# Most degrading performance by a woman in a movie? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 23, 2007, 9:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-degrading-performance-by-a-woman-in-a-movie/401286 "2007-04-23T09:01:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2007, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-degrading-performance-by-a-woman-in-a-movie/401286/61 "2007-04-26T20:40:45Z")
Oh, but I’ve heard that joke as “What’s the name for the useless piece of flesh at the end of a penis?” “A man”. Equal opportunity joke. ---
**Author:** ![spifflog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@spifflog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spifflog)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2007, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-degrading-performance-by-a-woman-in-a-movie/401286/62 "2007-04-27T13:09:23Z")
[QUOTE=ElvisL1ves] Most degrading? Maggie Gyllenhall in “Secretary”. Of course, that’s what the movie was all _about_. Even if the character herself thought she was simply totally devoted to her boss. [/QUOTE] I’ll respectfully submit that I think you missed the point of the film. She didn’t degrade herself at all. She began the film as a troubled, meek, mousy girl, who grew up, found herself and fought off her demons. By the end of the film found a man who she loved, who loved her. This developed into an unconventional, yet loving relationship. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2007, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-degrading-performance-by-a-woman-in-a-movie/401286/63 "2007-04-28T00:46:58Z")
Is it any \*less \* degrading if you participate in the degrading _yourself_, and joyously? I can’t think of any degradation more total than in giving over your mind as well as body. That isn’t just “unconventional”, but YMMV. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2007, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-degrading-performance-by-a-woman-in-a-movie/401286/64 "2007-04-28T02:39:24Z")
Well, then the question would become whether “degradation” is subjective or objective. For instance, IMO playing a **victim** (_A Clockwork Orange_) does not necessarily equal a “degrading” role in and of itself. Nor does necessariy the portrayals of acts of subservience/submission (_Secretary, 9 1/2 Weeks_) or of degenerate debauchery, cruelty or anomie (_Showgirls_). Part of the issue is if the victimization or domination or debauchery makes a valid plot or aesthetic point other than the placing of the character in a demeaning light. ---
**Author:** ![Gorgonzola](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e480ec/32.png) [@Gorgonzola](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorgonzola)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2007, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-degrading-performance-by-a-woman-in-a-movie/401286/65 "2007-04-28T03:54:48Z")
People love this movie, but I think Jennifer Grey’s role in _Dirty Dancing_ was that of a young woman rushing out to embrace degradation. Patrick Swayze treats her as a mere convenience in scene after scene and she just luurrrves him for it! Ugh. In this category, I also nominate Julia Roberts in _Pretty Woman_ for her spectacular promotion of prostitution as a way to elevate one’s social status. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2007, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-degrading-performance-by-a-woman-in-a-movie/401286/66 "2007-04-28T04:52:36Z")
It isn’t the \*most \*degrading, but some mention should be given to Florence Henderson in **Shakes the Clown**. ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2007, 9:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-degrading-performance-by-a-woman-in-a-movie/401286/67 "2007-04-29T09:05:45Z")
> [@Argent Towers](#): > > Jennifer Connelly in Requiem for a Dream. Sure, but she was just being in-character–the degrading nature of her “performance” was an intended part of the plot and its own piece of character development, not Aronovsky’s (sp?) soapbox to tell the world what he really thought of women. Of course, I think just being in the movie would be degrading; just servitude to a self-serving megalomaniac of a director. With no respect for the original author’s message, to boot. If I were a big-shot actor and I had the financial means to choose who to work for, I would write him off. > [@Menocchio](#): > > I’d bet it’s roles like “Stripper #3” and “Red-Haired Hooker” that actually feel degrading to the actress, even if the characters aren’t raped or sexually humiliated on screen. Reminds me of a frequent contributor to Mad TV and Whose Line Is It Anyway? (Both US and UK, I think). Don’t remember his name–but he had a Mad TV sketch where he ran through a list of the roles he’d played in the last couple of years. Universally things like “Tyrone”, “Tyrell”, “Dope dealer #2”, “TV thief”, etc. (The actor is black.) ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_C](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Captain\_C](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_C)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2007, 9:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-degrading-performance-by-a-woman-in-a-movie/401286/68 "2007-04-29T09:35:13Z")
[QUOTE=fetus] Reminds me of a frequent contributor to Mad TV and Whose Line Is It Anyway? (Both US and UK, I think). Don’t remember his name–but he had a Mad TV sketch where he ran through a list of the roles he’d played in the last couple of years. Universally things like “Tyrone”, “Tyrell”, “Dope dealer #2”, “TV thief”, etc. (The actor is black.) [/QUOTE] Wasn’t that Tracy Morgan of SNL fame? ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2007, 10:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-degrading-performance-by-a-woman-in-a-movie/401286/69 "2007-04-29T10:32:22Z")
No, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he had a similar story to tell. ---
