‘People are too scared to speak and ask questions’: Jameela Jamil defends controversial non-binary acting award category comments

When Jamil made an Instagram post about award shows (particularly the Oscars) looking to do away with gendered categories, she expected some criticism coming her way. Nevertheless, she thought it important to speak on how straight up removing such categories might be a step backward for women, in her view. It didn’t take too long for her predictions to come true, though, as folks started showering her comment section and DMs with TERF accusations.

Shortly after the wave of criticism started, Jamil made sure to further explain her claims, underlining that the whole point of her post was to reflect on how men always end up benefiting from non-gendered categories. In her opinion, then, having men, women, and non-binary folks all competing in the same categories wouldn’t do much for the latter two, and equity should be valued over equality, at least for now. As amazing as it would be to have people with different gender identities all competing in the same category and having the same chance of winning, society is simply not that advanced yet.

Meanwhile, others argue that having non-gendered award categories is the ultimate goal and that we should be striving for that right now, instead of diving people based on gender identity. According to some, this only leads to more exclusion and othering.

Jamil then proceeded to speak on how much our current culture has impacted people’s ability to reflect on socio-political issues out loud and ask well-intended questions, even if those issues concern them directly. The actress’ Instagram Stories are where a lot of the action took place, with the Jamil commenting on how many messages she received (some even from non-binary people themselves) applauding her for saying what many others think but are sometimes afraid to voice. Some of the screenshots of these stories can be found below.

According to the celebrity, and as evidenced by many of those who engaged with her post, issues such as this can be incredibly difficult to navigate, especially when one tries to look at a problem from more than one angle. While the heavy backlash continues, it seems like Jamil’s original intent — to spark meaningful conversation — was accomplished.