staged. It damaged Kristen’s career and it’s effectively killed Rupert’s in terms of being a features director (for now, I’m sure he’ll be back at some point; dudes always get a second chance eventually). If Kristen and/or her team were going to orchestrate anything, it would’ve been a campaign to make people *like* her, not hate her even more and cast a stain on her reputation that will never go away.
I don’t see animal magnetism in their photos, either, but that’s because even though I think Kristen Stewart is very pretty, I don’t find her sexy, and I find Rupert Sanders both physically unappealing and undesirable. That doesn’t mean they weren’t feeling it, it just means that I don’t want to look at it.
@Algernon, just because something is planned doesn’t mean it goes as planned. If her team orchestrated it, it was a quick cut-off from the Twihards. As others have said, her career is intact and the long drawn out connection with sparkles was pulled away rapidly, like a band-aid, not slow and painfully dissolved over time.
The photos didn’t seem steamy to me on any level, I think that’s something that you can recognize regardless of the parties involved and whether or not you find any attractive or revolting. But they may have just been lukewarm lovers, if there is such a thing.
@Kiddo
I…guess? It just seems like the worst possible plan, with the highest probability of going absolutely nuclear. I’ve worked with a lot of publicists and I can’t imagine any of them thinking that would ever be a viable plan. Publicists, managers, agents, their first instinct is to preserve and protect, not risk. I just think they were dumb and selfish. If there was any planning, I think it was of the subconscious sort, like she wanted out of a relationship and didn’t have the maturity to handle it appropriately and so she latched onto the first thing she could that would serve as a molotov cocktail launched into the heart of that relationship. I think a part of her wanted to self-destruct, and she made that happen.
@Algernon, Yeah, I guess I wasn’t thinking so much of a full blown PR campaign.
At any rate, real or fake, it all seemed so very room temperature.
@Kiddo
I say this as someone who generally *likes* Kristen Stewart.
Everything about Kstew is so very room temperature.
@Algernon, I don’t mind her. But then again, I was never into Twilight, does that make a difference, you think?
@Kiddo
Yeah, I never got into that franchise (I saw the first two movies and laughed myself silly and never bothered again), so I was never invested in the Robsten thing, except that I do think she gets a disproportionate amount of flak because she was the unpopular girl dating the popular boy. Then she had the gall to step out on that boy, and the entire world ended. I generally like her, but I’ve never gotten why people care so much about her. I like her fashion sense and her fashion spreads, I think she’s stylish. She’s pretty inoffensive, as far as young actresses go. She could be saying much stupider stuff, lbr. Mostly she just seems like your typical upper-middle-class kid, angsting over nothing and eventing problems to be like, real, man. She’ll grow out of it. Indeed, seems like she is already growing out of it.
Seriously…’feminism’ may be the only word that Kristen actually used correctly in the last year of interviews…..
Her affair has nothing to do with whether or not she’s a feminist.
+1000000000000000000000000000000000
I like her answer on feminism. I don’t like that a fellow woman thinks she shouldn’t be considered a feminist because she had an affair at age 22. Continuing to judge any woman harshly for making a mistake that happened over 2 years ago isn’t a very feminist thing to do, imho. I don’t understand why some women can’t stop mentioning her 2+ year old affair at this point.
Totally +1. I’ve made foolish mistakes when it comes to men but still believe I’m a feminist. And I like her thougts on why some people are afraid of that label.
Having an affair makes her an as$
Who said you can’t be an as$ and a feminist? Feminism is the idea that men and women are equals, that they have the same rights.
That’s it. That’s just it.
I wish she did care more about the fact that she can’t act. She is like the female Keanu Reeves, where I don’t actually mind them as a person, but I hate when they get cast in movies that actually sound good, because I know they are going to make a mess of it.
Hey, no Keanu-bashing. Sad Keanu is still the best Keanu. I would enjoy the positive vibes from him.
(I know you were not really bashing Keanu!)
And may I add… what a fabulous screenname you have!
I have to agree about Keanu. How he’s still making movies is baffling. He also has one facial expression in every movie. I do think Kristen’s can get better if she wanted to.
