Maggie Gyllenhaal Has Sparked A Debate On "White Privilege" After She Automatically Assumed That "All" Women Actors Use Their Sexuality For Roles

Yahoo

11-07-2025

In 2018, Angela Bassett, Claire Foy, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Elisabeth Moss, Thandiwe Newton, and Sandra Oh all sat down with the Hollywood Reporter for a wide-ranging chat about various aspects of their careers.
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At one point, they were asked about roles that were "easy no's" for them, leading Thandiwe, who is mixed, to sound off about constantly being approached for "ethnic" and "exotic" roles. She said, "I, for years, would be called up and said, 'Thandiwe, they want to go exotic with the role, so get excited. They want to go ethnic with the role,' and even just that...I would just have to brace myself because it was just so deeply offensive, but I wanted to work."
"And then I would read the script, and I would transform it out of this bizarre objectification, and I would think, how can I help this, how can I make this more progressive?" Thandiwe continued, noting that the roles were frustratingly "always" written by men. "As soon as I read 'sexy,' I'm like, really? Do we have to be sexy in order to be powerful?" she wondered. "What's that about? And no, they don't mean it when they write 'sexy,' they mean strong, but let's start looking at the way things are described and let's take out the incredibly offensive [words]. They have ramifications. I have daughters. I don't want her thinking you have to be sexy to be powerful."
Maggie then chimed in to say that some male creators are well-meaning and genuinely "interested and curious about women" in their work. She also said she believes "sex and sex scenes and sexuality has been a way to get people's attention and then go, OK, are you listening now? Here's what I actually really want to talk about." "That's what's available to me," the Dark Knight star said, "so that's what I used."
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"I think it has felt like a prerequisite that yes, you can be smart and powerful and all these things," she continued, "but you do have to throw a little sexiness in there. I don't know if that's going to stay that way, but it's certainly been that way for most of my career."
Thandiwe then repeated her concern, specifically for young women coming into the industry who are "encouraged to use [their] sexuality" to book jobs, leading Maggie to interject and say, "But aren't we all?"
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"No, not really," said Angela, who up until that point had been sitting quietly at the table. "I've not been asked to use my sexuality in my career." Clearly taken aback, Maggie asked, "Really? But even just, like, as a vibe?" "No," Angela replied, "not as a Black woman. [I'm] not seen as...you know, there's a particular look and a vibe and image."
"And you don't think it includes sexuality?" Maggie asked, pressing on, to which Angela firmly answered, "No, it has not."
Sandra, who is Korean, agreed with her. "I gotta tell you. I'll echo Angela's experience, and I will say, for me, I don't think I've ever gotten a job based on boom, boom, boom, boom, boom," she said, motioning toward her body. "No," Angela stressed. "That's why it was so beautiful the first season of Grey's Anatomy to see that image because it has never, across the board, the landscape of cinema, not the one they're checking for for sexuality."
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The clip of the conversation resurfaced on X this week, earning over 3 million views and tons of comments criticizing Maggie for her insensitive remarks.
One X user wrote, "she's so tone deaf lmfao I'm crying." "and then thandiwe next to her going 'i wonder why ' hdhjjsjsj they were having a who's more tone deaf competition there," commented another.
Someone else said, "Maggie just sitting there like a deer in headlights - what Angela & Sandra said is absolutely right...the industry has always had a strange and biased physicality to women of other colors and ethnicities. It's fucked up...and if you really pay attention to movies and tv, and really look at just the last 30 years even, it's very true. Has it gotten better in the more recent years? Ehh, a bit, but there's still a long ass way to go. But what I don't get is that Angela & Sandra are STUNNING, SEXY, BEAUTIFUL women, so it honestly makes zero sense to be discriminated against in such a way. Glad they said something."
Another person praised "the way Angela started the layup and Maggie slam dunked it…"
There was tons of criticism when the moment was initially posted on THR's YouTube channel, too, with many sharing similar thoughts.
One person teased that their "Favorite part is this video is watching Angela and Sandra basically tell Maggie 'Maybe for YOU, Sis.'"
"The conversation about sexuality is exactly why these panels need to continue to be diverse," said another. "Maggie's experience is completely different than that of Angela and Sandra's because they aren't necessarily looked at as sex symbols. Their bodies/faces/skin are not what the industry has typically used in scripted forums to show what sexuality can be. I think Maggie learned a lot from their push back to her about how these things differ based on your race. I loved the different perspectives."
Another person stated, "This was frustrating to watch. It's clear Thandie has a lot of trauma wrapped into how she was treated and exploited in the industry, and for Maggie to immedIately counter that with 'well I know good men / that's what women historically had to offer' was excruciatingly tone deaf and reeked of privilege. Same as both of them not even acknowledging the experience that a darker woman of colour / less 'conventionally' attractive women had experienced. So much fertile ground for discussion but it all stayed shapeless and poorly articulated."
"When Angela said she was not encouraged to use her sexuality and Maggie goes 'really even just as a vibe?' I lost it," another shared. "I think one of my personal pet peeves is saying no to a question/statement in terms of my own experience and then to be asked again 'really?'"
Let me know your thoughts in the comments.
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