Chloe Moretz covered the September issue of Allure. I should have discussed it, but I didn’t because — let’s face it — most of you hit the snooze button whenever her name arises. I get it. She’s a grounded young lady who has remained scandal free so far. Her family is supportive, and she’s got big brothers keeping a watchful eye on any potential shenanigans. Chloe will never turn into a Lohan. That’s great for Chloe but not so interesting for gossip.
In light of our ongoing feminism discussion, I’m talking about Chloe. In the Allure interview, Chloe expressed frustration at how actresses and pop stars are lining up to reject the feminist label:
“I don’t think they really understood what feminism is. It’s a right. Feminism, to me, is standing up for everything that someone else has already done for you. My mom has overcome so much in her life. She makes me want to stand up for myself. Stand up to the studio heads who try to tell me that I can’t have blonde hair; they want brown hair. Or I need bigger boobs, or I need to work out. Or I’m too skinny, so, like, ‘Eat a cheeseburger.’ I stand up for myself every day of my life. I grew up in a family of four boys. I’m, like, a born feminist. I’ve been a feminist since I was four years old.”
[From Allure]
Chloe’s first sentence nails it. See, this is what we were talking about with Megan Trainor, who doesn’t consider herself a feminist. Meghan doesn’t understand what feminism means. She probably heard something derogatory years ago, so the thinks it’s a bad thing. I guess it’s more fun to sing about big booties than to crack a book.
Fast forward to yesterday. Chloe is promoting her new movie with Denzel called The Equalizer. She visited AOL Build and busted out the “f” word again:
Choosing roles carefully: “As a feminist you kind of look at a lot of these roles in movies. A lot of young female characters that I turn down are a typical female plot device or a sexualized, boobs out, a** up [figure], and that’s all they need.”
On typecasting: “I’ve definitely had studio heads want to put me in a box. After Kick-Ass, they wanted me to only play the bad girl. When I was a little kid, I was only auditioning for the little baby satan roles or the little girl who was sexually molested or something. Those were the only two characters who were out there. I didn’t want to do that. I never wanted to play into the stereotypes; I’ve always wanted to go against them in life in general. My mom, I have to give her a lot of credit, because she raised me in that setting in real life. Art imitates life, and it just kind of bled into that.”
[From AOL]
I hope young girls are listening. Chloe plays a teenage prostitute in this Denzel film. She insisted that the role was a proper one: “It felt so real, and not like I was just some plot device.” Between Chloe’s perspective and Emma Watson’s speech, there is hope for the feminist cause.
Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet, Allure & WENN
YES! Awesome.
“Feminism, to me, is standing up for everything that someone else has already done for you.”
F*cking-a right.
Seriously! Thank goodness there are SOME young actresses in this world who appear to have a grasp of what feminism is. It gives me a wee bit of hope for the future.
She nailed it!!!
YES Chloe, you little legend!
I’d love it if this was required reading for Katy Perry, Megan Trainor, et al.
Yes. If I ever diss feminism, I’d be dissing all my mother, her peers, and their mothers and grandmothers before them did for me. The right to vote didn’t just float down from the sky one day. Divorce on equal terms to men, equal rights to contact with children after a split, the right to own property at all – none of that was just suddenly considered fair, without women protesting and being mocked, threatened and brutalised to obtain it. Criminalising rape in marriage didn’t happen because most women thought standing up for other women was “man-hating” or “being a victim”. Laws against sexual harassment and pay discrimination didn’t just occur to an all male legislature voted in by an all male electorate. There’s still a long way to go, but I am so, so thankful to all the women who made my life so much easier, richer and more open to me, and I’m never going to crap all over their legacy.
Well, well said. +10000
Thank you K! +200000
I’m sad women are still mocked for fighting for equal rights, but we have come impressively far in one century.
Applause
Right on! Thank heavens Chloe and Emma both have it going on mentally to understand the CONCEPT of feminism. I was seriously concerned that not a single young woman understood the idea of standing on the shoulders of other (previous) women. What have we fought for if no one takes for granted history and these rights are only “God given” to older white men. Women had to claw and scrape to get the rights we currently now have. But we still need to obtain parity.
How well put! She’s smarter than lots of celebs twice her age.
