Entertainment

20 Male Celebrities Who Are Proud Feminists

EntertainmentPublished Aug 28, 2016
By Celia San Miguel
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Female celebrities aren't the only ones using their platforms to rally for equal rights all over the globe. Plenty of male stars are proudly flying the feminist flag, too. In the process they're destigmatizing the term and showing that gender equality is not just a woman's issue. Whether they're speaking out against the gender wage gap in Hollywood, fighting to end sexual violence against women, defending our reproductive rights, or denouncing the objectification of women in our culture, these male celebrities are speaking out for women at every given opportunity.

From Joseph Gordon-Levitt to Prince Harry, find out which male stars are saying the "f" word loud and proud!

Image via Brock Miller/Splash News

1/20

Joseph Gordon-Levitt

When asked about the wave of young celebs rejecting the feminist label during a 2014 interview with The Daily Beastself-proclaimed feminist Joseph Gordon-Levitt was legitimately baffled. "Coming out against the label?" he asked, before offering his own definition of the term. "What [feminism] 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. No category ever really describes a person because every person is unique." That fall, he took the discussion a step further by posting a video on Facebook asking fans to submit video blogs explaining what feminism meant to them so that he could use the material for a HitRecord On TV episode.

2/20
Ryan Gosling-placeholder
Ryan Gosling
KCS Presse/Splash News

Ryan Gosling

Our collective obsession with Ryan Gosling led to a flurry of "Hey girl" feminist memes that, in turn, inspired the Feminist Ryan Gosling Tumblr page. But while these feature imaginary (and hilarious!) Gosling quotes, the actor is a feminist IRL. In the past, he's said that he gravitates toward films featuring strong female characters that reflect the formidable women in his life. He recently took his feminist musings to a whole new level. "I've always liked women more," Gosling told the Evening Standard. "I was brought up by my mother and older sister. My home life now is mostly women. They are better than us. They make me better." There you have it: Ryan Gosling thinks women are the superior sex!

3/20

John Legend

During a May 2013 press conference announcing that he'd be performing at fund-raising concert for the global women's advocacy group Chime for Change, John Legend explained why gender equality is so crucial. "All men should be feminists," he said. "If men care about women's rights, the world will be a better place." We couldn't have said it better!

4/20

Tom Hardy

For years*,* Tom Hardy has been lobbying for meatier female roles in movies. Though he played the title character in Mad Max: Fury Road, Hardy argued that Charlize Theron, who played the indomitable Furiosa, was the true hero. "It's about time you had better female leads in action movies," he said effusively. It's not the first time Hardy has criticized Hollywood for portraying women as accessories. "Do you think that women are fairly represented in screenplays, film, TV, and theater today?" he asked in a May 2015 Interview feature. "Or do you think there should be better parts for women than just girlfriend and wife or lover? Because I'm bored with that." As are we, Tom. As are we.

More from CafeMom: Looking at Ryan Gosling Turns Men into Feminists

5/20
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Bradley Cooper
Felipe Ramales/Splash News

Bradley Cooper

When the infamous e-mails released during the Sony hack revealed that Jennifer Lawrence and Amy Adams earned significantly less than their male costars in American Hustle, they weren't the only ones who were shocked and appalled. After J. Law wrote an impassioned op-ed on the subject for Lena Dunham's Lenny newsletter, Bradley Cooper applauded her courage. Moreover, he vowed to take initiative to close Hollywood's gender wage gap. Bradley Cooper pledged to disclose his earnings to future female costars so that they could negotiate their own salaries accordingly. "Usually you don't talk about the financial stuff, you have people..." Cooper said. "But you know what? It's time to start doing that."

6/20

Andy Samberg

Brooklyn Nine-Nine star Andy Samberg has spent years condemning sexism in the comedy world. "Since there have been men and women, there have been funny women," the SNL alum told Glamour magazine in 2013. "Idiot-ass men keep saying that women aren't funny. It makes me crazy. I find it disgusting and offensive every time." He even tackled the subject during his opening monologue at the 2015 Emmys. Referencing Best Comedy Actress nominee Amy Schumer, he quipped, "I got to say, Schumer is really, really funny, you know,for a person."

