If we've learned anything about Hollywood over the past couple of weeks, it's that it is a pretty corrupt institution. Most prominently, the news of
Harvey Weinstein's sexually abusive actions towards women came to light, which then prompted others to share their accounts of sexually inappropriate and abusive behaviour from the film industry.
As more and more people come forward with their stories, the true gravity of the situation is slowly becoming apparent: Harvey Weinstein's actions were not isolated incidents. Women both inside and outside of Hollywood have reported all sorts of inappropriate behaviour - but, surprisingly, not all of the abusers were men.
Last night,
Jennifer Lawrence revealed that she was subjected to degrading and humiliating experiences by a female Hollywood executive.
The 27-year-old actress, who has always been outspoken about her views on the standards of female beauty in the film industry, spoke openly at the ELLE's Women in Hollywood event about an incident that had happened to her in her formative years:
'When I was much younger and starting out, I was told by producers of a film to lose 15 pounds in two weeks. During this time a female producer had me do a nude line-up with about five women who were much, much, thinner than me. We are stood side-by-side with only tape on covering our privates.
'After that degrading and humiliating line-up, the female producer told me I should use the naked photos of myself as inspiration for my diet.'
But Lawrence didn't comply.
In 2012, she told ELLE exactly what she thought of this type of body-shaming behaviour: "In Hollywood, I’m obese. I’m considered a fat actress," she said. "I'm never going to starve myself for a part. I keep waiting for that one role to come along that scares me enough into dieting, and it just can’t happen. I'm invincible."
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Though this isn't the exact same type of abuse as that which was suffered by those who encountered Harvey Weinstein, it is still indicative of the broader problems still at large in the film and television industry. Putting such strict regulations on women's bodies leads to a culture of ownership over those bodies, and lets Hollywood think that it can do whatever it wants with female stars.
Lawrence's talent as an actress was overlooked because of her physical attributes - something which hopefully that particularly Hollywood executive now regrets, considering that the Hunger Games star has since gone on to win an Oscar and become one of the highest-paid female actors in the world.
In an interview with People magazine, Lawrence shared her views on the Weinstein controversy:
"I was deeply disturbed to hear the news about Harvey Weinstein’s behavior. I worked with Harvey five years ago and I did not experience any form of harassment personally, nor did I know about any of these allegations. This kind of abuse is inexcusable and absolutely upsetting.
"My heart goes out to all of the women affected by these gross actions. And I want to thank them for their bravery to come forward."
Hopefully, Lawrence's strength and defiance in the face of unreasonable demands from Hollywood seniors will encourage others to defy the standards expected of women, and help end the dangerously corrupt culture in the film industry.
