Hollywood 'woke': L.A. Film Critics Association eliminates gender distinction in acting awards

The decision will have a negative impact on the film industry. "A lot of research has shown is that a film will end up being more successful if an actress wins a Best Actress award."

The Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LAFCA) will no longer give awards based on a person's gender. The influential film critic group "decided to give in to gender ideology," reported Women's Liberation Front (WoLF) executive director Mahri Irvine.

A citizen anonymously came forward to WoLF with evidence claiming that LAFCA had decided to change the way performance awards, usually based on gender, are handed out. According to Irvine:

The vote was very close... There is a lot of dissent with respect to the planned change... They are no longer going to give an award to a woman for being 'Best Actress' or an award to a man for being 'Best Actor.'

"Gender-neutral categories"

Last month, LAFCA announced on Twitter that they would add "gender-neutral categories" for its annual awards dinner on January 14, 2023: "For this year's awards voting, LAFCA will also present gender-neutral performance categories, with two awards for the 'Best Lead Performance' and two awards for the 'Best Supporting Acting,'" the tweet read. "Our voting meeting will take place on December 11, 2022."

"Simply put, they said they will respect all non-binary and transgender identified people, and will only give awards to people in general who are the best in acting roles," the director noted. However, he believes the decision could have a negative impact on the film industry:

What a lot of research has shown is that a movie will end up being much more successful and making more money if an actress wins a Best Actress award.... So, when a woman wins awards, it ends up helping everyone involved in that particular film, which means that directors will have more incentive to try to cast women in leading roles.

Irvine fears the change could effect young women's acting dreams: "What this is going to do is end up disincentivizing directors and producers from even choosing women in the first place, so we're really concerned about this."

We were approached by someone who was really concerned about the elimination of career opportunities for women and was thinking about all the girls who might want to get into the film industry and think that they wouldn't even have a chance to win awards right now for their acting.