# Is The Word "Actress" Sexist? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 24, 2010, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-word-actress-sexist/526290 "2010-01-24T23:20:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Jules\_Andre](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jules_andre/32/9334_2.png) [@Jules\_Andre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jules_Andre)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2010, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-word-actress-sexist/526290/41 "2010-01-25T18:07:09Z")
Count me in as one who has never before heard someone complain about “actress” being a demeaning term. > [@SanVito](#): > > An actor is a skilled, talented theatrical professional, an actress is a pretty girl who’s there as a romantic foil to the lead man. She’s also probably of dubious morals and has been known to sell her skills on the casting couch, along with her bare breasts in tabloid newspapers. So you’re saying my cousin is an actress? Because we in the family have other, more appropriate words for what she does. I doubt you’ll find a definition of actress that includes all of that other stuff. But, in fairness, the distinction here is probably with occupational terms (which, actually, I’m alright with, even if I consider actress perfectly reasonable). Or is there a movement to start calling the daughter of a king and queen a prince, too? ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2010, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-word-actress-sexist/526290/42 "2010-01-25T18:15:14Z")
> [@Jules\_Andre](#): > > Or is there a movement to start calling the daughter of a king and queen a prince, too? Or hell, why even have “king” & “queen” at all? To you people saying there is something demeaning about the word “actress” and that it only refers to bimbos & starlets, you do know that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences (AKA the Academy Awards AKA the Oscars) gives out “Best Actress” and “Best Supporting Actress” right? If there’s a distinction between the two terms, it exists only in your own mind. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_the\_Immortal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@Max\_the\_Immortal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_the_Immortal)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2010, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-word-actress-sexist/526290/43 "2010-01-25T20:29:17Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Can you find some cites of people making that distinction? For starters there’s [this entry at answers.com](http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_difference_beetween_an_actress_and_an_actor). A few years ago I read a quote from Sigourney Weaver: > [@](#): > > “I’m an actor. An actress is someone who wears a feather boa.” It doesn’t seem to be in all of the online lists of her quotes, but I found it kicking around [on this page](http://www.shaksper.net/archives/2000/1185.html). [This article](http://articles.latimes.com/2009/jan/18/entertainment/ca-actress18) notes: > [@](#): > > In the first recorded use of the word “actress,” playwright John Dryden evoked “the trade of love behind the scene, where actresses make bold with married men.” With this double-edged sword I dub thee Actress and denigrate the work. For the record, I’m not saying that everybody who’s anybody makes this distinction. I’m saying that there are female actors out there who appreciate the distinction, particularly in the context of acting awards. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2010, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-word-actress-sexist/526290/44 "2010-01-25T21:09:39Z")
> [@Max\_the\_Immortal](#): > > For starters there’s [this entry at answers.com](http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_difference_beetween_an_actress_and_an_actor). You’re joking. I hope. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2010, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-word-actress-sexist/526290/45 "2010-01-25T23:27:14Z")
If I wanted to make a distinction between Meryl Streep and Megan Fox, come to think of it, I wouldn’t do so by calling Streep an actor and Fox a mere actress. I would say that Streep is an actress and Fox is a bimbo, or eye candy, or a starlet, or some other such word depending on how charitable I was feeling. If anything, the insistence that “actress” must necessarily refer to someone of inferior talent is itself sexist. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2010, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-word-actress-sexist/526290/46 "2010-01-26T00:42:31Z")
There’s something to the point that “actress” isn’t parallel to “doctress” or “stewardess” or “aviatrix”, because female actors typically play roles written to be played by females. Not always though, cause Shakespearean theater etc. There’s no reason to distinguish the gender of a doctor, or nurse, or steward, or pilot, because gender is irrelevant to the work a doctor or pilot does. But it isn’t quite irrelevant to the work an actor does. Or it sometimes is and sometimes isn’t. You could switch genders of all the characters in lots of movies, and the movie would make just about as much sense. But in plenty of movies you’d have to do some rewrites if you decide to make the lead a man instead of a woman. You don’t have to change the flight plan if you find out your pilot and flight attendants are of another gender. So gender specific names make a certain amount of sense when the job isn’t gender neutral. But it makes you wonder why we have female dancers at strip clubs, doesn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2010, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-word-actress-sexist/526290/47 "2010-01-26T00:48:07Z")
