And The Oscar For Best Gender Non-Specific Performance Goes To...

According to this Variety article, there is talk this Oscar season of doing away with the "Best Actress" category in favor of simply nominating five gender non-specific actors for Best Lead and Best Supporting Player.  And this isn't a new debate.  When I was first getting involved in drama, the term "actor" was already being applied to thespians of both sexes, which didn't (and still doesn't) bother me.  After all, it's just a term used to describe a person's job, right?  There's no seperate word for female doctors, lawyers, etc. 

But the article raises some very good pros and cons.  On the pro side, we have women who are already breaking the gender barrier by playing roles originally intended for men (such as Helen Mirren taking over John Gielgud's role in the upcoming Arthur remake).  We've also had women playing men (Cate Blanchette as Bob Dylan in I'm Not There) and women playing men playing women (Gwenyth Paltrow in Shakespeare in Love).  Shouldn't women and men be on an even playing field? 

On the other hand, it's no secret that this is a male-dominated field.  If the two acting categories were combined, would there be any women nominated at all, or would it be, as Patricia Clarkson put it, "Nine men and Meryl Streep?" 

It's a touchy subject to be sure.  Personally, I don't think they should mess with the formula, based on the fact that there are male roles that women wouldn't be able to play effectively and vice versa for men playing female roles.  This isn't a hard and fast rule, and there are always exceptions, but for the most part, it's the case.  From a storytelling standpoint, there is a reason that an writer writes a character as male or female and a reason that a director casts a role as male or female.  This is not to say that a writer or director can't shake things up if they want to, because they certainly can - and have - many times to great effect.

Another argument is that they should change the categories (such as musical/comedy, drama, etc.) to reflect genre rather than gender, but again, I feel that would take away from the actor's performance and lead to typecasting. 

What do you all think?  Keep it as it is?  Change it up?  The floor is open.