Orphan Black star Tatiana Maslany is taking feminism to a new level by refusing to wax her body for the small screen. The actress, who feels that Hollywood constantly exercises sexist practices when it comes to women, is taking a stand and refusing to conform.
“I don’t think that any woman in this industry hasn’t [experienced sexism] – I think we all have in various ways, and sometimes you can’t even tell that it’s happening because it’s so ingrained in the way things are structured.”
Though many sexist occurrences in the world of television are unconscious, some are quite obvious, like body hair removal being a requirement and actors telling actresses in not so many words to stay out of a conversation. In a recent interview with People , Tatiana reflects on such events.
Maslany said actors tell her, “‘Let’s not talk about that, sweetheart,’ if I have an issue with being hit on by a 50-year-old when I was 17 and on set. It’s never ending. Being put into this little outfit that showed my midriff in a scene where I’m supposed to be grieving the death of a family member, and it’s like, ‘Make sure that her belly button is showing’ – it’s just pathetic. It’s so pathetic.”
Tatiana Maslany is reportedly following the footsteps of other feminists in the entertainment field. Recently, Emma Thompson interviewed with the Radio Times about sexism in Hollywood. In her interview, she stated that Hollywood was in the “worse state” when it comes to sexism. Agreeing with Thompson, Melissa McCarthy called Hollywood’s sexism “an intense sickness.” The Spy actress also admitted that the sexist culture of Hollywood made her concerned about her daughters. Since Tatiana plans on staying well and not catching the Hollywood sickness, she puts her foot down with the hair still on it.
“And wax my mustache, which I refused to do!”
Though, according to the interviewer, Tatiana has no mustache in sight, her refusal to conform speaks to the dawning of a new age in entertainment where women, such as Tatiana Maslany and even Kristen Stewart, demand to be treated fairly and to not be hyper-sexualized. In April, Stewart told Harper’s Bazaar that there was an extreme lack of films that are “female driven.” So to drive the entertainment industry to a plain of equality, Tatiana and some of her peers are rocking fuzzy legs. But the Orphan Black actress admits that she would shave if “the part calls for it and it makes sense.”
[Photo by Gabriel Olsen/Getty Images for GLAAD]
