Actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt is drawing attention online for his statement that he’s a “male feminist,” standing for the choice to define who you are without regard to gender.
When asked about stars who are saying they aren’t feminists, the "Sin City" sequel star seemed surprised anyone would say that.
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“I guess I’m not aware of that. What that means to me is that you don’t let your gender define who you are — you can be who you want to be, whether you’re a man, a woman, a boy, a girl, whatever,”
Gordon-Levitt told the Daily Beast in an interview. “However you want to define yourself, you can do that and should be able to do that, and no category ever really describes a person because every person is unique. That, to me, is what 'feminism' means. So yes, I’d absolutely call myself a feminist.”
The feminism question from the Daily Beast was generated by an interview Gordon-Levitt gave to Ellen DeGeneres in February. At that time, he spoke in regard to “Don Jon,” a movie he wrote and directed, as well as acted in, about a man trying to break a porn addiction.
“That was something that my mom would always point out to my brother and me, that our culture does often portray women especially ... like objects,”
Gordon-Levitt told DeGeneres. “And if you don't stop and think about it, it just sort of seeps into your brain and that becomes the way you perceive reality.”
Gordon-Levitt, whose comments on feminism are going viral, expanded on that thought when he spoke with Daily Beast.
“If you look at history, women are an oppressed category of people. There’s a long, long history of women suffering abuse, injustice, and not having the same opportunities as men, and I think that’s been very detrimental to the human race as a whole,” he said. “I’m a believer that if everyone has a fair chance to be what they want to be and do what they want to do, it’s better for everyone. It benefits society as a whole.”
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