Depaul University

Gender-neutral Award Categories in Hollywood:

Music, Television, and Theater

Eden Diez

INTC 361: Gender and Communication

Research Paper Assignment

Dr. Michaela Winchatz

11.12.19
 In this research paper, I will argue that award categories within mainstream U.S. music,

television, and theater awards such as the Oscars and Emmys become gender-neutral. I will

reference concepts from the text Gendered Lives, such as ‘Gatekeeper,’ ‘The Bechdel Test,’ and

‘Agenda Setting,’ as well as explore the pros and cons of gender-neutral award categories.

On October 15, 2018, Deanna Isaacs wrote for the Chicago Reader that beginning with

the 2018 celebration of Chicago theater, the Jeff Awards nominee categories would be gender-

neutral, “but after doing so, they’ve tilted even more in favor of male-identified performers.” So

lies the controversy. In this sexist society, should gender-neutral award nominee categories be

introduced with the possibility of male domination as collateral damage?

To begin, I will explain why I propose the collapse of gendered categories and the

introduction of gender-neutral categories into mainstream award shows. First and most

important, the restrictiveness of gender-binary award categories exclude those who do not

subscribe to male or female labels. Additionally, gender does not directly influence a performer’s

acting ability. When gender non-conforming nominees are told to choose a gender category,

there is no space to fully express their true identity. On April 6, 2017, Eliza Berman for TIME

wrote about Asia Kate Dillon, the star of the Showtime series Billions who identifies as gender-

nonconforming and uses “they/them” pronouns, and how they responded when asked to submit a

gender category for an Emmy award consideration. Dillon did not answer simply because the

provided gender categories, ‘Best Supporting Actor1 or Best Supporting Actress,’ did not allow

them to answer simply. As a response and attempt to start a dialogue about the restrictive binary

system, Dillon wrote a letter to the Television Academy explaining that there was “no room” for

their identity, therefore they could not adequately choose a gender category (TIME 2017). The

1 As an aside, the word ‘actor’ is non-gendered, therefore Dillon technically could have chosen to identity as an
‘actor,’ but the controversy lies in the forced decision to choose between the gendered categories ‘actor’ and
‘actress.’
Academy responded and simply reinforced that there are only two gender categories to choose

from.

The gender binary system that is reinforced within Hollywood serves as the “gatekeeper”

of which gender identities are broadcasted to the nation. The genders advertised are either male

or female with no in-between. The term “gatekeeper” refers to the people or groups that control

which messages get through to audiences of mass media, this exercise of control is known as

“agenda setting” (Gendered Lives 220, 221). In the case of gendered award categories, the

committees and academies of music, television, and theater who reinforce the gender binary are

the gatekeepers who control public perception of gender identity in Hollywood.

On a positive note, the gatekeepers of Hollywood “permissed” the entry of gender-neutral

award nominee categories into the MTV Movie and TV Awards in 2017 with the elimination of

Best Male and Female Performance (TIME 2017). The creation of Best Actor/Performance in

2017, was first celebrated by Emma Watson. In her acceptance speech, she gracefully

acknowledged how monumental it was to win “the first acting award in history that doesn’t

separate nominees based on their sex.” Emma also says that, “MTV’s move to create a

genderless award for acting...indicates that acting is about the ability to put yourself in someone

else’s shoes….and that doesn’t need to be separated into two different categories” (TIME 2017).

Along with the elimination of Best Male and Female Performance, “MTV has long featured

awards that don’t differentiate between genders, from Best Hero and Best Villain to Best

Comedic Performance” (TIME 2017). Unfortunately, ever since the creation of the gender-less

category Best Comedic Performance in 1992, the MTV award has only been handed to a woman

thrice (TIME 2017).

 Next, I will explore the improbable success of gender neutral award nominee categories

by demonstrating the lack of female representation in prime-time television. Scholar and USC

Annenberg communication school director Larry Gross on behalf of the Spring 2008 edition of

Media Report To Women effectively articulates points in favor of media equity by explaining

that “...everyone agrees that media representation is social power, and that relative invisibility

contributes to social inequality, it is vitally important to back up such arguments with hard data.”

That being said, there is no hard data on the success rate of gender neutral award nominee

categories due to it being a brand new phenomena, but there is a wide display of data on the

disparity of media representation between men and women.

By examining the lack of female representation in prime-time television, assumptions can

be drawn regarding the unlikely success of gender-neutral representation. Data sourced from the

“Boxed In Study” conducted by San Diego State University’s Center for the Study of Women in

Television and Film in September 2019 involved tracking women’s representation in prime-time

television for the last 22 years. I acknowledge the steady increase of female representation in

media, but for the purpose of this paper, I would more importantly like to address that men

continue to dominate most platforms. In 2018-19, females accounted for 45% of all speaking

characters on broadcast network, cable, and streaming programs (Boxed In Study 2018-19). By

this slightly disappointing statistic, seeing how women continue to lag behind men, a large

number of television shows and films would most likely fail to meet the Bechdel Test. “In 2016,

half of the Academy Award nominees for best picture failed the Bechdel Test (Gendered Lives

221).” The Bechdel Test assesses gender bias in film by asking three questions:

1.) Does the film feature two women?