7/20
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Benedict Cumberbatch
WUF/Splash News

Benedict Cumberbatch

Sherlock star Benedict Cumberbatch objects to female fans calling themselves "Cumberbitches." In an interview with author Caitlin Moran published in the Times, the actor explained his stance. "It's not even politeness," he told Moran. "I won't allow you to be my bitches. I think it sets feminism back so many notches. You are ... Cumberpeople." Sometimes, it takes a gallant British actor to remind us not to call each other "sluts" or "bitches" since, regardless of our intentions, these terms are intrinsically pejorative.

8/20

Harry Styles

One Direction's Harry Styles showed immense support for Emma Watson's #HeForShe campaign. Watson, a UN Goodwill Ambassador, launched the campaign in September 2014 with the hope of motivating men to become a part of the fight for gender equality. Styles was quick to champion the cause. He's also spoken about the importance of empowering songs like "Girl Almighty" and the need to end the objectification of women. Now that's what makes him beautiful!

More from CafeMom: 20 Actresses Who've Spoken Out About the Objectification of Women in Hollywood

9/20
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Chris Hemsworth
Ouzounova/Splash News

Chris Hemsworth

By the hammer of Thor! All men should follow the superhero's lead — or at least, that of the actor who plays him on screen. Chris Hemsworth proudly identifies as a feminist. The Aussie actor said the array of strong female characters was part of the reason why he signed on to appear in Huntsman: Winter's War. "The balance has been tipped for a long time heavily in the men's direction," Hemsworth said. "There are seven to eight male superheroes and one female in there. This [movie] is the opposite.” Similarly, this summer, Hemsworth didn't hesitate to take a backseat to the four female leads in the Ghostbusters reboot.

10/20

Ryan Reynolds

Deadpool star and producer Ryan Reynolds is tired of superhero movies that restrict women to damsel-in-distress roles. "[In the comics], there's a million fantastically written, three-dimensional female characters that are just waiting to come out," Reynolds told Buzzfeed, while lamenting that "superhero movies are largely a male-dominated field." Having seen the response to Deadpool's own kick-ass female characters, Angel Dust and Negasonic Teenage Warhead, Reynolds said he hoped Hollywood will wise up. He also scoffed at the notion that women aren't interested in these types of films. "Women love fu**ing superhero movies!" he said at an AOL Builder Speaker Series event. "Clearly they go to these movies. It's sort of funny that the studios are sometimes the last to know that."

11/20
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Prince Harry
James Whatling

Prince Harry

During the 2013 Chime For Change concert, audiences were treated to a video of Prince Harry clamoring for gender equality. "We know that when women are empowered, they immeasurably improve the lives of everyone around them — their families, their communities, and their countries," he said. "This is not just about women. We men need to recognize the part we play too. Real men treat women with dignity and give them the respect they deserve." Spoken like a true Prince Charming.

12/20

Ian Somerhalder

Through a collaboration with Connecther and the Harvard College Social Innovation Collaborative, Vampire Diaries star Ian Somerhalder created the Girls Impact the World Film Festival to showcase short films created by female students and centered on such global women's issues such as access to education, prenatal care, and sexual violence. "It is beyond important that girls speak up, that they act fearlessly, that they fall in love with the timbre of their powerful voices," Somerhalder said of the impetus for creating GITW. "Men placed in positions of patriarchal power need a massive shift to correspond with women's uprising, and [they] need to support this societal shift as a whole."

More from CafeMom: 20 Girl Power Movies That Prove Women Are Amazing On and Off The Field

13/20
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Ezra Miller
Derek Storm/Splash News

Ezra Miller

We Need To Talk About Kevin star Ezra Miller wants to talk about ending physical and sexual violence against women. "One in three women in the world will experience domestic violence or rape in the course of their lifetime," the actor told Democracy Now while participating in an awareness-building event for the One Million Rising movement at New York City's Times Square. "I grew up in a house full of women. I feel like all revolutionary causes should start with addressing misogyny."

14/20

Matt McGorry

How to Get Away With Murder's Matt McGorry was shocked when he looked up "feminism" in the dictionary. The definition cited — "the belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities" — hardly seemed controversial. In March 2015, he opened up about his discovery and commented, "The fact that the term is sometimes clouded with anything other than pure support and positivity in our society is very tragic." Since then, McGorry has transformed into a true champion for the cause, writing a 900-word essay for Equal Pay Day, applauding Emma Watson's #HeForShe speech, and designing T-shirts that demystify the term "feminist."

