"[T]ry to imagine how painful it must be for actresses. The are asked not only to make the same degree of self-revelation (as actors) but are, in addition, treated as sexual commodities. They may be asked to bare their breasts and/or bottoms or both. They know they’ll have to lose ten pounds before shooting starts. They may have had collagen pumped into their lips, undergone liposuction to take fat out of their thighs, changed hair color and the shape of their eyebrows, had tucks behind the ears to tighten the skin around their necks. All this before they’ve begun rehearsals. They’ve been accepted or rejected based on a purely physical basis before anything about emotions or characterization even comes into play. It has to be humiliating. And to top it all off, they know that when they hit forty or forty-five, there will be fewer and fewer offers, and they be able to move into older parts the way that men do. For forty-two year old Richard Gere to wind up with twenty-three Julia Roberts is perfectly acceptable. But just try the reverse."