I really like her. Please keep posting about her positive attributes. It’s nice to cleanse our palate in between all the regular gross gossip.
Plus I find her gorgeous and can’t wait to see her as an adult.
I feel like the whole feminism debate, and where each little starlet chick falls regarding it, is almost a distraction at this point. Nothing gets accomplished because we’re so busy classifying people and figuring out what side of the feminism fence they’re on that the whole point gets lost.
I agree. It’s too much. To me it seems like a game the media is playing right now. Let’s see which one we can trip up with this question today. I love to see a young women “get it”, but I just can’t help but think that it’s now become a standard question in interviews to help get clicks, or worse, an attempt at getting more attention by the celebrities themselves. I’m not saying this was Chloe’s intention, but I know some just start screaming “FEMINISM” so we will pay attention to their promoting.
+1
Absolutely.
It’s certainly a platform for discussion and some still need to be educated regarding it. No argument there. But must it be pulled out and paraded like this for self and project promotion?
I bring out the discussion and logic when it’s needed/relevant. Outside of that it’s not discussed in my life. Like lots of things.
I don’t feel like its a distraction. I feel like it is a reflection of a female awakening on this issue. Women’s issues are more front and center now in politics, in news stories (like Santa Barbara and Ray Rice, etc.). It makes sense that it is reflected in entertainment.
Agreed. Most of what these celebrities are saying isn’t adding anything to the issue itself.
Regardless of how it started or what the intent is, it is keeping the feminist movement in the spotlight which is important. Sometimes it doesn’t matter what is being said as long as it is being talked about. It reminds people that women’s rights are still an issue. There will always be backlash until it becomes accepted. No one questions women’s right to vote these days but we are nearly 100 years out. In another 100 years, imagine where we will be? Can you imagine a world where gender isn’t nearly as big a factor in ability as we seem to think it is right now? Until we breakdown the stereotypes of what is gender based and what isn’t (and let me tell you, way less is gender based than we think), we need to keep talking and talking and talking. It may seem irrelevant to you and not adding to the conversation, but it is keeping the conversation active and alive. We need that.
But every time a famous young woman says, “I’d never be a feminist because I like men!” lots of young girls get the message that feminism is this horrible, negative thing that guys hate. And that’s the main tactic used against the movement, and to scare women away from identifying with it. It always has been. There are examples from the 19th century. So yes, I think it does matter when young women in the spotlight are positive about feminism, and use the term for themselves. It makes it that much more acceptable, and chips away at least a bit at the notion that nice women don’t claim to be anything so aggressive, or unfeminine.
Until and unless the inequality is named and addressed, it can’t change. I can’t unite with women who say “I’m not a feminist because I’m not a manhating victim” – she’s just called me a man-hating victim. I think it matters, yes. A woman doesn’t have to call herself a feminist to be one, no. Very much not. But she can’t be a feminist if she attacks the word, and women who identify with it.
she gives me a jenna bush hager vibe in looks, no?
More power to Chloe!
I’m too exhausted to wade into this again for a long time, so on another note, she looks pretty bombshell and gorgeous on the cover. But why is the Allure font like a scary Halloween note? * Insert miscellaneous other non sequiturs here………*
I’m incredibly hungover and I slept three hours last night and you just made me stare at the Allure font for over seven minutes.
You will pay dearly for this.
queen wheelchair lightbulbs GENIUS Ben Affleck black comedians culturally vision
Haha, now that you are vulnerable we can indoctrinate you into mimifism. Hazing and crafting to begin at once! No, scratch that, I think you’re hazed enough. Crafting, it is.
Muummuu ✔️
Bedazzling kit ✔️
Vodka ✔️
Raspberry Jello ✔️
Chin up, Kitten. You’ve got some crafting to do.
Eye of Newt! You forgot eye of newt and the tears of Duggars, caldron of powdered donuts and coffee.
I just bedazzled my shot glass and spilled Jello all over my muumuu.
Things have taken a turn for the worse.
Can we do crafting that’s less complicated?
……preferably something with popsicle sticks because popsicles are delicious…..
Donuts!!
Donut-making counts as crafting.
