It’s been nearly 11 years since Kristen Stewart was catapulted to international stardom after the release of Twilight in late 2008. And with fame came the world’s relentless scrutiny, especially regarding Stewart’s romantic relationships.
Society seemed fascinated when she was dating Twilight co-star Robert Pattinson, and the fans went crazy as the actress was seen holding hands with another woman years later. Now, Stewart has revealed that Hollywood, for all the social revolutions it underwent, remains a homophobic industry at its core.
A problem with holding hands?
In an extensive interview with Harper’s Bazaar, Kristen Stewart opened up about her experience with dealing with her sexuality in an industry that still suffers remnants from a close-minded (and ignorant) past.
As fans probably know, Stewart has tended to be very private with her romantic life in general, and is reluctant to even label herself as officially having one sexual orientation or another. And, honestly, what difference does it make? It’s her life, it’s her privacy, it’s her business. Yet there are many out there who seem to feel uncomfortable not only about the fact that she’s attracted to women, but also—for some strange reason—about being in the dark with regards to what Stewart identifies as in terms of sexual preferences.
This discomfort went as far at one point as to lead some to advice Stewart not to reveal her attraction to women at all. “I’ve fully been told, ‘If you just like do yourself a favor and don’t go out holding your girlfriend’s hand in public, you might get a Marvel movie,’” she told Harper’s Bazaar. “I don’t want to work with people like that.”
And who can blame her? No one should have to work with that kind of people anymore.
Ignorance at its best
Kristen went further into the frustration of being pushed to fit an obsolete (yet stubborn) status quo.
“I was informed by an old-school mentality, which is — you want to preserve your career and your success and your productivity, and there are people in the world who don’t like you, and they don’t like that you date girls, and they don’t like that you don’t identify as a quote-unquote ‘lesbian,’ but you also don’t identify as a quote-unquote ‘heterosexual.’ And people like to know stuff, so what the fuck are you?”
But that’s just the thing: society as a whole should stop focusing so much on matters which are honestly no big deal. Putting pressure on someone to adapt to familiar labels is not only ignorant and wrongheaded—it can be outright harmful.
Good for Kristen for not giving in.
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