From Joseph Gordon-Levitt's very heartfelt performances in movies like "500 Days of Summer" to his down-to-earth interviews to his spectacular lip-syncing skills, we didn't think it was possible to love the guy any more. However, Gordon-Levitt's recent comments about feminism proved us wrong.
Gordon-Levitt not only confirmed that he is a feminist in a recent interview with The Daily Beast, but he also showed us that he actually knows what the word "feminism" means, which isn't always the case for those who speak about the issue. The 33-year-old actor was surprised to hear that there are young stars who have not wanted to be labeled a feminist. As opposed to those celebrities, Gordon-Levitt embraced his feminism.
"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," Gordon-Levitt told The Daily Beast.
He also said it just makes sense for everyone to be a feminist.
"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," said Gordon-Levitt in the interview.
As the interview alluded to, in recent months there has been a lot of talk about who is and who isn't a feminist in Hollywood. Shailene Woodley told TIME she's not a feminist. Lana Del Rey also distanced herself from the term in a recent "Fader" interview. Katy Perry has shown that she still doesn't understand what feminism is.
It seems like male celebrities don't get asked nearly as much if they are feminists, so it was refreshing to see Gordon-Levitt proudly say he is a feminist and for the correct reasons, too. Perhaps the most famous example of a "male feminist" is the popular Internet meme from a few years ago, "Feminist Ryan Gosling," although it's hard to say how much of its comical presentation of feminist theory really helped the cause. To be fair, male celebrities usually grab headlines when they publicly support women's issues.
Feminism has also been a major topic on the Internet during the past several weeks. The controversial blog "Women Against Feminism" appeared on Tumblr, gaining both support and criticism. Ironic misandry, the hatred of men, has also become something of a trend, spawning debate on how these jokes might impact people's ideas about feminism. The hashtag #FeministsAreUgly was also recently hijacked on Twitter with photos of beautiful feminists, which some argued was an inappropriate response for feminists.
The debate on feminism has raged on for decades, and it's clearly going to continue for many more years to come. At least we have prominent individuals like Gordon-Levitt who can intelligently speak about the issue to give us hope.
