Mila Kunis Pens Op-Ed Slamming Sexism in Hollywood
The actress says a producer told her to "pose semi-naked" on never work again.
— -- Mila Kunis has penned an op-ed for APlus, her husband Ashton Kutcher's website, in which she slammed sexism in Hollywood and shared her own harrowing accounts.
Kunis, 33, begins the open letter with an anecdote about an unnamed producer who she says told her to "pose semi-naked" to promote a movie or she would "never work in this town again."
She didn't because she "was no longer willing to subject myself to a naïve compromise that I had previously been willing to. ... And guess what? The world didn't end. The film made a lot of money and I did work in this town again, and again, and again."
The essay continues, focusing on the gender wage gap not tightening "fast enough."
"Throughout my career, there have been moments when I have been insulted, sidelined, paid less, creatively ignored, and otherwise diminished based on my gender," she adds. "I taught myself that to succeed as a woman in this industry I had to play by the rules of the boy's club. But the older I got and the longer I worked in this industry, the more I realized that it's bulls---! And, worse, that I was complicit in allowing it to happen."
To be part of the change, she started her own production company but says she ran into a different sexist experience.
She was part of an email chain that focused on her being Kucther's wife and "baby momma" to 2-year-old daughter Wyatt. This time, she was a victim of "blind gender bias" as she calls it.
Kunis says this other unnamed man "reduced my value to nothing more than my relationship to a successful man and my ability to bear children. ... What he characterized as a 'lighthearted' comment was actually deeply undermining to my contributions and ability to be taken seriously as a creative partner."
After expanding on these two different but troubling occurrences, Kunis writes, "I'm done compromising; even more so, I'm done with being compromised."
She now plans to address gender bias, on any level, "head on."
"I will stop in the moment and do my best to educate. I cannot guarantee that my objections will be taken to heart, but at least now I am part of creating an environment where there is the opportunity for growth. And if my comments fall on deaf ears, I will choose to walk away," she adds. "I will work in this town again, but I will not work with you."
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