Didn’t you get the memo? Allure has been extreme crafting and they amazingly squeezed that font out of a piping bag.
And Chloe is awesome in everything. Props to her for knowing where it’s at.
Underground mimifism.
Slow clap for her. Thank god someone gets it!
Yep. So many people think feminism is about man-bashing and hairy armpits.
In my country ( France) ,many feminist groups are also lesbian groups .Some feminist groups pratice the man-bashing ( “all the men are potential rapist” “all men are potential beaten-wife/girlfriend”).
Yesterday ,many french feminists have bashed Russell Crowe for his encouragement to Emma Watson because of his anger past and the fact that he’s a man
The problem in France with the feminism ( in my opinion) is that we don’t have a feminist figure “not agressive” for the lambda french people.We need an attractive straight married or not with kids feminist woman.Many feminists in group don’t want kid,are against the marriage,….in clear they’re aggressive.
And then there is the problem of feminist figures.Beyonce is more feminist than Rihanna? Is Kim K feminist without to know it? Miley? JLaw?
I don’t believe to be feminist whereas i’m pro-choice,again the violence,for the equality in job and in home …because i don’t believe every thing someone can say me just because she’s woman
Sadly, some women do use the label feminism to vilify men which really isn’t the point at all. It’s unfortunate.
no snooze button here! She is a great actress, intelligent and she knows how to communicate about serious (or light) issues. Always a pleasure to read her interviews.
P.S. All of these actresses/starlets/celebrities having no clue about feminism should be ashamed that a 17 y old can be more articulated and spot on than any of them.
And that is the voice of a young woman who is in control of her own life and her own career, and as a result will probably have much greater and fulfilling long term success than a pop twit who just says what she thinks guys want to hear.
Not many people understand what feminism is. A lot of today’s supposed ‘feminists’ (coughBeyoncecough) have no clue. Feminism is NOT the right to bare your body for attention or the right to be as promiscuous as men without the slut label. Those things put women firmly in the hole men want us. Naked and available. Feminism is about equality. Men don’t need to bare their chests for attention.
Gender idealization…beginning with Adam. created in the image of God, the first earthly parent producing Eve, cleanly and neatly while he slept, without the fuss and mess of human conception, labor and childbirth. We can see Eve, second in creation, an afterthought, a help meet, the first to be approached by the snake, easily seduced, equally seducing, placed for sin and stupidity under the yoke of her husband, condemned to painful childbirth and suffering. In a single stroke the awesome female power of procreation is discounted (as a punishment for sin); supreme parenting is comfortably settled upon the male (God & Adam, a theme reiterated and developed in the doctrine of the Virgin Birth); the man is firmly fixed in a position of dominance over women (his wife and, one assumes, other females); and the exploitation and subjection of woman is justified. She sinned, she was stupid and led humanity into disgrace and misery, she was condemned to the yoke by God. Men go and work (albeit in sweat), and women bring forth children. Men rule, and leave off hearkening to their wives, whereas woman’s desire is to her husband: All is conveniently explained, justified, and resolved. Women internalize the consciousness of oppression.
As one might expect, the impact of the masculist character of theology and religion is vast, not only on women’s lives and perspectives, but on the entire culture as well. If one’s religion is sexist, masculist and misogynist, what does it mean to be a religious woman? Is victimization a sacred principle?
Wow, Wolfpup. I don’t always agree with your perspective, but this comment is simply amazing. So well said, and excellent food for thought.
@mzkristen Feminism is a human rights movement about equality. While you’re right in arguing that it’s not just about bodily autonomy and sexual autonomy issues, those issues are definitely a part of it. The whole concept of the ‘slut’ label and everything behind it goes against the idea of human rights, bodily autonomy. It teaches that while men are people whose value and status are determined by accomplishments, character, and the way he treats others, women are things that gain, maintain, or lose value and status based on how covered up they keep themselves and their real or perceived sexuality, and that if they don’t conform to whatever arbitrary standards of sexual ‘propriety’, they’re ‘bad role models’ and are to be blamed for bad things that happen to themselves and others, whether it’s because of clothing and dance moves, the amount of sex they’re having, when they have sex, or whatever. It also leads to forms of victim-blaming, because it teaches that if a woman is seen as a ‘slut’ in some way, it’s only natural for people to not treat her well.