Keanu Reeves still works because he was the star of several huge blockbusters once upon a time, which confers a certain status (he’s one of the last real movie stars), and also, he’s a nice guy. He’s personable, he works hard, he doesn’t complain. He gets the job done, no muss, no fuss. That goes a long way. People like working with him. Is he a great actor? No, but audiences like seeing him in a certain type of role and people like working with him, so he’ll continue to make kung fu-y action movies as long as he can.
Audiences didn’t want to see him in 47 Ronin because it didn’t do well at all.
Honestly, asking whether sleeping with a married man disqualifies you from commenting on feminism seems to display a profound misunderstanding about feminism. Modern feminism can go a bit too far in “you must support any choice a woman makes” but certainly one of the major components of feminism, in addition to workplace equality, is sexual equality and the ability to sleep around and make poor sexual choices with the same sort of impunity men have always enjoyed.
I really love Kristen’s hair.
Basically she’s saying it’s ok to be a Feminist as long as you’re not one of the women who “gos on about it” when they feel persecuted, but isn’t that kind of the point? Going on about things is how we fix inequality, standing up for what we believe is right is how we make things better. Where I live, women still don’t have the right to (reproductive) choice and freedom over their own bodies in that sense and I’m damn well going to keep speaking up about it until a change happens. If women just “relax” then, at least here, we’re just going to keep getting pushed to the side again, and I imagine it’s the same in many places. In my day to day I don’t go out shouting in people’s faces of course – but when it comes to making real political or societal change, I don’t think the Kristen brand of Feminism works.
Yeah, I wish she had left that part out, there are still many places in the world where a woman cannot pick herself back up and get her life back on track like she has managed to after an affair. Anyways, like she said, shes not politically active and she’s not trying to be the new face of feminism or anything. I wish they would stop asking young celebs about feminism in general. I like Kristen’s answer but the part you’ve highlighted is a little problematic for me, I like Taylor’s recent stance on feminism but she speaks out about supporting other women and disses Katy Perry in the same breath, Beyonce is feminist but not feminist enough according to Annie Lennox, Emma Watson is apparently catering solely to mainstream feminism. None of them will get it 100% right for everyone. *shrugs*
No, she’s saying that her generation has not had to be as angry as that of Bella Abzug. She is acknowledging that hers inherited a lot of change that a previous generation had had to get angry to achieve. And she is saying that being a feminist is such an obvious stance that she does not understand why it is even being debated. She is right on all points of course.
+1 betha! Nicely worded!
I feel as though you’re giving her comments more credit than they’re due. She doesn’t acknowledge the anger of previous generations at all as far as I can glean in that statement, (not to diminish that at all). She’s telling people to chill as though there’s no cause for anger in feminism anymore and actually I would argue that there is a reason to raise our voices on that point. Then again, she is coming from her cultural point of view and I’m coming from mine. It’s a lot easier to be chill about your rights as a woman when you actually have them, I suppose.
Cultural points are so important in feminism issues. I have been very lucky in life. Never got sexually/physically abused, never been put down by someone just because i am a woman etc. Yes, i do get dismissed sometimes because of my gender but while absolutely wrong, these things happens to every women. So i understand Kristen in that regard. I am not angry too, I just want equality.
Catherine Hardwick worked her tail off for T’light, and if memory serves, she still holds the record for biggest opener for a movie directed by a woman( she may have been supplanted by Frozen, tho to me, that’s apples and oranges). RRH was pretty to look at, but really didn’t engage the audience at all. She reportedly bailed on directing NM bec the turn around time was too fast. I like her as a director. OT- I was a bit shocked not to see any discussion re the T’light short film competition- hopefully more opportunities for women filmmakers!
I my opinion she is good actress and she is choosing interesting roles. Most people don’t like her as a person for what she did over 2 years ago. People are going to hate her no matter what she says or does.
I usually think she looks awkward but her hair and makeup look amazing in the black dress.
People should read the complete interview,because I find she contradicts herself big time.
When I was 25, I had an opportunity to sleep with a married boss.
I didn’t, and that was a moral decision–it was just completely unethical to me.
That being said, I’m not going to say that other women who make a different choice are not feminists or are somehow working against the feminist movement with their choices. They simply have a different set of moral values that I do and it has nothing to do with feminism. *shrugs*
Morals, and also maturity? When I was 26 I almost started an affair with a married, not boss, but former prof. I still cringe when I think about it, and I’m grateful I didn’t do it. But at 22 when I was crushing on him in full force? I could’ve.
i had a crush on one of my profs too. He wasn´t married, but still my prof.