15/20
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Barack Obama
Brett D. Cove/Splash News

Barack Obama

In an essay published in Glamour in August 2016, President Barack Obama wrote that being a father to Malia and Sasha strengthened his feminist views. "When you're the father of two daughters, you become even more aware of how gender stereotypes pervade our society," he wrote. "You see the subtle and not-so-subtle social cues transmitted through culture. You feel the enormous pressure girls are under to look and behave and even think a certain way." Obama then added, "It's important that their dad is a feminist because now that's what they expect of all men." In addition to discussing his own feminist ideology, Obama urged his fellow men to look within themselves in order to rethink outdated and restrictive notions regarding gender roles.

16/20

Aziz Ansari

During an October 2014 Late Show with David Letterman appearance, comedian Aziz Ansari proclaimed himself a feminist and explained, "It just means someone who believes men and women have equal rights." The Master of None star then used his comedic chops to clarify what the term means: "You're a feminist if you go to a Jay Z and Beyonce concert and you're not like, 'Mmm, I feel like Beyonce should get 23 percent less money than Jay Z. Also, I don't think Beyonce should have the right to vote — and why is Beyonce singing and dancing? Shouldn't she make Jay a steak?'" A world without Beyonce's singing? It's as unfathomable as being anti-feminist!

More from CafeMom: 22 Us Female Athletes Who Are Bringing Major #GirlPower to the Rio Olympics

17/20

Mark Ruffalo

In March 2015, Mark Ruffalo joined the front lines of the feminist movement when he used his Tumblr page to share a poignant post penned by Libby Anne Bruce as a response to the "Women Against Feminism" movement brewing on social media. An outspoken feminist,Ruffalo has consistently voiced his support the pro-choice movement, even sharing a deeply personal story about his mother being forced to have an illegal abortion as a young woman. "My mother's illegal abortion marked a time in America that we have worked long and hard to leave behind," Ruffalo wrote in an open letter. In regards to the current abortion debate, meanwhile, he said, "There's a common sense and a wisdom and a decency in women that needs to be upheld and doesn't warrant being pushed back 30 years into the whole nightmare that brought about the abortion rights movement."

18/20
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Jon Hamm
Xavier Collin/Image Press/Splash News

Jon Hamm

When male Mad Men viewers cheered on Don Draper's boozing and womanizing ways and female fans swooned over the dapper ad man, actor Jon Hamm decided to give audiences a reality check. "I've never treated any woman as badly as Don Draper treats them, with his lies, his affairs, his sexism and chauvinism," Hamm told the Daily Mail. "People look back at [the '60s]  through a thick veil of nostalgia, but life was hard if you were anything other than a rich, powerful, white male. Working wives were a rarity, because their place was in the home, bringing up the kids. The women who did work were treated as second-class citizens, because it was a male-dominated society. That was a fact of life then. But it wouldn't be tolerated today, and that's quite right in my book."

19/20

Daniel Radcliffe

While promoting his film Horns in August 2014, Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe described himself as a feminist. Much to his shock, the declaration made headline after hedline. When asked about the "F" word during a GQ UK interview months later, Radcliffe questioned media reports that posited stars as "coming out as feminists," as if these idologies had been some deep dark secret. He was, however, unfazed about discussing his own stance, explaining, "I'm an egalitarian about everything and I believe in meritocracy." Recently, when the pervasive Hollywood gender wage gap was exposed, Radcliffe said, "There is no earthly justification for that pay not being equal." He went on to add, "I’m incredibly glad it has come up because I had just f**king naively thought this was not an issue anymore because how can this still be happening?"

20/20

Ashton Kutcher

Ashton Kutcher dropped some truth bombs when discussing sexual education in our country. "The one thing they teach [girls] is how to get pregnant or how not to get pregnant, but they don't really talk about sex as a point of pleasure for women," Kutcher said while promoting his film No Strings Attached. "Part of that creates a place where women aren't empowered around their own sexuality and their own sexual selves. To create a movie with a female lead that's empowered with her own sexuality is a powerful thing." Kutcher has also used his fame to bring awareness to the trafficking of girls and women. In 2009, he launched the DNA foundation with former wife Demi Moore to fight forced prostitution and help victims of sexual slavery. In 2012, he visited the women behind the NGO Apne App in Delhi, India, which works to end sex trafficking.

More from CafeMom: 10 Empowering Celebrity Quotes That Show Women Rule

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