"All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances.....;"

 

Contrary to popular assumption, Shakespeare did not invent the metaphor; it was already in common use by the 16th century and he would have expected his audiences to recognize it. But today with feminism in the wings, much about language has been changing and some things have become rather difficult to recognize. So this month Rosalie puts the spotlight on the stage players.---Joan Michel

 

 

ACTOR/ACTRESS
The word of choice for a feminist is definitely "actor." What the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences want to do about this is an issue for them and for women and men in that discipline. I myself am torn because if you have awards only for "best actor," "best supporting actor," etc., it will cut the available Oscar spots in half and, based on history and experience, most of them will go to men. Sorry, but that's the way I'd call it. The fairest solution at this point is to have "best actor, male" and "best actor, female," although that had problems. I'm looking for someone smarter than I am to resolve this.(pictured: Actors Brad Pitt, Diane Kruger and director Quentin Tarantino) 

 

But "actress" as a professional designation should probably be eliminated.

From my Unspinning the Spin (unpublished manuscript to be brought out by the Women's Media Center of NYC): "Women who call themselves actors point out that they are members of the U.S. Actors' Guild or British Actors' Equity Association. 'I think actresses worry about eyelashes and cellulite, and women who are actors worry about the characters we are playing (Alfre Woodard, in The New York Times. 'Actor' was used for both sexes for about 75 years before the appearance of 'actress' ('a woman who is an actor'). The specification of gender and the subset supports the male-as-norm system."

 

Incidentally one can scarcely talk about acting without falling over Shakespeare sooner or later. All his characters, including female characters, were played by men (and were written to be played by men). Pamela Hobbs points out in the Los Angeles Times "There were no actresses on the Elizabethan stage, only actors."

 

Can you imagine seeing in a dictionary: "Actor: a male actress"? I thought not. Many women insist on being called "actors"--the ones I know of for sure include Whoopi Goldberg, Meryl Streep, and Jodi Foster.

 

I have seen a few women in print refer to themselves as an actress. If I were interviewing the person, I'd first make sure she wanted to be known that way. If she did, I'd honor it. Now if she referred to other women as "actresses," I would quibble. It's one thing for someone to name herself an "actress," but another thing to call other women "actresses." Rosalie Maggio