The Women the Internet Could Not Stop Talking About in 2015

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2015 was a big year for women: feminism continued to be a hot-button topic; there was increased discussion surrounding the representation of women in media; the pop culture event of the year, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, starred a female actress in the lead role.

But who were the women who made the greatest impact on the Internet, and who found themselves the subject of much conversation throughout the year? Here are the women the Internet could not stop talking about in 2015:

Carrie Fisher

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Though her role in Star Wars: Force Awakens may have been a relatively small one when compared with the screen time granted to series newcomers Daisy Ridley and John Boyega, Carrie Fisher was undoubtedly the star of the circus that was the film’s seemingly infinite press junket, with the Princess/General Leia actress travelling the world in order to send journalists/TV shows hosts into fits of laughter thanks to her no-shits-given sense of humor.

A breath of fresh air compared to the PR-friendly babble we’ve grown used to over the years, Fisher’s return to the spotlight saw her speaking openly, frankly and hilariously about her career, her noted past struggles with substance abuse and her age, an unfortunately contentious topic that saw a number of trolls surface in order to inform her that she shouldn’t still be acting/she should lose weight/she’s not as attractive as she was in 1983. But Fisher stood up to the online abuse she received, pointing out the ludicrousness of people who still expected her to look the way she did when she was in her 20s, proving herself to be one badass human being in the process.

Oh, and bonus points should also be awarded to her for being the owner of Gary, a ridiculous looking dog who accompanied her everywhere and who is basically an honorary member of the Star Wars universe at this point.

Jennifer Lawrence

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Jennifer Lawrence is still inescapable. More “omnipresent life force” than actress, not a day goes by when we’re not being informed of what the Hunger Games star is up to – she’s like that distant cousin you have on Facebook who you haven’t seen in 8 years, but who you know more about than your own parents due to her constantly posting status updates. This isn’t Lawrence’s fault, of course, but rather a symptom of her being one of few people in Hollywood who hasn’t allowed the life to be sucked from behind her eyes yet. 

Lawrence’s 2015 was epitomized by her appearance in The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2, in which it was clear to everyone that the actress had transcended beyond the franchise that had propelled her to fame, as the film raked in less at the box office than previous installments thanks to no one really caring about it after it had stopped being Battle Royale for tweens. With Mockingjay – Part 2 featuring no hunger nor no games it didn’t perform as well as expected, but this still didn’t prevent the media from forcing Lawrence down our eye sockets at every available opportunity. With Lawrence now more meme than human, it remains to be seen just how much we’ll see of her in 2016, but our bet is “a LOT.”

Ronda Rousey

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Ronda Rousey’s 2015 was one of many ups and then one final, crushing down, as the former UFC Women’s Bantemweight champion was humbled in her first defeat at the hands of underdog Holly Holm. Prior to this loss, Rousey’s year had seen her force Cat Zingano to submit in 14 seconds and defeat Bethe Correia in in 34 seconds by knockout, putting on two title defenses that finished under a combined time of one minute. 

But just when it looked like every Rousey fight was going to be so short that it could be posted online in the form of a GIF, Holly Holm stepped up to the plate and bested the female face of mixed martial arts, exposing Rousey’s weaknesses like no fighter had ever managed before, and providing arguably the most shocking upset in any sport in 2015. While we haven’t heard much from Rousey since the defeat, she’s looking to get her title back in a rematch against Holm next year. Whether this loss will have affected her winning mentality remains to be seen, but regardless of how her 2015 ended she was still one of the most talked-about personalities in sport throughout the duration of last year.

Emma Watson 

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Emma Watson is seemingly on a one-woman quest to make every other person in their twenties feel bad about themselves. Not only did she manage to escape the perilous world of a child actor unscathed and without a drug problem, she then continued her career by starring in some Pretty Good Movies and, finally, taking a feminist campaign to the UN. 

The HeForShe campaign is spearheaded by a trio of people you can’t imagine ever being in the same room together, as Watson, Kiefer Sutherland and Wolf Blitzer continue to champion the movement to get men more involved in feminist issues. Though the concept of HeForShe has been criticized, it’s proven to be a reasonably successful venture and has generated a great deal of interest throughout 2015, almost solely thanks to Watson’s participation in it. Inevitably, Watson faced an online backlash due to her championing of feminism, but that didn’t prevent her from continuing to be outspoken with her opinions, showing a great deal of bravery in her fight towards gender equality.

Adele

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It’s tradition now that whenever Adele releases new music you’ll be unable to escape it for the rest of the year. Unfortunately for those who aren’t fans of the UK warbler, she had the audacity to release a brand new LP in 2015, and so we all had to listen to ‘Hello’ until our ears bled. If there was one good thing about the single’s immense popularity, though, it was that its music video finally got us all talking about flip phones again. Remember flip phones? They were cool, weren’t they? We still remember the Motorola Razr. Now THAT was a phone. 

Ruby Rose

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One day we woke up and everyone was talking about Ruby Rose. A relatively unknown actress prior to her being cast as Stella Carlin in the third season of Orange is the New Black, Ruby Rose was suddenly the name on everyone’s lips after debuting on the Netflix Original series. With an androgynous style that saw many heterosexual women taking to social media in order to express their apparent sexually confused feelings, Rose managed to become the sixth most Googled person in the world in 2015 as a result of her impact on the show.

Along with presumably starring in the next season of the show, in 2016 Rose has a number of movies lined up including John Wick 2 alongside Keanu Reeves and, er, Resident Evil: The Final Chapter. Good luck with that one, Ruby.

Caitlyn Jenner

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Caitlyn Jenner effectively hurled the trans community through a decade of progression within the space of 6 months. Firstly, there was the media circus surrounding Bruce Jenner’s transforming appearance, with the press following him around at every available opportunity, making a note of his growing hair, his plastic surgery and his clothing, questioning his actions at every turn and wondering out loud whether he was going through some form of celebrity breakdown. However, as it became more apparent that he may have been taking the steps to become a woman, a growing public display of support caused the narrative surrounding the Olympic gold medalist to change.

When Caitlyn Jenner appeared on the cover of Vanity Fair in June 2015, it was a massive moment for the trans community, with it finally leading to multiple discussions surrounding trans issues that hadn’t been given a spotlight prior to the feature. While there were still transphobic individuals who continued to be outspoken, they were mostly buried beneath a heap of support for Caitlyn, which then led to a backlash from those who weren’t transphobic but who disapproved of Jenner receiving an overwhelming amount of praise.

Jenner later appeared on Ellen to express her reluctance to accept gay marriage, which then saw the LGBT community to consider whether or not the ‘T’ should be dropped from the acronym, pointing to how trans individuals may not necessarily agree with equality for lesbian, gay and bisexual people. But despite her perceived indiscretions, Caitlyn undoubtedly played a huge role in allowing the trans community to have their voices heard, and proved to be one of the most prominent figures of 2015.