Jameela Jamil responds to being branded a “terf” for comments on gender-neutral award categories

Jameela Jamil, an actress and activist, has expressed her concern that merging the award categories for men and women to create gender-neutral categories is having a negative impact on women in the entertainment industry.

She shared her opinion on the matter on Instagram, which sparked a backlash from those who felt that her position disregarded the fact that "trans women are women."

Responding to the backlash, The Good Place star took to Instagram Stories to further discuss the issue and explain herself:

“I was talking about the Oscars considering erasing gendered categories for performers, and how that has gone really badly for women in the past. Even recently with the Grammys and Brits.”

“Men swept the category.”

“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.”

Jamil said that the response was at first “largely positive” and “a lot of especially enby/gnc people” agreed with her, while “some disagreed so thoughtfully”.

“Bella Ramsey and I even got chatting on the issue and realized we both don't have the perfect answer, it was all fine and lovely and communicative.”

The She-Hulk actress then shared that the feedback suddenly turned bitter following that, with people branding her a “terf” and arguing for trans women's rights.

“I am receiving literally thousands of messages from people saying that THIS IS WHY they don't engage in liberal social justice anymore," said the actress.