I´m happy he never tried something, because i don´t know if…
Being madly in love or having a hot crush can change your views and morals temporary. Especially when your´re young you often don´t see moral or future consequences. All what counts are your feelings and your love. Everything else and even someone else´s feelings are secondary.
So, if you and a coworker had a project together, and you did 90% of the work while she phoned in her 10% full of errors that you had to do over and she got a raise and a performance bonus because she slept with your boss, you would be fine with that? Because that happened to me, and I have to say, I didn’t look at it as her just making a different choice than I did. I looked at it as unfair on both of their parts. She also got extra days off, no disciplinary action when she billed the client for doing work she didn’t do, credit in billing for work that I did and I was forced to do my own job, plus any part of her job involving spreadsheets because she was too stupid to use Excel. So, maybe it’s hard for me to be objective, and perhaps it has nothing to do with feminism, but it was unethical and unfair.
I’m sorry that happened to you GNAT but think of it this way if your boss had been gay and your co-worker a man, it would still be unethical and unfair but have nothing to do with feminism.
What I Choose Me said. I can see how that would be maddening, but it has nothing to do with feminism.
Also, I work in a family-owned business where the people who share the same last name get away with murder, so I guess I’m not one to get outraged over workplace inequities. I’m talking making 10 times my salary, taking days off whenever they please, charging family member’s cars, remodeled houses, etc on the company dime. I just kind of accept it as part of Corporate America, an institution that I don’t think very highly of to begin with.
*shrugs*
My point was simply that someone choosing to sleep with their boss is more than just them making a moral decision that’s different from the one you would make. You have the right to choose with whom you have sex – until it affects me and my job. Then, I have every right to be offended. Using anything – sex, your last name, whatever – to be unfairly compensated over your better qualified and harder working coworkers is unethical.
I never said it was about feminism, I Chose Me, in fact, I said it wasn’t. I was just responding to Kitten’s claim that having sex with your boss simply means you have a different set of moral values. It affects more than just the two people involved.
I understand your general feeling but someone choosing to have an affair really is just a different moral decision. I’m not saying this to advocate it in anyway but it’s not as if it’s a compulsion based on mental illness (though it could be based on sexual addiction).
Now do you have a right to be offended? Absolutely. I would be .
But like most things I think people who have a readiness for certain things need no incentive. Which is to say if your boss was willing to have an affair he was probably going to be unfair in his business practices as well. Which is to say whether he cheats or not as an employee you’re probably gonna get screwed .
im always puzzled how people try to break down a complex topic like feminism into “it means equality”. there are so many movements inside the feminist movements, a lot of them are totally the opposite.
isnt it like saying: “are you against cancer?” everybody will tell you they are. does it cure cancer? nope.
i like what Kristen said, but now its mandatory for actresses to say they are feminists. there is no sense in that, it takes a lot of worth away from it. just like how everbody in hollywood is so anti racist but non white people still have tremendous problems. its lip service and it will only damage feminism in the long run. you could even see Karl Lagerfeld using feminism to market his fashion. it is a trend right now and thats never good. dont make the mistake to think saying “i am a feminist” leads people to DO something.
what i want to say is this: if every choice is feminist as long as you say you believe in gender equality then everything is feminist which basically means we dont need feminism because every choice is already feminist in itself.
the feminist label is so inflated that the most feminist act is a woman making a choice, any choice at all, and to say something a woman does is “anti-feminist” becomes the most anti-feminist of acts. And so, choosing to wear dresses and heels must be feminist. Domesticity must be feminist. Wanting a baby must be feminist. And above all, loving sex must be feminist. Within this formulation of feminism, critiques of femininity, gender, and sex become impossible.
Thoughtful post.
@ Sara
I need to have what you said framed – it’s everything that’s been bothering me about today’s interpretation of feminism. I had trouble understanding why people, possibly women themselves, commenting ‘Oh, Kristen is a feminist’ under gifs of Kristen Stewart saying something about men looking at women, in particular her, the wrong way makes her wanna punch them. I had trouble understanding why the latest UN message was men should support feminism movement because they owed it to their mothers, sisters, wives. So if I don’t have a brother, or a husband, or my dad is an arsehole, I should just be reminded that I have no one to defend my honour?
