RGM Post 5

Something that has been getting some attention in the media lately is Jennifer Lawrence and her stance against unequal pay in Hollywood. She recently wrote an essay for Lena Dunham's newsletter addressing the huge gap in the pay of men and women in Hollywood.

Other actresses (Emma Watson, Elizabeth Banks, and Sienna Miller) have backed her up on Twitter and other media outlets showing their support. The thing that I like about what is going on, is that instead of sitting back and seeing the problem but doing nothing, these women are fighting for what they want to change.

While I do think that actors and actresses make a ridiculous amount of money to begin with (which makes her problem almost non-relatable), the fact that even big name stars are dealing with the same inequality that other women are dealing with is startling but almost heartening. It's just not something that I have given much thought I guess.

Another cool thing is that one of her male co-stars, Bradley Cooper, is supporting her and telling her to know what she is worth and to not back down in her negotiating when getting parts for movies.

But these people are influencers. And they can get the message out there much easier than I could. And there are so many people who love these actresses and will actually listen to them. It makes me hopeful that something might actually change.

By having the power of the media on them almost 24/7, actresses can bring issues to light in ways that I wouldn't be able to.

Here is a video on ABC news.com talking about the issue. There are also several articles talking about other actors' responses to her essay.

Some people are pretty upset at Jeremy Renner's reaction. He was asked if he would be willing to help out to try to change the way things are, and he responded that it wasn't his job, which obviously made a ton of people mad.

But really, it isn't his job. He has explained himself since then saying that he has no knowledge about the negotiating process and that he wouldn't know where to start, and not that he didn't care about unequal pay.

It's just interesting to me how much media coverage it is all getting.