Patricia Arquette's Acceptance Speech on Behalf of Women Everywhere

I've never seen Meryl Streep so animated at an awards ceremony. We'll get to her and Jennifer Lopez's reaction to Patricia Arquette's impassioned acceptance speech shortly. But first, to the highlight for those of you unable to view the video...

Arquette, after thanking everyone under the sun with ease and panache (even her favourite painter and givelove.org), and giving a shout out to every woman who's ever given birth, she also managed to shine a very large spotlight on wage inequality among the genders. She gave a rousing rebel call for women: "We have fought for everybody else's equal rights. It is our time to have wage equality once and for all - and equal rights for women in the United States of America!"

As for those reactions again... here are the reactions from Meryl Streep, Jennifer Lopez (sitting beside each other because why not), and Shirley McClaine again...

Needless to say, Patricia was having NONE of E! 's "manicam" on account of it being "silly". Or, to quote Reese Witherspoon, "We're more than just our dresses."

Speaking about #AskHerMore prior to last night's red carpet, she said the following via Us Weekly: "This is a movement to say we're more than just our dresses. It's great the dresses are beautiful - we love the artists that make all these clothes - but, you know. This is a group of women - 44 nominees - and we are so happy to be here and talk about the work we've done... It's exciting for me to get to talk to other nominees to talk to other women about the work they've done."