Sometimes too much lip service just makes the point cease meaning anything altogether.
I had no idea she could be so pretty when she smiles!
Thank you, KStew for saying it, amongst so many of your peers who think feminism is a bad thing!
Hmmmm…I read all the posts and I see both/many sides, but all in all I still feel the same as I did coming into this thread: I don’t expect feminists to be perfect, however, messing around with married men requires a certain mentality. I don’t care for anybody that morally corrupt on my side let alone calling themselves feminists. KStew says it’s rediciulous thing to say you’re not a feminist.” I say it’s ridiculous to say you are a feminist when you’ve done absolutely nothing to promote change, in fact, your actions prove you to be selfish, promiscuous, and a home-wrecker. I don’t see affairs as simple mistakes. It was more than mere attraction – considering she’d met Mrs. Sanders, it was a personal betrayal against a sister. I do blame Mr. Sanders even more because it was his wife and family he betrayed and he was in a position of, if not authority, experience. He’s older, he’s a seasoned producer. She’s young and it wasn’t her movie. They’re both creeps in my book. She isn’t a feminist. She spouts it, but she’s done nothing to futher the cause. In fact, promiscuity and having affairs with people in the business does in fact equate to her objectifying herself and making we women, again, sexual objects. Did she curry favor? We’ll never know. If they hadn’t been caught and he produced another movie and she got a starring role, whose to say it’s not because she’d slept her way to it? I’m not liberal about sex…obviously.
i fully agree with your sentiments about infidelity, though i wont go into it because it would lead away from my point about feminism.
“I say it’s ridiculous to say you are a feminist when you’ve done absolutely nothing to promote change”
this is what i wanted to say above: nowadays EVERYONe claims to be one and people applaud them for it. like i said “i am against cancer”. it does not change anything.
i hope for Emma Watsons sake that her speech hasnt turned feminism into a trend because thats the worst thing that can happen to a political movement. that hashtag activism that she now promotes isnt doing anything. what good does it do when 1 billion men hold up a piece of paper? how do they act in their private lives? how do they conduct themselves in a professional setting?
it will all just water down everything feminism tries to fight when everything and everyone is feminist. then we can bury the label, thats like saying “i am a breather”.
thats my whole problem with this new mainstream feminism: people thinking that everybody identifying with feminism is a good thing. no, its not because it doesnt mean that people are actually doing something. i had a dicussion with this lady who told me she cant be anti semtic because she is a liberal, thats the same. just because you CLAIM to be one thing it does not make you a good person. your actions and your words do. thats also why i still dont get the need to label yourself and why people even go so far as saying you are either a feminist or you hate women. how about judging people on what they actually do?
like Obama: Having a big speech about the gender pay gay and then oops female staffers at the White House are underpaid.
sometimes i think feminism has become a lifestyle accessoire that you proudly mention but never care to actually do something or even accept downsides of equality like the pressure of being the sole breadwinner. (i know its a strange example but i heard women complain about that so often in the last two weeks, it just stuck with me)
Thanks. I actually expected negative responses, but you proved me again, to be a cynic.
I understand what you’re saying about everything. I see all these women claiming to be feminists, so much so, but with no real substance behind it, that it’s pretty much simply become trendy to claim feminism. The idea is good. Being viewed as a feminist is positive for female audiences, but with most lately, it’s just words – and they are basically saying, “I’m a feminist. I haven’t done anything to promote feminism, but if I don’t say I’m feminist, I’ll be labeled anti-feminism”, so they hurry up and label themselves the more preferable. They can label themselves all they want. Until I see action, it’s just a means of self-preservation and attempted positive PR.
Funny about the “sole breadwinner” thing you mentioned. We hired someone new at my work and had a little lunch shin-dig for her. She was telling us about herself and included, “My husband is a plumber. I’m white collar. He’s blue collar. I’m the breadwinner.” She wasn’t complaining – more like bragging and posturing, but who the heck says that? I’m sure if her husband would have been present, he would have shriveled up and wanted to crawl under a rock. It’s amazing to me the lack of sensitivity. I thought to myself, how immasculating! Women have been begging for acknowledgement for their work and roles in home, marriage and the workforce for decades, and yet I see women now doing the same exact thing we fought against men doing for decades – measuring value and importance on who makes the most money…ergo, who wears the pants in the family. Geesh!
