The Glamour Woman of the Year Awards are usually a time to honor women that have proven to be brave, inspiring or accomplished over the previous year. This year, however, Glamour has come under fire for giving an award to Caitlyn Jenner, who was also recently honored by the ESPYs with the Arthur Ashe Courage Award. Not only did the husband of a 9/11 hero and prior award recipient go so far as to return the award as a sign of protest, but now noted internet outrage machine Rose McGowan has something to say about Jenner’s speech on the special night. McGowan took to Facebook to release an open letter with her thoughts about Jenner’s credentials as a woman, but deleted the post before long. According to The Daily Mail, some of McGowan’s proclamations included but were not limited to:
‘Woman of the year? No, not until you wake up and join the fight. Not by a long f***ing shot.’
‘We are more than deciding what to wear. We are more than the stereotypes foisted upon us by people like you.’
‘You’re a woman now? Well f***ing learn that we have had a VERY different experience than your life of male privilege.’
There is a lot to unpack here, not the least of which is that McGowan seems to cast suspicion on whether Jenner is really a women or not, which leans very close to transphobic territory. While shocking for an actress that is normally more focused on inclusion and equal rights, that is what her last round of outrage was about, it is unfortunately not surprising when considering just how many Hollywood stars have disparaged Caitlyn for her life choices. McGowan may have been trying to make a point about the struggles of gender inequality and the rampant nature of sexual assault, but is it really Jenner’s fault that those things exist? Jenner was simply making a harmless joke – and while sometimes that isn’t the case, this speech was in fact perfectly harmless – about the differences between living as a man and as a woman and the work that goes into choosing an outfit. Ha ha, it’s funny, get it?
McGowan’s comments come off as hunting for a fight when there are larger issues to point out. McGowan is known at this point in her career for her outspokenness and willingness to battle for the disenfranchised, so it comes off as especially shocking that she would choose to cut down an even more threatened population than cisgender women. There’s enough support for everyone to go around, so let’s hope that McGowan’s deletion of the post was due to her realization of that fact and not a directive from her agent.
(via The Daily Mail)