Last night, Hollywood's rich and famous were out in full force for the Oscars.
And as we watched John Travolta embarrass himself yet again, we prepared ourselves for a case of same story, different year.
But then, something extraordinary happened. The Oscars 2015 became the #FeministOscars.
First Reece Witherspoon showed her support for the #AskHerMore campaign.
The movement aims to encourage celebrity journalists to ask female stars questions beyond what they are wearing, just as they would for any male nominee.
“This is a movement to say we’re more than just our dresses… It’s hard being a woman in Hollywood," Witherspoon said.
Then journalists proved they were finally starting to understand #AskHerMore (some of them, anyway).
Star of Still Alice Julianne Moore was given the opportunity to speak about Alzheimer’s disease.
"So many people with this disease feel isolated and marginalized,” she said. “And people with Alzheimer’s deserve to be seen so we can find a cure.”
Steve Carell wore #HeForShe cufflinks, supporting the UN's gender equality campaign.
And Emma Watson tweeted about it.
Patricia Arquette demanded equal pay for women in her Oscars speech...
"it's our time to have wage equality once and for all," she said. "And equal rights for women in the United States of America."
And Meryl Steep proved she's also a massive feminist, with this glorious reaction.
And finally, the "mani-cam" was banned.
After Jennifer Aniston and Julianne Moore refused to flash their nails at E!'s mani-cam at the SAG Awards, the controversial camera was ditched for the Oscars, reportedly due to "space restrictions."
Pointing out how ridiculous the camera is, Patricia Arquette said: "Instead of getting a manicure this morning for the dreaded mani-cam, I ended up trying to pull pictures because we started a sweepstake for charity to do ecological sanitation of the world."
It's been great to see the topic of gender equality in the limelight, but there's still some way to go before we can truly say the Oscars are feminist.
Wouldn't #FeministOscars include at least one woman in the Best Director category?
And while Hollywood may be slowly starting to see women as equal to men, it still has many issues surrounding equality.
Year after year the majority of people nominated for Oscars are white. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences - who choose the winners- is predominantly white (94% of membership as of 2012) and predominantly male (77% of membership as of 2012).
Let's hope the #FeministOscars spark a move towards equality in all areas next year.