You’re right though about women complaining when they do get what they want as far as work/money and the ensuing stress – it’s hard to put up with self-proclaimed martyrs. There are some people in this world that you could give a brick of silver to and they’d complain it’s not gold.
…” I don’t care for anybody that morally corrupt on my side let alone calling themselves feminists. KStew says it’s rediciulous thing to say you’re not a feminist. I say it’s ridiculous to say you are a feminist when… in fact, your actions prove you to be selfish, promiscuous, and a home-wrecker. I don’t see affairs as simple mistakes. It was more than mere attraction – considering she’d met Mrs. Sanders, it was a personal betrayal against a sister… She isn’t a feminist. She spouts it, but she’s done nothing to futher the cause. In fact, promiscuity and having affairs with people in the business does in fact equate to her objectifying herself and making we women, again, sexual objects…”
Scarlet lettering, much? Seems like KSTew isn’t the only person who’s feminism is less than perfect, no offense. (I’m not sure if ANY person’s feminism can be called perfect by the way, so don’t take this as a personal jab at you) I mean, you have every right to feel that marital infidelity is wrong and to disapprove of cheating, but feminism itself really isn’t about ‘the sanctity of marriage’, sexual chastity, or monogamy. If it was, then she could definitely be disqualified from feminism due to her actions. But since feminism is just a political movement about equality and human rights, rather than a religion, a church, or a club devoted to chastity or fidelity, having sex with someone’s spouse doesn’t really disqualify her.
It’s a dangerous pattern to say that a woman is making herself and other women sexual objects because of sex she is having, for several reasons. For one thing, as a society we never do this to men when voicing disapproval of their sexuality- whether a man has an affair, hooks up with someone’s spouse, or has sex with a couple of people, we never say that he’s lowering the value and status of himself as a human being or his entire sex or making his sex into objects instead of people, but we always do this kind of thing with women. Not only is it reinforcing a sexual double standard, but it’s also reinforcing the (obviously dangerous and problematic) myth that womens’ value and status as people depends on the sex women do or don’t have. It’s standard purity culture/rape culture dogma. Being personally opposed to a sexual thing is one thing; placing the worth and status of human beings as individuals or groups on what kinds of sex they do or don’t abstain from is entirely different, brings nothing but bad, and is something feminism really needs to stay away from. It also teaches that while men are individuals and their actions are to be judged on an individual basis, women are not; they’re this hive mind or single body.
As for ‘promiscuity’, it’s become an almost-always misused word that people throw out as a knee-jerk reaction to describe any type of Sinful sexuality or any sex that happens outside of a long-term, committed, romantic, monogamous, and usually heterosexual relationship. Promiscuous literally means indiscriminate- a person is indiscriminate in who they’ll get it on with. A person may have had a threesome, had a one-night stand, or had an affair, but that doesn’t mean they’ll have sex with anybody.
“It’s a dangerous pattern to say that a woman is making herself and other women sexual objects because of sex she is having,”
“Not only is it reinforcing a sexual double standard, but it’s also reinforcing the (obviously dangerous and problematic) myth that womens’ value and status as people depends on the sex women do or don’t have.”
100000+ !!
I strongly disagree with the idea that “promiscuity” is antithetical to feminism. Sexuality is a part of human nature, and I think it is completely anti-feminist to judge a woman on her sexuality. “Promiscuous” is a term that is used solely for judgment in this area, and historically, has been used mostly against women.
Agreed – and the fact that we’re still talking about this affair says a lot.
That being said, I think even feminists unfortunately judge women based on their perceived sexuality. For example, a lot of mainstream feminists and celebrities (Annie Lennox and Emma Watson for the latter) said that Beyonce can’t be feminist because essentially her costumes are too skimpy for their tastes, even though, among other things, she’s said she’s a feminist and has been talking girl power for most of her career. And no one seems to believe that Kim Kardashian had her nude photos hacked lately, even though it’s been said to be a sex crime for other celebrity victims.
(I don’t mean to be jumping on all of your posts in this post, but this was the only appropriate place to make this point.)
