My chest constricts at the state of the world. It’s so full of evil I can’t even watch the news most days. Yesterday’s upset came when I saw the cruelty in the comments made by Zellweger bashers.

I Googled “the cause of cruelty.” A Psychology Today article popped up that explained “the spirit of abstraction.” It’s a mental trick that allows some people to see others as objects. Slave owners thought of their slaves as possessions. Hitler manipulated the Germans until killing Jews seemed fine. And the Internet runs amok with a viciousness that still shocks me.

Hello! Renee Zellweger is human. Humans have feelings. Mocking her publicly is bullying. Yes, I’m sure she’ll be fine — she has a lot of money and can go to therapy or use a plethora of human vices to cope. But many A-listers I interview say they don’t read the comments about themselves because it would be debilitating.

At the base of the cruelty lurks jealousy and self-hatred. “Stars have all that money, they are so lucky. I have a shit job.” The average citizen is far from beautiful and will never have fans. Oh, boo hoo. Grow up, will ya?

There’s plenty of proof that nobody’s life is easy. You know why? Because nobody is immune to reality, not even stars.

Why do people even care whether Zellweger had surgery or not? A lot of the tweets about her were laughable. Posts compared her looks to 10-year-old photos. Yo! I bet your face and your skin looks a lot different than it did 10 years ago. And, there were multiple posts mocking her wrinkle-free forehead. I have news for you, I’m older than Ms. Zellweger, and I don’t have forehead wrinkles yet. Not every face ages the same.

Now let’s get back to not caring whether she did or didn’t have plastic surgery. I’m not good at math, but I can see a problem here. Look at the salary differences between genders. If you were in Hollywood, you’d probably be having plastic surgery, too, with so much at stake.

According to Forbes, the highest paid actors in 2014 were:

1. Robert Downey Jr. $75 million
2. Dwayne Johnson $52 million
3. Bradley Cooper $42 million
4. Leonardo DiCaprio $39 million
5. Chris Hemsworth $37 million
6. Liam Neeson $36 million
7. Ben Affleck $35 million
8. Christian Bale $35 million
9. Will Smith $32 million
10. Mark Wahlberg $32 million

And here’s Forbes’ list of the highest paid actresses in 2014:

1. Angelina Jolie $30 million
2. Sarah Jessica Parker $30 million
3. Jennifer Aniston $28 million
4. Reese Witherspoon $28 million
5. Julia Roberts $20 million
6. Kristen Stewart $20 million
7. Katherine Heigl $19 million
8. Cameron Diaz $18 million
9. Sandra Bullock $15 million
10. Meryl Streep $10 million

Wait, there’s more. Here are some stats about gender inequality in Hollywood from Indiewire:

Women directed 4.7% of studio films from 2009–2013

Women represent a total of 30% of characters, 29% of speaking parts 15% of protagonists/leads.

Women are younger than men onscreen. The majority of women on screen are in their 20s and 30s, while men are in their 30s and 40s.
Males over 40 make up 55% of all male characters, while females over 40 make up 30% of all characters.

Look at these dismal facts from USA Today Network:

As female movie stars get older, their compensation dips rapidly on average, unlike their male counterparts, a study says.
Female movie stars make the most money per film when they are 34 years old, but their earnings quickly decline after that age.

Male movie stars peak in their earnings per film at age 51, and their compensation steadily increases over time.

 “We are such an appearance-based society,” Timothy Judge, a management professor at the University of Notre Dame and leader of the aforementioned study, told USA Today.

Researchers suggest roles for older female actors are limited, creating more pressure on female stars to maintain a youthful appearance.

“Men’s well-worn faces are thought to convey maturity, character and experience,” the study went on to say. ” A woman’s face, on the other hand, is valued for appearing young.”

BOTTOM LINE

It would help if they didn’t pair actors with actresses who are at least 20 years younger. For women to have a long-term career, plastic surgery should not be pooh-poohed. For goodness sake, don’t people have better things to worry about?

Here’s a great video that says it all:

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Wake-Up Call

Do you know how hard women fought — and are still fighting — to be respected for our brains and not our perky breasts? How many times have we heard about Hillary Rodham Clinton’s hair or what she’s wearing while the clothes worn by male politicians aren’t critiqued. And Rodham Clinton is referred to as a bitch whenever she says anything passionately. Sadly, the world is so used to this pervasive belittling of women that we barely notice it.
Now, don’t even get me started on “Princeton Mom” Patton. I’m embarrassed that she and I are the same gender. According to her, feminism is an “overcorrection,” a trip to the dark side. Her book promotes spending 75 percent of our time in college looking for a husband. Patton says that once you hit 30, chances are you’ll end up an ol’ spinster aunt talking to her cats.

Duct Tape

Ladies, isn’t it bad enough we have to put up with Tea Party men and Hobby Lobby and anti-abortionists and ignorance? Women, if you’re not pro-women, keep your fat trap shut. Let me remind you of some important stats. As for focusing 75 percent of your time in college, keep in mind that not only is Patton divorced, but so are 50 percent of those who married. And, as for Patton’s advice to run like Edith Bunker to Archie with a drink and hubby’s slippers, keep this in mind: Women make up 47 percent of the U.S. work force. The average full time working woman makes $669 as compared to men’s $824. We also do more of the housework and much more of the childcare. Check this out from
ThinkProgress.org

“The breakdown of what fathers do during the hours spent with their children is also telling, as they tend to spend more time on pleasurable activities. Mothers spend about two and a half times more hours tending to physical needs and about two times more on managerial and educational activities. But fathers spend nearly the same amount of time playing with their kids, perhaps the most enjoyable part of being with a child.

When it comes to housework, the tasks break down along traditional gender roles. Fathers spend more time doing repairs and maintenance — think lawn mowing and tinkering with cars — while mothers do more cooking and cleaning.”
In closing, I leave you with…

A Smattering of Disgusting Quotes About Women by Women

“Who hijacked the term: ‘feminist’? A cackle of rads who want 2 crucify other women w/whom they disagree on a singular issue; it’s ironic (& passé)” — Sarah Palin tweet
“The Lord says, ‘Be submissive wives; you are to be submissive to your husbands.’” — Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-IA)
“In the emergency room they have what’s called rape kits where a woman can get cleaned out.” —Rep. Jodie Laubenberg (R-TX)
Life begins “from the first day of the last menstrual period of the pregnant woman.” —Gov. Jan Brewer (R-AZ).

A Smattering of Disgusting Quotes About Women by Men

“The facts show that people who are raped —who are truly raped—the juices don’t flow, the body functions don’t work and they don’t get pregnant. Medical authorities agree that this is a rarity, if ever.” —Rep. Henry Aldridge (R-NC)
“As long as it’s inevitable, you might as well lie back and enjoy it.” —Clayton Williams (R-TX) on rape.
“These Planned Parenthood women, the Code Pink women, and all of these women have been neutering American men and bringing us to the point of this incredible weakness. We are not going to have our men become subservient.” — Rep. Allen West (R-FL).
“Consensual sex can turn into rape in an awful hurry. All of a sudden a young lady gets pregnant and the parents are madder than a wet hen and she’s not going to say, ‘Oh yeah, I was part of the program.’”— Rep. Roger Rivard (R-WI)
“I would hope that when a woman goes into a physician with a rape issue, that that physician will indeed ask her about perhaps her marriage, was this pregnancy caused by normal relations in a marriage, or was it truly caused by rape.” Sen. Chuck Winder (R-ID).

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