Ariana Grande Calls Out Sexism That All Females Celebs Face

Ariana Grande is the latest to stand up against sexism when asked about her relationship. Her response showed the divide between male and female celebrities.

Ariana Grande might have gotten her start on Nickelodeon but that doesn’t mean she’s going to take your crap. Just ask Ryan Secrest who asked the singer about her relationship with rapper, Mac Miller. Secrest pulled up the picture she posted of Miller and herself before proceeding to try to find out all the “juicy” details but Grande quickly shut him down.

She said something that really resonated with me, “If I post something, then that’s what I’m willing to share at the moment… It doesn’t mean then you, Ryan Seacrest, with millions of listeners, are entitled to more information.”  She continued to question Ryan about his intentions, asking why he thought he was entitled to information about her personal life and called him out for something that celebrities rarely talk about.

She pointed out no matter how many a celebrity posts, their personal life is theirs to share or not to share. Another example of someone who gets questioned about their dating life is Taylor Swift who usually tries to dodge the question. Well, I don’t consider myself a Taylor Swift fan, I can see why Taylor would get sick of being labelled the girl who always has a boyfriend. We don’t keep track of Taylor’s songs about friendship or growing up but for the songs written about her former flames.

Ariana Grande attends the 2016 MTV Video Music Awards at Madison Square Garden on August 28, 2016 in New York City. (Photo by Mike Coppola/MTV1617/Getty Images for MTV)

However, female celebrities aren’t just questioned about their dating lives. There are the questions about their body which have happened more times than I can count. When Anne Hathaway played Catwoman, she called out the male interviewer for wanting to know her dieting habits and Scarlett Johansson was asked the same questions about getting in shape to play Black Widow. On the other side of the spectrum, Mindy Kaling is asked where she gets her confidence from because she doesn’t look like the “typical” actress, Laverne Cox getting asked about transitioning or if Serena William’s body is too masculine to be feminine.

Then there are the questions about motherhood which have already been called out by Jennifer Garner, Chrissy Teigen, and Beyonce. You never see men getting questioned about these topics, though especially their bodies or fatherhood. Jennifer Garner pointed out that her former husband Ben Affleck wasn’t questioned about their kids but she was. Both Emma Stone and Scarlett Johansson were in interviews with their male co-stars who were asked about their characters while Stone and Johansson were asked about their bodies.

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There are countless examples of sexist questioning of female celebrities in Hollywood. How should we try to combat this behavior? There are a lot of different avenues to go down but I’ll give three that I think could work.

The first would be to stop letting male interviewers/journalists have the chance to. I’m not saying all male journalists will go the sexist route but having them continue the pattern isn’t helping anyone. Adding some more female journalists especially women of color is one way the problem could be stopped.

The second would be to ask their male counterparts the same questions. This has been trending lately because a lot of female-centered websites have been employing this tactic to combat sexism. The last suggestion is not to be afraid to call out sexist questions when you hear them in an interview by leaving a comment, tweeting or just letting your voice be heard.

My last suggestion might work better for those who are being asked the question, but it’s still an idea to keep in your back pocket. Sexism isn’t just a problem that affects celebrities…it affects women all over the world and finding effective ways to stop it are worth knowing regardless.

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What do you think about Ariana Grande calling out Ryan Secrest’s sexism? Do you think her calling him out will help other ladies take a stand too? Be sure to let me know in the comments!