On CBS’ The Big Bang Theory, Kaley Cuoco-Sweeting plays Penny, a busty, scantily-clad blonde bimbo who is lusted after by a group of brilliant male nerds.
But lest you think this very premise is rooted in entrenched sexism, Cuoco-Sweeting has let the world know, via an interview with Redbook, that:
“I was never that feminist girl demanding equality, but maybe that’s because I’ve never really faced inequality.”
Sure, this morning she backpedaled a bit on her quote by offering up a half-hearted apology about how “completely blessed and grateful” she is “that strong women have paved the way for my success along with many others.” But she’s yet to say anything about that whole inequality business, which leads us to believe she stands by her assertion that it simply doesn’t exist.
What great news this is! How lovely, how wonderful, that we can live in a world so blissfully free of misogyny and gender bias! To celebrate the apparent demise of gender inequality, we decided to take to the interwebs to explore the many ways in which Cuoco-Sweeting is never treated unequally or unfairly as a result of her gender, nope never not at all.
Here’s what we found…
In a story ostensibly about her soaring career, Business Insider referred to Cuoco-Sweeting as “CBS’ favorite primetime blondie.”
*The story excluded any mention of Cuoco-Sweeting’s co-stars as primetime’s favorite brunette males.
Kaley Cuoco-Sweeting is not a feminist because she’s never faced inequality.
In a Comcast/Xfinity TV Blog interview, Cuoco-Sweeting, referred to as that actress “known for playing the role of hottie on TV,” was asked if her co-stars were actually nerdy in real life—and, in a totally similar vein, if she had ever dated a nerd in real life.
*No word on if Cuoco-Sweeting’s male co-stars have dated female nerds in real life.
Kaley Cuoco-Sweeting is not a feminist because she’s never faced inequality.
Last year, in an Entertainment Weekly post about Cuoco-Sweeting’s freshly cut hair, one man in the comments section, veering rather wildly off the topic of Cuoco-Sweeting’s locks, wrote:
“Some ladies… are trained predators. knowing full well that biology is on their side, they use sexuality to wheedle, trick and complain their way into a man’s wallet, life & psyche.”
Meanwhile, two other gentlemen shared this playful banter:
“If you were attempting to bang [Cuoco-Sweeting], pepper spray would be involved.”
“That would be one horrible lubricant.”
*We found no mention of the merits of pepper spray as a lubricant for Jim Parsons’ sexual encounters.
Kaley Cuoco-Sweeting is not a feminist because she’s never faced inequality.
On the blog Fishwrapper, a woman posted pics of “hottest thing ever” Cuoco-Sweeting in a bikini and wink-winked to her male readers:
“The proof is in the pictures, guys—no cuts, all butts shaped like tasty coconuts.”
*We found no evidence of the asses of Cuoco-Sweeting’s male co-stars being compared to coconuts—delicious or otherwise.
Kaley Cuoco-Sweeting is not a feminist because she’s never faced inequality.
On the handy site “Movie Hotties,” a writer named “Cherry Liquor” helpfully assessed Cuoco-Sweeting’s bang-ability (get it?)
“She has one of the most impressive bodies around—from her store bought rack to her awesome white girl booty. But that face… I really like the girl but if you look close enough at her face, it can throw off the whole package. Cutting her hair recently doesn’t seem to have detracted from it. However, if she were to continue to have the older lady sex kitten hair, it would have just aged her even more.
While I have those issues with her cranial appeal, it’s easy to categorize Kaley Cuoco as being sexy. She’s funny, she carries herself fantastically and damn, that f*cking body. Every interview that I’ve seen with her showcases that she’s amazing outside of her CBS show, so even if she never really skyrockets into a lucrative career post-Big Bang, she’s still a babe that I could easily see as a beer-and-a-game-hanging-out type. I vote hot.”
*We do not know if Cherry Liquor, or anyone else, considers Johnny Galecki’s white guy booty to be suitably hot.
Kaley Cuoco-Sweeting is not a feminist because she’s never faced inequality.
On Break.com, a man shared his fantasies about Cuoco-Sweeting, the talented and accomplished actress, in all her naked glory.
“If you were to ask one of the brainiac characters from ‘The Big Bang Theory,’ they might be able to design some kind of hologram, time machine or alteration of the space-time continuum to allow a viewer at home to imagine what the blonde starlet would look like nude. For those of us stuck here in real life (darn you, poetic justice!), our imaginations are likely as close as we can get to seeing her in the buff.”
*What would Cuoco-Sweeting’s male co-stars look like nude? We haven’t waxed poetic about such fantasies. And as far as we can tell, nor has anyone else on the Internet.
Kaley Cuoco-Sweeting is not a feminist because she’s never faced inequality.
Taking things a step further, another man on the Internet shared a doctored photo of Cuoco-Sweeting with her giant boobs bared and legs spread as a gesture of sexual welcoming. (Link is obviously very NSFW!)
*Sadly, we could find no such photos of Cuoco-Sweeting’s male co-stars.
Kaley Cuoco-Sweeting is not a feminist because she’s never faced inequality.
So there you have it: all the ways in which Cuoco-Sweeting never ever has to face sexism or misogyny or anything else remotely like that. Based on our research, we totally get why she doesn’t identify as a “feminist girl demanding equality.”
This post by Nikki Gloudemann originally appeared at Ravishly and is reprinted with permission.
4 replies on “Kaley Cuoco-Sweeting’s Not A Feminist Because She’s Never Faced Inequality? The Internet Suggests Otherwise”
I find this to be a thoroughly unpleasant article, which has some what surprised me, as I’ve been enjoying the Ravishly posts.
Sweetings doesn’t seen herself as “really” having faced inequality – so be it. She is successful with her career and she has been financially successful, too (in TBBT earning the same as her male co-stars, from what I know), which is an accomplishment and perhaps why she isn’t aligning herself with what *she* perceives as inequality. She was talking about her own experience, not that of others.
I’m also finding the quotes and links in this article unpleasant. Perhaps some people do need examples of misogyny being faced by women in the media. Regardless of need though, I don’t know why they were required to be so blatant. As for the NSFW link – I can’t see why it was necessary to include; yes describe what’s out there, but why offer a link? It feels similar to articles that included links to the photos from the recent hacking scandal.
To be clear, the NSFW pic isn’t her; someone photoshopped her head on someone else’s nude body. If it had been a leaked private photo I wouldn’t have left it in.
And I think the point is that it’s sad that she’s clearly treated in a sexist fashion by people who discuss her private life and professional persona, but she doesn’t see that as a form of oppression or inequality. It sucks that there are so many other women like her and that she just validated their beliefs that objectification and being treated as something less than men is perfectly fine and not something to complain about.
Thanks for the editorial perspective, Hillary. I realise that the picture wasn’t of Sweeting herself, but I still find myself questioning the necessity of its inclusion. I’ve continued to think about this article, and have very much tried to take on your points, too. I can absolutely see that it is sad that she is perpetuating these beliefs, but what I find more problematic in this particular instance is that the article is spreading those views, by using those quotes, the article is continuing to give a platform to those unpleasant views.
The problem is that, with maybe the exception of the really vile internet comments, she probably doesn’t consider any of that sexist. She’s probably super proud so many execs think she’s hot and happy that she regularly gets asked about her dating life. She’s like a lot of women who’ve internalized misogyny so much that she can’t even recognize it when it’s directed at her.