ICYMI: MTV has done away with gendered categories for this year’s Video Music Awards, with “best male video” and “best female video” combined into the category “artist of the year.” Competing for that spot are Bruno Mars, Kendrick Lamar, Ed Sheeran, Ariana Grande, The Weeknd and Lorde.
For its movie and TV awards, which aired in May, MTV decided to combine the categories of best actor and actress, doing away with distinctions between genders and opting instead to award one film and one television actor. This year’s winners were Emma Watson and Millie Bobby Brown.
At the time, MTV general manager Amy Doyle told the Hollywood Reporter: “Great acting is great acting, no matter what the gender or non-gender. And it really is reflective about the audience’s views and when you look at the culture as a whole, you had a man against a woman running for president [last year]. It just felt like a dated construct for a category.”
Love it.
This is amazing for genderqueer, non-binary artists. However, it also raises the possibility that female artists will be passed over for male artists. Note 3/5 nominees are male, and only one solo female artist (Halsey) has had a Billboard #1 album in 2017.
I don’t mean to say this isn’t progress. It is. However, progress must be sustained. Institutions (like MTV) MUST make a CONTINUED effort to equally recognize male and female artists. We, the public, must HOLD THEM ACCOUNTABLE.
As we remove gendered categories, we MUST DEMAND EQUAL REPRESENTATION.