Hey, all you 37-year-olds out there, did you know that, according to Hollywood, you’re too old to play the love interest of a man 18 years your senior? What? You don’t think that’s fair? Well, neither does the super-sexy, super-beautiful, 37-year-old Maggie Gyllenhaal.
It’s no secret that Hollywood has problems. It’s obsessed with all things glitter, has numerous substance abuse problems and suffers from rampant sexism and ageism. But now, in yet another moment of truly appalling synchronicity, it’s blended those “isms” into one big eff you to women everywhere, because guess what, ladies? Thirty-seven-year-old women are officially “too old” for 55-year-old men to love.
Gross.
More:Amy Schumer shreds the sexist double standard with one genius skit (VIDEO)
In a story that probably surprises no one, but is still upsetting beyond belief, gorgeous actress Maggie Gyllenhaal confessed to The Wrap, “I’m 37 and I was told recently I was too old to play the lover of a man who was 55. It was astonishing to me. It made me feel bad, and then it made me feel angry, and then it made me laugh.”
We’re laughing too, Maggie, because you are totes more beautiful than most 55-year-old men would even dare to dream of.
And yet, Hollywood wants us to think that it’s normal for a man to refuse to date a woman who isn’t at least a whole college freshman younger than he is. When is Hollywood going to stop force-feeding us the same tired male fantasy? It’s bad enough that a woman as lovely and as well spoken as Gyllenhaal isn’t sexy enough by Hollywood’s standards (especially when most of us dream of looking like her on a bad day!), but when you look at how badly some of Hollywood’s leading men have aged and compare them to their stunning 20-year-old love interests on screen, it makes me want to scream at the hypocrisy.
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If you feel like screaming, too, you’re in good company. Amy Schumer recently made headlines with a sketch called “The Last F***able Day,” in which she, Tina Fey, Patricia Arquette and Julia Louis-Dreyfus skewer Hollywood’s double standard when it comes to women and beauty.
Fortunately, there are few lights along this depressingly unsexy path. Monica Bellucci, 50, will play the leading lady to 47-year-old Daniel Craig’s Bond in the upcoming Spectre, and the super-talented Charlize Theron, 39, is currently starring (and kicking butt) alongside the 37-year-old Tom Hardy in Mad Max: Fury Road.
More:7 Things in Mad Max: Fury Road that make it way more feminist than the original
Also — reality check — there are plenty of awesome and “sexy” older-by-Hollywood’s-standards women rocking the universe without Hollywood’s permission. Maybe one day, if we continue to rock hard enough, Hollywood will finally catch up.
In the meantime, watch Amy Schumer’s hilarious sketch below to let off some steam, but be forewarned: It’s definitely NSFW!
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