Women, Even Actresses, Do Have Free Will

As a freelance writer who is always working to come up with fresh story ideas, and as a feminist committed to the empowerment of women, I was doubly disappointed by the tedious article about underweight women in Hollywood. Wow, Calista Flockhart is skinny. Talk about yesterday’s news! And the photo caption: “Calista Flockhart and Lara Flynn Boyle. Neither is a realistic size” made no sense. Both of these women are in fact real, and those are, in fact, their real sizes. Perhaps neither is a “typical” or a “representative” size, but “realistic” is a poor choice of words.

Why demand realism of Hollywood entertainment when there is plenty of reality to be had simply by looking at the world around us? In doing so, it’s obvious that in this country, obesity, and not anorexia, is the norm. Perhaps that’s why there’s such an interest in seeing svelte women in entertainment.

The article not only made the tired implication that seeing images of skinny women promotes anorexia (if that were true, why doesn’t every woman who’s been repeatedly exposed to these images have the disease?), but also the insulting one that women are perpetually the passive victims of male tyranny, unable to exercise free will or choice in their jobs or body types. Are women really being forced into careers as actresses? The thin actresses you depict are not indentured servants. They are in positions envied by many, and to imply that they are doing anything but making their own choices is to demean them.

I also found it difficult to agree with Margaret Cho’s quote, “We are not allowed to choose what we feel is beautiful.” Why not? What’s stopping us? Are television network executives now supposedly controlling our thoughts?

LINDA WILLIAMSON

Granada Hills

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