Shailene Woodley is known for being a young actress who plays strong female leads. So why isn’t she a feminist? The same reasons Taylor Swift and Katy Perry aren’t feminists: they have no idea what feminism is. Shailene Woodley told TIME magazine a bunch of really stupid sounding shit where you can tell the interviewer was clearly giving her side eye. But I am not going to completely rail against Shailene, oh, I am going to a little bit but this situation isn’t entirely her fault.
Shailene said when asked if she was a feminist: “No because I love men, and I think the idea of ‘raise women to power, take the men away from the power’ is never going to work out because you need balance. With myself, I’m very in touch with my masculine side. And I’m 50 percent feminine and 50 percent masculine, same as I think a lot of us are. And I think that is important to note. And also I think that if men went down and women rose to power, that wouldn’t work either. We have to have a fine balance. My biggest thing is really sisterhood more than feminism. I don’t know how we as women expect men to respect us because we don’t even seem to respect each other. There’s so much jealousy, so much comparison and envy. And ‘This girl did this to me and that girl did that to me.’ And it’s just so silly and heartbreaking in a way.'”
She also said more dumb shit that you can read at the source. Shailene thinks feminism is misandry. Misandry is the practice of “hating men” whereas feminism is the practice of acknowledging the vast inequalities that exist in modern society that are rooted in archaic beliefs about gender. Any “comparison and envy” that exist among women is perpetrated by the very thing feminism is trying to resolve: institutions that pit women against each other whether they are conditioned to believe they are competing for beauty, youth, husbands or jobs. Feminism isn’t the cause of hating men or women hating each other, it is the solution. Shailene should perhaps read some feminist literature before she decides whether or not she wants to be a feminist.
There are very real and valid reasons to not identify as a feminist, maybe you are LGBTQ, a person of color, or an underprivileged person and you believe there are better humanist ideologies to support your identity. Fine. But saying you’re not a feminist because you don’t hate men is misguided and irritating. In the interview Shailene says she believes in sisterhood then goes onto belittle her feminist sisters and then calls women petty and vindictive. What kind of sisterhood is that?
But I am going to be fair to Shailene and point some other things out about this particular line of questioning. I don’t agree with what Shailene said but I do believe in sisterhood. So let’s really think this shit through. When was the last time you heard of a male celebrity being asked if he were a feminist? It’s not as if feminism isn’t for men: it is. Feminism is the ideology that says women and men can, will, or might take on the same responsibilities as each other. In the United States, unlike let’s say Norway, men do not get paternity leave. If a man has a child he cannot take time off of work to take care of the baby, that responsibility falls on the mother. That’s not cool. Statistically male victims of rape, whether by other men are women, are dismissed because raping a man is perceived as impossible. There are a vast number of inequalities that men face because of gender roles, so feminism is an everybody issue. Yet, male celebrities never get asked if they are a feminist. Why is that? Because if he said yes, then that would be perceived as endearing and if he said no, that wouldn’t even make headlines.
The reason why female celebrities get asked if they are feminist is the same reason girls get asked if they are still virgins in high school. No matter what you can’t win. If you haven’t had sex, you’re a prude. If you have had sex, you’re a slut. If you’re a feminist, you’re one of those “militant, man hating bitches,” if you aren’t a feminist then you’ve “betrayed women.”
Asking famous women this particular question is just another trap for women. It’s another trap to pit women against each other. It’s another trap to categorize us as this kind of girl or that kind of girl. Why are we asking actors about their political beliefs? Unless an actress is forthcoming about her politics or beliefs then why ask? What about being a famous actress makes her equipped to foster an informative discussion on political ideology or rhetoric? I am not saying being an actress and political knowledge is mutually exclusive, I am saying it is irrelevant to the conversation (film promotion) to ask these questions and that only female actresses ever get them. Why not ask her about, let’s say her craft, why she chooses the roles she does? Or all that organic, crunchy granola, moon child info Shailene is always ready to offer up?
Feminism is important to me but ask me about Israel and Palestine and no matter what I say it’s going to be the wrong answer. If I say “I don’t know,” which is the truth, then I look like I don’t care, which is not the truth. If I pick a side then it will be the wrong side to somebody.
More Americans vote on American Idol than in Presidential elections, the likelihood that the average person is an expert on any political ideology is pretty narrow. The media asks celebrities these questions to make them look stupid and unfortunately, when you really don’t know what you’re talking about you’re going to look stupid. Then stupid becomes your legacy and stupid becomes the legacy of women.
Do I wish more female celebrities were feminist? More people were feminist? Do I wish Shailene didn’t make these atrocious comments that will only uphold the idea that feminism is simply “man hating”? Of course I do. That doesn’t mean I am going to ignore the blatant double standards in how we interview women actors versus men actors. That doesn’t mean I am not going to ignore the fact that a 22-year-old girl may not have fully formed opinions on a vast number of important subjects because it is nearly impossible for anyone to. What Shailene said was ignorant but the media, the news that we’re supposed to trust, so often provides us downright incorrect information about what feminism actually is. If so many other women say they aren’t feminist because they don’t hate men, then what’s to stop millions of young women like Shailene from going, “Oh, I don’t hate men either. I guess I am not a feminist then,”?
It’s all just a hot mess, which is why I often wonder if feminism needs to change it’s name to drop the connotation. I don’t care what you identify with at this point, so much as I care that you acknowledge women make 77 cents to the dollar of men and want to change that.