> [@](#): > > So gender specific names make a certain amount of sense when the job isn’t gender neutral. But it makes you wonder why we have female dancers at strip clubs, doesn’t it? I don’t follow. We have female dancers at strip clubs because a larger proportion of men than women are willing to pay to see a stripper, and most men prefer to see women stripping. Or are you asking why strippers are called “dancers” rather than “dancetresses”, or whatever? For the most part, they’re just called “strippers”. And while “stripper” is a gender-neutral term, male strippers are rare enough that it’s practically female-specific. ---
**Author:** ![Runs\_With\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/278dde/32.png) [@Runs\_With\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Runs_With_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2010, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-word-actress-sexist/526290/48 "2010-01-26T04:56:14Z")
> [@In\_Winnipeg](#): > > “There goes Superman!” Stupid feminist teacher crosses out “man” and over top of it writes “person” in an effort to put forth her feminist agenda. Shoulda drawn him with a nine inch schlong. ---
**Author:** ![Taomist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Taomist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taomist)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2010, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-word-actress-sexist/526290/49 "2010-01-26T05:06:33Z")
Let’s see…isn’t it up to the oppressed to have a say in whether they’re oppressed? I’m female, I’ve acted \; while SAG wouldn’t qualify me, I do believe I have the right to feel oppressed by the word actress, and…I don’t. It’s just a word denoting a female actor without using as many syllables. It clarifies, correctly, and is not demeaning in any way. So, to answer the OP…No. It’s not sexist. It’s descriptive. HUGE difference. hehe…maybe ‘actress’ once held the same connotation as ‘seamstress’? hem hem… ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2010, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-word-actress-sexist/526290/50 "2010-01-26T05:14:26Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I don’t follow. We have female dancers at strip clubs because a larger proportion of men than women are willing to pay to see a stripper, and most men prefer to see women stripping. Or are you asking why strippers are called “dancers” rather than “dancetresses”, or whatever? For the most part, they’re just called “strippers”. And while “stripper” is a gender-neutral term, male strippers are rare enough that it’s practically female-specific. Exactly. Why aren’t they danctresses, and striptresses? After all, that’s a job where the gender of the dancer is pretty important, no? ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2010, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-word-actress-sexist/526290/51 "2010-01-26T06:39:30Z")
Well, that’s no great mystery to wonder over. It just puts the lie to the theory that one can determine whether the words for professions are gender-differentiating or not simply by asking whether distinguishing the genders is generally considered relevant for the profession or not. Which is fine; I never saw any strong evidence for the theory in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aji_de_gallina/32/260_2.png) [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aji_de_Gallina)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2010, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-word-actress-sexist/526290/52 "2010-01-26T07:22:36Z")
If they are so serious about sex/gender they should simply stop giving awards to people doing the same job simply because of the nauhgty bits. One actor award, period. Let Susan Sarandon compete against George Clooney. Are there “female director” and “female producer” awards? ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2010, 7:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-word-actress-sexist/526290/53 "2010-01-26T07:52:20Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > I completely diasagree that there’s anything demeaning about “actress,” or that it denotes anything more than gender. It’s also not exactly the same thing as removing the gender distinction from most other professions, because in acting, the specific gender actually matters. Actors play male roles, and actresses play female roles. Not true for most of the history of the theatre. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2010, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-word-actress-sexist/526290/54 "2010-01-26T08:22:16Z")
If you look up **actress** in Google news it comes up with about 4,000 current media articles on the first page of results alone. Apparently Jean Simmons and Farrah Fawcett were actresses. So are Sandra Bullock, Nicole Kidman and Tina Fey. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_the\_Immortal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@Max\_the\_Immortal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_the_Immortal)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2010, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-word-actress-sexist/526290/55 "2010-01-27T04:08:11Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > You’re joking. I hope. What? You asked for examples of other people expressing the same opinion I was. Even a wiki is adequate for that. You were expecting peer-reviewed journal articles? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-word-actress-sexist/526290.md?page=2)