Gillian Anderson on the “Intolerable” Sexism in Hollywood, Society

Gillian Anderson believes that “intolerable” sexism is still as rife in Hollywood as it is in society at large.

In a frank interview with Red magazine, the Hannibal star talked about overt sexism in Hollywood, highlighting the pay disparity for her breakout role in the X-Files. “At the beginning, the pay disparity [between David Duchovny and me] was massive. But that happens all the time in Hollywood,” she said. “It’s, ‘Do this for me, I’ll get you a job.’ All the stuff in the papers today about people in entertainment who have abused their position.”

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Anderson also said that sexism is “built in to our society — it’s easy to miss and it’s easy to get used to it.” She added: “There are things that are intolerable in today’s world in terms of the perception of women. Whether they’re vamps or vixens, the expectation is that, if a woman is wearing a short skirt, she’s ‘asking for it.’ “

Anderson is currently promoting her BBC serial killer drama The Fall, which also features Jamie Dornan, who stars in next year’s Fifty Shades of Grey adaptation. Indeed, such has been Dornan’s meteoric rise that people are less interested in Anderson’s years as FBI agent Dana Scully. “On the first [season], people were like, ‘Who is this guy? Is he an ex-model or something?’ Now people don’t ever want to talk to me about The X-Files. They only want to ask about Jamie Dornan.”

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