Equality

unless it affects me winning

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Do Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway and Helen Mirren really need a category just for women - a singular kind of affirmative action - to snare one of Hollywood's favorite accessories, an Oscar, Emmy or Screen Actors Guild trophy? In a society tilting steadily toward gender neutrality, the separate-but-equal awards that divide actors into one camp and actresses into another have the whiff of a moldy anachronism.

Now, I really could not care less about award shows. Its just a way of letting the "everybody wins" generation get another trophy and for most, it is a marketing ploy to try and sell more tickets to the vapid circus acts they call movies. What I love is that the ones who scream for equality all the time really mean equality for everyone else.

That may be progress in theory for performers but not in practice, according to Sally Field, a SAG and Oscar best supporting actress nominee for "Lincoln." "If you do that you won't see any actresses up there (on stage) at all," she said. "The percentage of roles is so weighted toward actors. That's the way it's always been." Exactly, concurred Naomi Watts, "The Impossible" best actress SAG and Academy Award nominee. "There's so much competition in life and I do think we are different," she said. "Yes, we should be able to have the same things as much as possible ... (but) life's a battle already and there's so many great roles written for men. Women are definitely at a disadvantage when it comes to volume."

So, make sure everyone else competes on a level playing field, but let me keep mine so I can win.