Joseph Gordon-Levitt isn’t afraid of the feminist label.
In an interview with The Daily Beast, Joseph Gordon-Levitt was asked about why he identifies as a feminist when so many actors, male and female, reject the label. He answered by saying,
“Coming out against the label? Wow. 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. 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. And 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. 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.”
That, in my opinion, is a pretty good definition of feminism and one that seems to be beyond any reasonable criticism. Equal protection and opportunity regardless of gender? Sign me up.
Photo— Flickr/ David Brian Photography
Yes feminism is about equal protection and opportunity, because in the United States (and some other countries are similar in this respect) we have 1. A National Council on Men and Boys set up by the White House since 2009. But none on Women and Girls, in spite of a several year proposal to do so. 2. Only women have to register with the Selective Service System by law. Only women have to register with the Selective Service System in order to get federally funded student loans, the ability to vote if a foreigner, and to get a federal job.… Read more »
Try Libertarian. It applies to everyone regardless of gender, race, or religion.
“That, in my opinion, is a pretty good definition of feminism and one that seems to be beyond any reasonable criticism. Equal protection and opportunity regardless of gender? Sign me up.”
If that’s the definition of feminism than 90% of people calling themselves feminists aren’t. Until of course you start getting into the definition of equal and realize that’s not the definition most people have of it. “Equal protection and opportunity ” may actually be incorrect anyway as far as feminism goes. It might be Equal protection or opportunity where feminism is concerned.
Sorry, but I’m a little bit confused by your comment. Am I right in my interpretation that you believe feminism is, very generally, about something other than improving the overall condition of a group that has been historically disenfranchised? If so, what do you think 90% of feminists are aiming for? Do you feel that, the improvement of conditions/rights of women must involve a loss of rights, and/or decline in overall condition of men?
Well, actually there are a couple of things wrong with your statement which is probably why you are confused.
Feminism is SUPPOSED (by definition) to be about Equal Rights, feminist (including on this site) have stated they are for equality for all but then their actions don’t follow up on that.
Second: Women were not historically disenfranchised AS A GROUP anymore / anyless then Men were as a group. Most men throughout history did not have any advantaged OVERALL than women, some powerful men did but most did not.
Not at all, simply that focusing on the issues of one gender isn’t equality.
Funnily enough most MRA’s also want equal protection and opportunity between the genders too.