Four years on from #MeToo, the Oscars’ feminism has gone backwards | Catherine Shoard

While the dial only seemed to be turning one way, the 94th Academy Awards was unexpectedly rich in sexist her-indoors' gags, undoing any progress

If this year's Oscars had a spirit animal, you'd have to say it was Les Dawson. An uncharacteristically aggressive and unfunny Dawson, perhaps. But the 94th Academy Awards proved to be an evening unexpectedly rich in her-indoors" gags for the lads, while women stood on the sidelines making abashed cracks about their own physical shortcomings.

The most generous possible reading of Chris Rock's joke about Jada Pinkett Smith, for instance, is that he simply finds the idea of a woman having short hair hilarious. This does not seem unlikely. After all, his preceding gag concerned the domestic nightmare which would await poor Javier Bardem should he win best actor but his missus, Penelope Cruz, fail to bag best actress. You know what women are like!