Jordan Gavaris Discusses Sexism in SDCC’s Brave New Warriors Panel

The “Brave New Warriors” Comic-Con panel featured Michael Cudlitz (The Walking Dead), Zachary Levi (Heroes Reborn), Sam Heughan (Outlander), Kevin Durand (The Strain) and Rob Kazinsky (Pacific Rim), and Jordan Gavaris (Orphan Black). With moderator Lynette Rice, they talked about their badass moments (Gavaris: “I gave a makeover”), their “wimpy” moments, and how they experienced sexism in the industry. While the question and most of the responses focused on harassment and objectification, youngest panelist Gavaris took a different turn and received applause and cheers when he said:

I feel like it can be more pervasive. Whenever we think of sexism, we think of sexual harassment but I feel like it’s way more pervasive than that. And it’s very subversive and it’s twisted.

And it’s not just in a sense of sexual exploitation but like the mythology of the man — that men are either manly or they’re not. There’s no wiggle room in terms of gender. If you were to make a list of all the qualities that men have and women have, no person in life would completely conform to one side of the list. There’s always some crossover. But there’s pressure to be a certain way, look a certain way, act a certain way. And it’s silly, it’s really silly.

I think the mythology of the man is just ridiculous, it’s got to stop. And that’s another thing that Hollywood in particular is really bad about exploiting, in terms of sexism. I just think there needs to be more room for all different kinds of men — and not just men! Non-binary genders! I don’t know if anybody’s familiar with the cisgender stuff, but it’s not just about being a cisgender man, it’s about being a fully multi-faceted, multi-dimensional. I’m looking for that. And I’m looking to exploit more of that.

When Rice commented that she felt the atmosphere had grown heavy, Gavaris said it was an important question since it corrected the myth that men are constantly sexual, all the time. Kazinsky and Heughan also point out that women can be perpetrators as well.

Including the question about sexism in an all-male panel opened up a discussion that allowed the panelists to share experiences that can often be ignored (Kazinsky also discusses how thinking he should be able to handle something because he’s a man is “terrifying”). Gavaris’ response really highlights how policing gender roles is damaging for everyone, and his call for Hollywood to stop perpetuating these myths definitely rings true.

(via io9)

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