This is an industry rife with racism, sexism and homophobia. It is so closely woven into the fabric of the business that we have become snowblind to the glaring injustices happening every day.
Jessica ChastainRead
If you're one of the only women on a set - if it's you and a bunch of men - you feel like your value doesn't come from your thoughts and your talent and what you say: your value comes from how you look and how you're perceived by the men around you.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote highlights the struggles women face in male-dominated environments, where their worth is often judged by appearance rather than talent.
Jessica Chastain's quote addresses the challenges women encounter in predominantly male spaces, such as film sets. She articulates a painful truth that many women feel their contributions and intellect are overshadowed by societal pressures to meet beauty standards, leading to a diminished sense of self-worth based on external perceptions rather than their professional capabilities. The quote sheds light on the need to value women for their thoughts and talents, rather than their looks.
Themes
WomenValuePerceptionTalentSociety
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about women's empowerment, you might say, 'As Jessica Chastain reminds us, true value comes from talent, not appearance.'
More from Jessica Chastain
All quotes →I just want to see more women in film and behind the camera. I'm tired of seeing movies from one perspective.
Jessica ChastainRead
We know in our society, women are valued for their sexual desirability and not necessarily for what they have to say.
Jessica ChastainRead
It's tough, acting. You have to walk two lines of a tightrope. There's the all-consuming fear of failure: I'm about to fall flat on my face. There's that and there's also confidence - you have to be confident in order to try things - and they fight each other all the time.
Jessica ChastainRead
I'm not taking jobs anymore where I'm getting paid a quarter of what the male co-star is being paid. I'm not allowing that in my life.
Jessica ChastainRead
It's a fact, the majority of films in Hollywood are from the male perspective. And the female characters, very rarely do they get to speak to another female character in a movie, and when they do it's usually about a guy, not anything else. So they're very male-centric, Hollywood films, in general. So I think it's incredible that Ned Benson, when I said I'd love to know where she goes, says okay, I'm going to write another film from the female perspective.
Jessica ChastainRead
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I've said this before, and I'm sure there are people who disagree, but I feel like one of the reasons there aren't a lot more women in stand-up - and there are many more now; it's not parity, but it's getting there - is that women are not socialized to look stupid or silly. They're socialized to be pretty and precious.
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It doesn't matter how many women we get into game production. If the only people evaluating the work we do continue to be men, women's voices will never be heard.
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