After keeping relatively tight-lipped on her politics up to now, Jennifer Lawrence has finally spoken out against the sexism suffered by women in Hollywood. 

In an essay written especially for Lena Dunham's new weekly newsletter Lenny, the Hunger Games actress has revealed that she first discovered the staggering difference in pay between her and her male co-stars by seeing the information in the Sony email hack. However, she claims she had initially been afraid to address the imbalance because she didn't want to come across as “difficult” or “spoilt”. 

“When the Sony hack happened and I found out how much less I was being paid than the lucky people with dicks, I didn’t get mad at Sony. I got mad at myself” she writes. “If I’m honest with myself, I would be lying if I didn’t say there was an element of wanting to be liked that influenced my decision to close the deal without a real fight.”

“I don’t think I’m the only woman with this issue. Are we socially conditioned to behave this way? Could there still be a lingering habit of trying to express our opinions in a certain way that doesn’t “offend” or “scare” men?”

Lawrence – who has already secured a best leading actress Oscar for Silver Linings Playbook – then went on to explain another occasion where a man had inexplicably taken offense with her expressing her opinion. “All I hear and see all day are men speaking their opinions, and I give mine in the same exact manner, and you would have thought I had said something offensive.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever worked for a man in charge who spent time contemplating what angle he should use to have his voice heard,” she adds. “It’s just heard. Jeremy Renner, Christian Bale, and Bradley Cooper all fought and succeeded in negotiating powerful deals for themselves. If anything, I’m sure they were commended for being fierce and tactical, while I was busy worrying about coming across as a brat and not getting my fair share.”

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You can read J-Law's full essay on Lenny by signing up here.