Jameela Jamil Fields Backlash for Comments on Gender-Neutral Award Categories

Jameela Jamil is fielding criticism and a mixed response for statements she made on Instagram Saturday, offering the suggestion of award shows adopting gender-neutral categories.

The actor and podcast host, in a text-only post, proposed that those who identify as non-binary get their own category, in an effort to avoid a negative impact on women in the industry who are already disproportionately represented at these ceremonies.

“Would it not be better to give non-binary people their own category rather than open the door for Hollywood to completely shut out women given the known disproportionate amount of men vs women winning at award shows?” she wrote.

Further clarifying in her caption, she noted, "This is regarding the Oscars looking to get rid of gendered acting awards. As we see with the director award which is genderless, it's rare to even see a woman nominated never mind win."

Although she added that her thoughts were in the spirit of expanding possibilities so that "both GNC [gender non-conforming] people and women have a fair shot in an industry that has for a long time struggled to treat others as equals to men," reaction to her post was swift and largely critical from the GNC and trans communities.

"The non-binary people are taking away from women is kinda a dangerous rhetoric that you are contributing to even if you didn’t mean to come across as such," noted one commenter, while another said, "Separating nonbinary people in this way is unproductive and fuels the fire against trans folk in North America."

"You’re completely misunderstanding nonbinary identities if you think we’d be okay being put into a third box like this," still another pointed out, echoing numerous other responses which mentioned that a "separate but equal" approach would be harmful.

Jamil took to her Instagram Stories to respond to the critical comments in a series of impassioned slides, stating, "I am receiving literally thousands of messages from people saying that THIS IS WHY they don't engage in liberal social justice anymore. Because we cannot even ask questions in good faith...and be agreed with by some of the community without facing wild accusations, pile ons and ostracization."

“I knew there was a risk in daring to speak at all, even though this decision impacts women directly so it seems a little reasonable to allow women to even just ask questions and explain their question," she noted.

The shift to get rid of gendered awards has met with criticism recently. The Brit Awards, which removed gendered categories in 2021, came under scrutiny earlier this year for not including any women or non-binary people on their nominee list.