**Author:** ![spifflog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@spifflog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spifflog)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2007, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-degrading-performance-by-a-woman-in-a-movie/401286/70 "2007-04-30T19:05:29Z")
[QUOTE=ElvisL1ves] Is it any \*less \* degrading if you participate in the degrading _yourself_, and joyously? I can’t think of any degradation more total than in giving over your mind as well as body. That isn’t just “unconventional”, but YMMV. [/QUOTE] I think so. Because at the end of the day, for these two characters (and people in this lifestyle in the real world) the goal of the degradation and submission to love and make the partner feel loved. ---
**Author:** ![Dogzilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@Dogzilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogzilla)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2014, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-degrading-performance-by-a-woman-in-a-movie/401286/71 "2014-12-15T20:46:51Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Then there’s the other kind of degrading, as with Darryl Hannah playing an astrophysicist in Roxanne. Single-handedly reversed 100 years of accepting women as intellectual equals. Yes, but she redeems herself with a terrific iguana mount in _Dancing at the Blue Iguana_. ---
**Author:** ![Dogzilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@Dogzilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogzilla)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2014, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-degrading-performance-by-a-woman-in-a-movie/401286/72 "2014-12-15T20:50:09Z")
> [@Survey1215](#): > > Not sure if this is what the OP is looking for but what about Chloe Sevigny’s actual oral acrobatics in ‘The Brown Bunny’? Especially with a cretin like Vincent Gallo. 1. What’s degrading about giving head? 2. Chloe Sevigny was in a relationship with Vincent Gallo at the time – or had been at one point when that film was made. To me, that makes it even less degrading. ---
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2014, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-degrading-performance-by-a-woman-in-a-movie/401286/73 "2014-12-15T20:58:46Z")
A little behind on your thread reading are you **Dogzilla**? Otherwise why would you resurrect a 7-year old zombie for pretty much nothing. ---
**Author:** ![Flywheel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Flywheel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flywheel)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2014, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-degrading-performance-by-a-woman-in-a-movie/401286/74 "2014-12-15T21:19:20Z")
Chloe Hunter in [Spun](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spun). ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2014, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-degrading-performance-by-a-woman-in-a-movie/401286/75 "2014-12-16T03:12:48Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > oh, come on – she had plenty of help. Racquel Welch in **Fantastic Voyage** , Denise Richards in **The World is Not Enough**. Plenty of Lookers-who-are-supposed-to-be-brilliant-scientists-but-who-don’t-convince out there. This has been around for quite awhile: [http://www.fototime.com/7A0F822B92D0F1A/orig.jpg](http://www.fototime.com/7A0F822B92D0F1A/orig.jpg) > [@lisacurl](#): > > Of course, the entire \*point \*of that performance is the degradation… how low she is willing to go to score the drugs. She’s a fully-developed character at least. I mean, are we talking about performances in which the character is degraded, or performances which are degrading for women in general? Because we could talk about women’s roles in a lot of movies in the 70s and 80s, particularly of the violent Death Wish/Dirty Harry genre, where basically they were bloodied victims, whores, innocent wife/girlfriends, or some combination thereof. One reviewer of **9 1/2 Weeks** said of Kim Basinger “Never mind the character she played, starring in this movie was an act of masochism”. ---
**Author:** ![Dogzilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@Dogzilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogzilla)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2014, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-degrading-performance-by-a-woman-in-a-movie/401286/76 "2014-12-16T13:41:36Z")
> [@Kimballkid](#): > > A little behind on your thread reading are you **Dogzilla**? Otherwise why would you resurrect a 7-year old zombie for pretty much nothing. Because I paid exactly zero attention to how old the fucking thread was, okay? Don’t care. I log in, hit “new posts,” read and reply if I feel like it. So sue me. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2014, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-degrading-performance-by-a-woman-in-a-movie/401286/77 "2014-12-16T15:43:15Z")
How about the two actessess who were #2 and #3 in _The Human Centipede_? ---
**Author:** ![Crotalus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crotalus/32/41_2.png) [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2014, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-degrading-performance-by-a-woman-in-a-movie/401286/78 "2014-12-16T16:16:01Z")
> [@Dogzilla](#): > > Because I paid exactly zero attention to how old the fucking thread was, okay? Don’t care. I log in, hit “new posts,” read and reply if I feel like it. So sue me. :rolleyes: There must have been a spam post that resurrected this thread and then got disappeared. ---
**Author:** ![BubbaDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bubbadog/32/333_2.png) [@BubbaDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BubbaDog)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2014, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-degrading-performance-by-a-woman-in-a-movie/401286/79 "2014-12-16T16:28:46Z")
> [@Dogzilla](#): > > Because I paid exactly zero attention to how old the fucking thread was, okay? Don’t care. I log in, hit “new posts,” read and reply if I feel like it. So sue me. :rolleyes: You might have to wait awhile for **Survey1215** to reply to your questions. No lawsuits pending, [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-degrading-performance-by-a-woman-in-a-movie/401286.md?page=3)