Letters to the Editor: A gender-neutral Oscars could set a ‘cultural dumpster fire’

To the editor: By joining the chorus of media elites calling for an end to “gendered acting categories” at the Oscars and elsewhere, The Times Editorial Board is painting new-age misogyny with “progressive” lipstick, notably the idea that if we pretend men and women aren’t different, inequality will disappear.

But they are different — and sex-segregated acting categories celebrate not just performance but the diversity of those differences, without which audiences would enjoy no emotional connection to performance.

As a longtime member of the Los Angeles Film Critics Assn., whose recent change in this direction was cited by the editorial board, I can testify that the group remains deeply divided. The change passed by a single vote, with insufficient debate, procedural anomalies and no outright majority.

Multiply that by thousands of Oscar voters and millions of television viewers, and you’ve set the stage for a cultural dumpster fire.

The editorial board should stick to its knitting and let artists decide how to honor their own.

Wade Major, Malibu

The writer is a KPCC FilmWeek critic.

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To the editor: The movies and television celebrate the differences between women and men. Can’t we take pride in our gender just as we take pride in our ethnicity and religion?

If we eliminate the genders of the great performers we honor, how do we refer to them? Best actor? Best actress? I guess we could go with best performance, but it does feel a bit generic.

Frankly my dear, I do give a damn.

Saul Saladow, Los Angeles