The #MeToo movement highlighted the harassment women have faced in Hollywood. Since then, the entertainment industry has made a habit of showcasing female empowerment in an attempt to restore its image. However, Sydney Sweeney has criticized some of these efforts as “fake” in a new interview.
Sydney Sweeney says Hollywood’s female empowerment movement is “fake”
Earlier this year, producer Carol Baum made derogatory comments about Sydney Sweeney. According to ComingSoon, Baum said the following to New York Times film critic Janet Maslin after seeing Sweeney’s film Anyone but You (which she called an “unwatchable movie”):
“I said to my class, ‘Explain this girl to me. She’s not pretty; she can’t act. Why is she so hot?'”
In a recent interview with Vanity Fair, Sweeney was asked about how the experience made her feel and the tendency within the industry to knock women performers down at their professional peak. She responded that she’s disheartened seeing women tear down other women, especially younger talent. She claims that those who tout that the industry is full of “women empowering other women” are wrong, and “None of it’s happening. All of it is fake and a front for all the other shit that they say behind everyone’s back.”
Sweeney went on to express that she believes the issue is that women perceive other women in the industry as threats because they believe only one woman can be on top. Because of this, they see their peers as threats instead of colleagues and attack them.
Sweeney’s comments highlight a problem she sees in the industry: women often compete against each other instead of lifting each other up. She hopes for more honesty and genuine collaboration rather than performative gestures of support. She believes this competitive mindset holds back progress and hopes for a shift toward women genuinely working together to create meaningful change.
