Monday, July 4, 2011

So, what am I, anyways?

I was recently sharing a cup of sympathy with one of my besties at her local Starbucks in San Rafael, when the subject of calling ourselves actress came up. Rebecca plunked her coffee down on the table, looked square at me, and said emphatically, "We are ACTORS, LeAnne. It's completely ridiculous that a female is called an actress. I mean, don't you see? It's ridiculous."

"I don't get why it's ridiculous, Rebecca. What's wrong with it?" I asked her, quizzically. She used ridiculous twice, so I was curious to explore her point.

Rebecca rolled her eyes, and looked at me witheringly. For emphasis, he head bobbed to make her point as she explained herself, "Because LeAnne, there shouldn't be a difference. Men. or. Women. should. not. be. differentiated. We. are. all. actors. End. of. story."

I sat quiet for a moment, and thought about what Rebecca said. She had a point. I always wondered why men and women were given different titles, for the same job. I mean, all it takes is one quick look at a headshot and/or resume, or for someone to walk into the room to recognize their sex. It's always been puzzling to me, why this is. Was it laziness? Battle of the sexes? Tradition?

Being a woman, and in the career of acting, I often wonder what my career tagline is....is it actor, or actress? Has it come down to the same simple argument of Miss or Ms? Tomato or Tomatoe? Potato or Potatoe?

Yeah, yeah, you know the rest of the song.

Some people tell me women are now 'actors', others will say 'actresses'. I've had different acting teachers debate the issue, as well...meh. I cannot figure it out. If a reader here can share their perspective on this, I'd be mightily grateful.

And thank you again to Gideon, for not only commenting on my first blog entry since Stagekiss's blog hiatus *wink*, but for also following my blog. It means the world to me!

And to any other readers I've picked up: I TRULY appreciate you! And PLEASE, don't be shy, as I'd love to hear from you! Leave me a comment, follow my blog, and PLEASE be sure to share my blog with anyone you think may be interested in it. Tell your friends, tell your enemies! The more the merrier!

Happy 4th of July, my friends. The sounds outside my window are already welcoming in the new day: it positively sounds like a war zone out there! Crickey!

8 comments:

  1. Two things:

    1. We won't do away with this any time soon, as there will always be some sexual differentiation in some job titles. Just ask Prince Kate. One could argue that it does make sense in the performing arts because often people do need to specify whether a role needs to be played by a man or a woman. In other words, flight attendants of either sex perform the same duties. Male and female performers don't.

    2. I often try to fudge the issue by using the term "acter."

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  2. "there shouldn't be a difference. Almond. or. Cashew. should. not. be. differentiated. We. are. all. nuts. End. of. story." Sometimes reality gets in the way of "should" and "shouldn't." It doesn't seem like a good idea to deny real differences.

    I'm also a little surprised with "we are all actors." Why aren't we all actresses?

    I think there's a lot more to the story.

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  3. Hi Solipsist: you know, that's an excellent point. I guess it would also be a better economy of words to say: 'Actress Needed' rather than "Female Actor Needed'.
    Thanks for chiming in, and please keep reading, commenting...all of it. I really appreciate your eyes, and I'm thrilled to have you here!

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  4. I dunno, Rick, but I think I'm coming around to the idea that it truly is semantics. Perhaps, as Solipsist said, there needs to be a differentiation, for job titles, or its come down to apples and oranges.
    And no Rick, there really isn't anything more to this story. This was one of the conversations we dove into, when we were hanging out. My friend Rebecca flirts with her feminist side from time to time, and gets her haunches up, if she senses any disparities and disadvantages between our sexes.
    Yes, often, there ARE differences, though some of them are a headscratcher, and this was one of them. But, you and Solipsist have made some VERY good points about this.
    I tend to ruminate about conversations I've had with my friends, and this was a conversation that kept rattling around in my head, and wouldn't let go.

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  5. Hi Leann! :) Just seeing how you're doing lately and found your blog! :) Funny, I was just talking about this with a co-worker of mine- he isn't an actor but said, "oh, you're an actress, I mean, actor, right?" And I was feeling surly and said, "no, I'm an actress, I have a vagina." :) He thought it was funny and apprecited my crassness but I've never liked the term "actor"- I get that it means I can play men/women/whatever but I like "actress", I like being identified as a woman, I like the term because it reminds me of great actresses from the 40's like Katherine Hepburn, Greta Garbo, etc. :) Being called an "actor" feels masculating to me while being called an actress helps me embrace my femininity, which I enjoy. Just my 2 cents! :) I heard the term "actor" for the first time in undergrad and tried it for years, but it never sat well with me. I'm an "actress", like Vivien Leigh, Katherine Hepburn, Eleanora Duse, etc. :) So that's my 2 cents! (I'm also a huge feminist too though.)
    Hope you are doing well, I miss you! :)Rebecca (from the Much Ado Crew '08)

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  6. Hi Rebecca!

    Stagekiss friends, meet Rebecca!

    PLEASE forgive my late reply here, Rebecca! I've been headlong in 'life stuff' and have woefully neglected my blog. Ugh!
    It's SO good to hear from you! How are you? Where are you in the world right now??? Any projects you're working on?
    And thanks for commenting. I can see both sides of the argument, and you make a very salient one, Rebecca. It's funny, because I just feel that differentiating men and women by a simple 'ress' in some way weakens the title for women, where actor feels so strong, but simple, at the same time. It feels cleaner, somehow. More powerful.

    I dunno. Don't listen to me. Half the time I have my head squarely up my own cooter :-)

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  7. Maybe it has to do with the type of profession. A doctor's sex has not impact on their ability to practice medicine (maybe on day they can stop practicing and get it right) same can be said for engineer, pilot, lawyer, police officer, street sweeper, etc. But consider, I am in Vegas and am interested in some companionship, it does help to further define the type of companionship and not end up with a fully functioning TS/TV and then get "more" than I bargained for, so in some profession, gender is a very important thing. IN business, it is nice to know the gender of the person you are dealing with, and when working in the international front, you cant always tell from the name. I resort to being gender unspecific and just call them by the first name, but that is rather casual. We use Mr and Ms or Mrs if the persons prefers. I don't see the issue of using actor of actress to define the gender the same way i don't have issue using Mr or Ms. I don't like stewardess as the job is not gender specific. Flight Attendant works for me. If you fly Untied, I think many flight attendants are also members of AARP, but I digress.
    Now, I might be off base here, but I thought a cooter is something that only actresses have. AM I mistaken?

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  8. Again, I think I'm mincing apples and oranges, Gideon, and perhaps it's just my own irritation about the 2 titles. Actor sounds so much more powerful, where Actress seemed to be watered down. And yes, absolutely, it's important to be specific, especially when you're choosing someone like a companion to spend time with. I just think it's attainable to be specific, when listing ACTOR on an audition notice. The notice could read: 4 Actors Needed. 2 males, 2 females, in their 20s...blah blah blah.
    I know that when I speak of myself now, I tell people I'm an Actor, not an Actress, and I hear my girl friends also calling themselves Actors, as well. I dunno, my friend. It just feel stronger, cleaner, more powerful. It almost feels as if I'm announcing, "I've arrived!"
    And, I have that feeling in my tummy, when I call myself an 'Actor', that rises when something feels good.
    I also know that it's been a traditional thing, to differentiate between Actor and Actress, but, you know, times they are a changin'.

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