On Jan. 7, the 81st Golden Globe Awards were hosted by comedian Jo Koy. Many of Koy’s jokes were directed at women. The audience did not laugh nor clap when he exclaimed that “Oppenheimer,” a 2023 male-dominated film, was based on a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel while “Barbie,” a 2023 female-dominated film, was based on a plastic doll with big breasts. Koy belittled the film’s accomplishments and proved that he and many others did not understand the beauty and true message of the film.
“Barbie” tells the story of self-discovery and the honest truth of being a woman in society. The movie serves to empower and uplift women while pointing out the mistreatment and sexism they face today. “Barbie” outperformed expectations and broke many box office records, yet was still dismissed as only “a plastic doll with big boobies” at an award show in 2024.
Award shows such as the Oscars, The Golden Globe awards and MTV Awards have been publicized and dramatized much more in the last 20 years than ever before. Sexism is still an accepted form of humor everywhere, and the fact that these derogatory comments are still taken as jokes is not okay.
Shows meant to uplift and inspire viewers have continually turned into a broadcast of inappropriate comments, jokes and statements that consistently go unpunished. In recent years, this issue has become much more prevalent and disturbing as the amount of instances has grown.
At the 1995 MTV Awards, actress Cameron Diaz was asked to present the award for Best Kiss with singer Chris Isaak. The show occurred in front of a live studio audience and was nationally televised. While reading their remarks before the announcement, Isaak leaned over and forced himself on Diaz. No apology was issued, no statement was made to denounce the incident and nothing was changed to prevent it from happening again.
In 2013, at the 85th Annual Oscars hosted by Seth MacFarlane, a comedian and television star, numerous jokes dehumanizing and poking fun at women were made. MacFarlane referred to actresses in the audience as strippers and as hard to work with, and he directed several inappropriate sexual comments at a child. Once again, MacFarlane faced no consequences and despite backlash, no statement of any sort was published.
Internet sensation and comedian Matt Rife released his live stand-up show on Netflix in November. Within the first few minutes of his show, Rife comments on domestic violence against women, saying, “I feel like if she could cook, she wouldn’t have that black eye.” The jokes caused uproar and widespread disapproval for Rife, yet his career and popularity remain intact today.
The accessibility of these broadcasted award shows and other mainstream media events makes these situations more significant today than they ever would have been in the past. Young, impressionable minds can see this online and deem these misogynistic actions and sexist jokes acceptable because they are characterized as simply “jokes.”
Why do we as a society brush past these insults and events and fail to deem them as attacks on women? The public degradation of women in Hollywood and beyond must be addressed and stopped forever.
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