Rebecca Ferguson Joins the Ranks of Actresses Who Won’t Take Your Sexist Interview Questions

The media is not known for being great when it comes to asking actresses questions, hence #AskHerMore became a thing, but still, in 2019, actresses are forced to fight off sexism as if it’s their job (it isn’t). Rebecca Ferguson just happens to be the most recent notable actress to shut it down.

During an interview for Doctor Sleep, Ferguson was asked about what it was like to work with all these iconic male actors and how she ended up getting those roles, as if she has not a) worked with equally notable actresses or b) as if she should somehow feel lucky for getting to work with those men rather than those men getting to work with her.

The thing is that this isn’t new. In fact, it’s a tale as old as time. Helen Mirren was dealing with this in the ’70s and trying to shut it down, and it still hasn’t stopped because when will sexist human beings learn, am I right? It’s basically a constant in the world of Hollywood. Women are rarely asked the same kind of interesting questions as men, and if they are, it’s usually followed up with a “Who are you wearing?” or a “How did you manage to diet for the part?” because women can’t ever just be asked about their character work.

From Scarlett Johansson during her entire run with the Avengers to Serena Williams (yes, even world-class athletes face this nonsense), women have had to constantly fight against the idea of what is appropriate to ask a woman in an interview.

And what’s sad is that video isn’t the only collection of women fighting off sexism in Hollywood. There are countless videos that show actresses, athletes, musicians, and more fighting against sexist questions from (typically) male interviewers.

The real question with all of this isn’t why these women are fighting back. In fact, they are almost obligated to at this point, or it’ll just continue on and on. The question is why these men continue to get these interviews when they do it time and time again.

If you look at the clips of both Scarlett Johansson’s “underwear” question and Anne Hathaway’s diet grilling, it’s the same man. So, he got to talk to both Black Widow and Catwoman, and his questions were about their bodies? A lot of these women are bringing to life iconic characters or real-life women who helped change the world, or they’re changing the world themselves with their leaps and bounds in Hollywood and sport,s and yet, your questions are about their bodies?

I don’t think it’s going to stop unless we actually take a stand against this, so what if we stopped letting those interviewers back in to interview women if their questions are going to consist of “what’s your diet like” or “but how did you wear underwear”?

(image: Paramount Pictures)

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Rachel Leishman

Rachel Leishman (She/Her) is an Assistant Editor at the Mary Sue. She's been a writer professionally since 2016 but was always obsessed with movies and television and writing about them growing up. A lover of Spider-Man and Wanda Maximoff's biggest defender, she has interests in all things nerdy and a cat named Benjamin Wyatt the cat. If you want to talk classic rock music or all things Harrison Ford, she's your girl but her interests span far and wide. Yes, she knows she looks like Florence Pugh. She has multiple podcasts, normally has opinions on any bit of pop culture, and can tell you can actors entire filmography off the top of her head. Her current obsession is Glen Powell's dog, Brisket. Her work at the Mary Sue often includes Star Wars, Marvel, DC, movie reviews, and interviews.

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