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Here’s Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s Incredible Definition of Feminism

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Joseph Gordon-Levitt thinks this whole trend of celebrities shunning the “feminism” label is bizarre. As the Sin City: A Dame To Kill For actor clarified to The Daily Beast, he considers himself a feminist. And he gave an in-depth definition of what he believes feminism is. See below:

I read that you consider yourself a “male feminist,” and you credit your parents who are educators and really taught you about the history of feminism. But nowadays, you have a lot of young stars coming out against being labeled a feminist.

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.

So count JGL among the list of famous people who has spoken out in favor of feminism—or at least a personal version of feminism. (Yes, Pharrell, men can be feminists too.)

[The Daily Beast]

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Write to Eliana Dockterman at eliana.dockterman@time.com