I agree with everything you wrote there, OhDear.
I don’t think a woman needs to cross a threshold of a certain degree of sexual purity, or modest costumes, etc. in order to be a feminist.
I agree with your position oh dear and feel if discussions like this were held more often perhaps more young women would understand the role supporting women’s rights could have in their lives without judging them.
It troubles me that the ‘popular’ feminists seem to suggest that there isn’t room to be sexual, confident, or even submissive if you wanted. That if you are sexual it’s simply only to appeal to a man because you have no sexuality of your own and thus you are not as great a feminist as them .
That’s really quite toxic. Different individuals have different relationships to their bodies and condemning someone else’s does nothing to help those women.
Tbh there’s something about the forced ‘sisterhooding’ of women that disturbs me. We are not a monolithic group. The ‘sisterhood’ we should have is that for all human beings and should consist of basic respect and consideration.
Anything more simply because two people share the same sexual organs seems woefully ignorant.
I will treat you with the basic kindness deserved to all human beings but I won’t make special efforts for you or pretend we have a sisterhood when we may have nothing in common. When we do become friends and ‘sisters’ it will be because of shared interests , a true bond, and goals.
I’d take her comments on feminism more seriously if she hadn’t spent much of her career honing her “I’m not like those other girls, I’m an artiste and a rebel” persona. That statement (just change the labels) also applies to a lot of other celebrities who have recently said that they’re feminists.
She always seems to bandwagon the new “it” thing. A whole lotta talk from this one but her actions are completely the opposite. I guess her schtick of “not like other girls” did her no favours so FEMINISM LITE it is!!!
‘Feminism-lite’
Or ‘My feminism is bigger than yours!’
Setting aside her mini coopering and how it might conflict with this issue, this is the most I’ve ever liked Kristen or anything that’s come out of her mouth. Not that I think she should make it a public announcement or anything, but I hope that she has grown as a person and realizes how her past actions might not have been in line with what seems to be her current philosophy. But I have to say, on really pleasantly surprised by this interview!
” Can you talk sincerely about feminism if you had a high-profile affair with your married director? I’m honestly asking. ” Yes, you can. Feminism is not sisterhood and ladies sticking together, it is about striving for equality with men. Single Men can have affairs with married women without it being a gender issue, and without them being subsequently classed as some kind of gender betrayer. I read her comments as saying we should of course be striving for equality but we should be wary of going over the mark- and I’d have to agree since some people seem to confuse the notion of feminism with a belief in female superiority.
I have mixed feelings on KStew, but I think it is beyond ridiculous to claim having an affair at 21 keeps one from being a feminist. Honestly, as M said, it’s getting a little ridiculous that it is being brought up in this situation, especially a couple of years later, when there are male celebrities who have openly been caught cheating or admitted to it and it is basically ignored. She was the most highly paid actress at the time and he was a first time director, she didn’t screw him to get up the ladder. It’s not like he had the power in that particular situation, because she was the powerful one. But, even if the power imbalance was on his favor (and it wasn’t) that doesn’t somehow negate one from ever being a feminist. Did she hurt another woman? Yes, that’s true. However, hurting a woman because of an extremely poor choice due to lust does not mean she cannot believe in equality for the sexes. Also, she was 21 and in married and he was 40 and married. Hell, he may have even lied and told her that he and his wife had an open relationship…we’ll never know. I dare say he hurt Liberty way more. If Kristen was anti abortion or birth control that would be a black mark against feminism because she would be trying to take away women’s rights, but an affair…no.
Being a feminist does not mean you cannot have done stupid stuff in your past or that you have to be a paragon of goodness. It means believing in the equality of men and women. A good feminist argument would be to examine why affairs hurt Sienna Miller and Kristen so much but everyone brushed it off when Russell Crow was papped making out with a married Meg Ryan
She is having her Oscar promotion you people. As usual critics will be like: “Yeah. she was ok I guess. At least not as bad as in Twilight”. Then her movies will came in limited release and bomb there. Then will came first nominations and she won’t be anywhere near.
Good thing that she started early and her attempts and movies will be quickly forgotten when big guns and real pretenders for nominations will premiere.
I can’t stand her most of the time, but she sounds okay here. Not sure if she got a new publicist, but for some reason she sounds better than here than I’m used to seeing.