Jennifer Lawrence is speaking her mind, and she doesn't care whether or not you like it. Or her.
The Mockingjay star penned a powerful essay for Lena Dunham's feminist newsletter Lenny about the Hollywood wage gap and the sexism she has experienced -- even as the highest-paid actress out there. She even mentioned that "it’s hard for me to speak about my experience as a working woman because I can safely say my problems aren’t exactly relatable," but that she felt compelled to speak on the aspects that are.
Lawrence noted that she has been reluctant to talk about feminist issues before, because she doesn't like joining "trending" conversations. "But with a lot of talk comes change," she wrote of why she's is now. "So I want to be honest and open and, fingers crossed, not piss anyone off."
She spent much of the essay specifically addressing the wage gap in Hollywood, something she has personally experienced and discovered when documents from the Sony hack were made public last year.
"When the Sony hack happened and I found out how much less I was being paid than the lucky people with (male genitalia), I didn’t get mad at Sony," she wrote. "I got mad at myself. I failed as a negotiator because I gave up early. I didn’t want to keep fighting over millions of dollars that, frankly, due to two franchises, I don’t need."
Lawrence said that she "gave up early" partially because she inherently wanted to be liked and not seen as "difficult" or "spoiled.":
"At the time, that seemed like a fine idea, until I saw the payroll on the Internet and realized every man I was working with definitely didn’t worry about being 'difficult' or 'spoiled.' This could be a young-person thing. It could be a personality thing. I’m sure it’s both. But this is an element of my personality that I’ve been working against for years, and based on the statistics, I don’t think I’m the only woman with this issue."
The actress wrote that it wasn't only in salary negotiations that she has experienced sexism, recalling an incident just a few weeks ago where a man she was working with acted like she over-reacted when she simply spoke her mind bluntly. "I was so shocked because nothing that I said was personal, offensive, or, to be honest, wrong," she said of the incident. "All I hear and see all day are men speaking their opinions, and I give mine in the same exact manner, and you would have thought I had said something offensive."
Lawrence closed the essay by declaring that she is "over" trying to find the "adorable" and "likable" way to speak her mind. "(Expletive) that," she wrote. "I don’t think I’ve ever worked for a man in charge who spent time contemplating what angle he should use to have his voice heard. It’s just heard."
She continued:
"If anything, I’m sure (actors who negotiated powerful deals) were commended for being fierce and tactical, while I was busy worrying about coming across as a brat and not getting my fair share. Again, this might have NOTHING to do with my vagina, but I wasn’t completely wrong when another leaked Sony email revealed a producer referring to a fellow lead actress in a negotiation as a 'spoiled brat.' For some reason, I just can’t picture someone saying that about a man."
You can read Lawrence's full Lenny essay here.