2.) Who talk to each other?
3.) About something other than a man?
 Carving out a place for women in male-dominated media has proved to be a trying task,

therefore carving a place for those who are gender-nonconforming will be equally, if not more,

difficult. On October 16, 2019, Cara Buckley for the New York Times took a quote from Mark

Harris, Vanity Fair reporter for Hollywood’s awards season, who said, “Merging gender

categories would create a cosmetic definition of equality in an industry where we know that

equality does not exist...it’s placing this huge bet that sexism is so solved that it doesn’t need to

be paid attention to anymore.” In order for gender neutral award categories to be successful in

the future, sexism in society desperately needs to be addressed to ensure that future award

categories involving female and gender-nonconforming nominees are not overrun by men.

In 2015, Deborah Jones and Judith K. Pringle wrote in The Sociological Review:

Unmanageable Inequalities: Sexism in the Film Industry that “one reason gender is not receiving

higher priority in the film industry is that individuals are not aware that inequality exists.” Then,

it seems that some people who are aware of the blatant sexism in the film industry do not have

the tools, nor bravery to combat it. Jones and Pringle go further to say that “there has been a

widespread refusal to acknowledge inequalities: where they do exist, widespread and consistent

statistical claims are combated by lists of token women, by deep seated belief in talent as the

decider, and by a conservative approach to gender difference.” To be blunt, it seems as if

mainstream U.S. music, television, and theater awards such as the Oscars and Emmys will not

introduce gendered categories anytime soon. If a brighter light is shown on Hollywood’s deeper

systemic problem of sexism, progressive change should follow. Cara Buckley for the New York

Times wrote about the need for progressive change in Hollywood, but in the meantime, Becca

Blackwell, the star of the Off-Broadway show Hurrican Diane who identifies as nonbinary, said

they’d rather compete in the male category than female should they be nominated. Blackwell
jokes, “I’d rather beat out a bunch of cis-men than take an award from a woman...I better be the

first person with a vagina to get a best actor award.”

Nonbinary Hollywood stars, Asia Kate Dillon and Becca Blackwell’s critique of the

gender binary award categories provides momentum in which grassroots activists can use to

jumpstart a movement to demand the collapse of gender exlusive categories in Hollywood. The

progress MTV has made serves as an example for mainstream award shows, if steps are made to

build a more inclusive future in Hollywood.

To conclude, anyone in Hollywood who is not white, male, straight, cisgender, or able-

bodied faces severe underrepresentation in Hollywood. Everyone deserves recognition for a job

well done and when that recognition is continuously handed to those who belong to the majority

(white men), Hollywood becomes more and more exclusive. I believe that in order to introduce

gender-neutral categories into mainstream award shows, women must achieve a higher

percentage than 45% of all speaking characters on broadcast network, cable, and streaming

programs according to the 2018-19 “Boxed In” Study. By achieving a higher percentage, it

reduces the possibility of men reaping most of the benefits and increases the possibility of a level

playing field for women and those who identify as nonbinary. In my opinion, then and only then,

can genderless award categories successfully carve their place into mainstream media.
 Works Cited

Berman, Eliza. “MTV Movie and TV Awards Got Rid of Gendered Categories.” Time,

Time, 6 Apr. 2017, time.com/4729283/mtv-movie-and-tv-awards-gendered-categories/.

Buckley, Cara. “Why the Oscars, Emmys and Tonys Are Not Ready for They and

Them.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 16 Oct. 2019,

www.nytimes.com/2019/10/16/movies/oscars-gendered-categories.html.

“Chapter 11.” Gendered Lives: Communication, Gender, and Culture, by Natalie Fixmer-

Oraiz and Julia T. Wood, Cengage, 2019, pp. 220–221.

Isaacs, Deanna. “The Jeff Awards Go Gender Neutral but Still Manage to Favor Men.”

Chicago Reader, Chicago Reader, 12 Nov. 2019, www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/jeff-

awards-controversy-nonbinary-performing-awards/Content?oid=60190506.

Jones, Deborah, and Judith K. Pringle. “Unmanageable Inequalities: Sexism in the Film

Industry.” The Sociological Review, 2015, journals-sagepub-

com.ezproxy.depaul.edu/doi/pdf/10.1111/1467-954X.12239.

Lauzen, Dr. Martha M. “BoxedIn2018-19:WomenOn ScreenandBehindtheScenesin

Television.” CenterfortheStudyofWomeninTelevision Film, SanDiegoStateUniversity,

Feb. 2019, womenintvfilm.sdsu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/2018-

19_Boxed_In_Report.pdf.

“No Oscar for Gender Balance in Academy Award 'Best Pictures'.” Media Report to

Women, 1 Mar. 2008, pp. 1–2.

Staff, TIME. “MTV Movie Awards 2017: Read Emma Watson Best Actor Speech.”

Time, Time, 8 May 2017, time.com/4770417/emma-watson-mtv-movie-awards/.