We know November as “Movember” and “No-Shave November,” but there’s more to it than that. International Men’s Day, on Nov. 19, is a day not only dedicated to men’s health but also “improving gender relations, promoting gender equality and highlighting positive male role models,” according to internationalmensday.com.
We often admire celebrities who embody these types of goals. Here are four actors who don’t keep their stances on gender equality a secret.
Aziz Ansari
Comedian and actor, Ansari is widely known for his stand-up comedy and his role as Tom Haverford on NBC’s “Parks and Recreation.” Haverford is notorious for his womanizing ways, but this is contrary to Ansari’s real-life take on feminism. According to MSNBC, in his stand-up show “Aziz Ansari Live at Madison Square Garden,” available on Netflix, the comedian tackles misogyny and addresses the everyday struggles women face. Ansari researched these struggles, like sexual harassment in the street, in order to use them in his routines and raise awareness.
He said in an interview with Cosmo magazine, “And then I just started asking more people about [these issues] and realized it’s a pretty crazy, widespread thing, and it’s insane that many women have to go through that and have to worry about that.”
He also told the magazine he’d love to see a woman become president.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt
In 2014, actor and filmmaker told talk show host Ellen DeGeneres that he is “absolutely” a feminist, saying, “It’s worth paying attention to the roles that are sort of dictated to us and that we don’t have to fit into those roles. We can be anybody we want to be,” according to ellentv.com.
More recently, Gordon-Levitt released a video on YouTube titled “RE: Feminism,” in which he talks about the different definitions of feminism that he has discovered since his interview with DeGeneres in 2014, according to The Huffington Post. Gordon-Levitt invites his viewers to define what feminism means to them and explain why they do or do not consider themselves feminists in the comments, noting that establishing a standard definition of feminism is “complicated, and I grant that it’s complicated, and I think it’s a really great thing for us all to be talking about.”
Ian Somerhalder
Known best for his role as the bad-boy vampire Damon Salvatore on The CW’s “The Vampire Diaries,” Somerhalder is an active humanitarian, conservationist, animal rights activist and proud feminist. He is the founder of the Ian Somerhalder Foundation, which seeks to positively impact the environment and its inhabitants, according to its website. The foundation collaborated with Connecther, an organization that seeks to empower women and girls, for the Girls Impact the World Film Festival, in which participants submit a short video about global women’s issues and possible solutions. Somerhalder and his wife, Nikki Reed, are judges for the contest.
“The collaboration between GITW and ISF was a perfect fit considering ISF acknowledges that our youth are the most undervalued and underutilized natural resource on this planet — and we feel so especially about young women,” Somerhalder told SheKnows, an online media company for women. “Hollywood has enough attention. Let’s celebrate the women achieving the unthinkable in our local communities every day.”
George Clooney
Golden Globe Award- and Academy Award-winner George Clooney has a solution to the statistic that just 12 percent of protagonists in 2014 films were female: cast females for male parts, according to Vanity Fair. Clooney got this idea when actress and producer Sandra Bullock called him and requested the lead role in “Our Brand is Crisis,” a film that was originally about a male political strategist, according to Vanity Fair. Immediately after, production began, and the film was released on Oct. 30, grossing $5.9 million in the box office, according to Rotten Tomatoes, a film rating and critique website.
In 2012, Clooney and actress Viola Davis were featured on the cover of Entertainment Weekly. Davis spoke about race and women in the film industry, whereas Clooney focused on gender equality.
“It’s much harder to get a film with a woman lead made. When a man hits 40 is when roles just begin to happen. And for women, it doesn’t happen. I find that to be a very concerning issue,” Clooney told the magazine.