And you may be one of those people who thinks “Well, I don’t approve of men having lots of sex either, so there, slut-shaming is fine”. But should people really be verbally abused just for having consensual, abuse-free sex that you disapprove of? Homophobes feel the same exact way. What good has ever come from people basing other people’s worth on how closely their sexuality conforms to traditional values?
How can someone say they’re advocating for human rights and equality but defend slut-shaming? Womens’ clothing choices, dance moves, and consensual abuse-free sexual choices are not what hurts human rights or equality because equality and human rights are not about chastity or a dress code. (And yes, Beyoncé and anyone else can wear whatever they like and stand up for sexual freedom and still be a feminist, if they are one. It’s not an either or situation)
It’s also not accurate to say that by showing skin or having certain types of sex, women are putting themselves or other women in ‘the hole that men want them in’ because ‘the men’ are not exactly a monolith. Yes, there are probably men who want women to be naked and sexually available at all times, but there are also men who want women to be ‘classy and ladylike’ in public but preserve their bodies and sexuality for them alone in private, and there have always been men who wanted women to be as close to virgins as possible so that they can have the ‘victory’ of being the first or the only. But what about what women want? Are we not supposed to do what we want with our physical appearances or do the sexual things we want out of fear that it might be what The Menz want? Is that feminism?
And as far as the ‘men don’t have to show their chests to get attention’ argument goes, guess what? When men go topless, people are ok with it. When women go topless, or even braless, they’re either called trashy narcissistic attention-seekers or they face legal trouble for it, depending on the situation.
I relate to her growing up a family of boys, so did I. Feminist at four! So funny! I do see some value in that sibling set-up. I knew that my brothers were not better than I in any way, from the time I was able to comprehend anything – I have never wondered, nor questioned that for a minute. It was totally self-evident!
I do see a need for discussion about feminism, because of questions about valuation, usefulness capacities, and the right to develop and attain.
Hi there colleagues, its great piece of writing on the
topic of cultureand fully defined, keep it up all the time.
No.
My back fat is staying right where it is thankyouverymuch.
Gives my man something to grab onto.
LOL
Where does someone buy a cultureand? I’m really excited and interested!
And this is why I love you OKITT. 😀
Kind of related…
I found this article about a study called “Gender Bias Without Borders”, that was released by the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media. They looked at films in the 10 most profitable global film markets, and how genders were represented. It is VERY informative, and shows quite clearly what is wrong in how women are represented in film (when they are represented at all).
They have highlighted the findings in a list “Twenty Facts About Gender and Film in 2014”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/soraya-chemaly/20-mustknow-facts-about-g_b_5869564.html
I love her as an actress and she seems very smart and down to earth. I hope she has a long and scandal-free career!
We love you, Chloe! Way to say it, girl! Thank you!
These journalists are drumming up a fake war on feminism. I’m over it. This is a vocabulary test meant to humiliate young ignorant people. Megan Trainor didn’t understand the word feminism so of course she couldn’t say she was a feminist. If the journalist did any research, they’d already know she wasn’t the smartest tool in the shed. So why ask Megan about an “ism”? When the journalist asked better interview questions, Meghan was able to express some feminist ideas. It’s a journalist’s job to illuminate a subject, not ask them questions they don’t understand. It’s cruel, makes the subject look stupid, and doesn’t reveal anything about her real views.
I’ve always loved Chloe because she seems to have a good head on her shoulders and growing up quite well. She gets this SO right. Great job Chloe and I hope you reached your young fanbase with this article.
The more we debate what does and doesn’t constitute feminism the less it will actually matter. What we should ask is why womanhood even needs an ‘ism’ when men clearly don’t need a movement or title for their identity. I know there’s the entire history and culture behind feminism and it’s advanced women a lot. I applaud propenents of feminism, past and present alike. All I’m saying is let’s not be caught up in the definition of feminism (it obviously varies). That’s not a chief worry for feminist rights and it distracts from what’s really important.
Good for Chloe. She is Kick-Ass. And she’s finally touched on the very point that the rest of these cottage cheese-for-brains “anti-feminism” actresses are too dull to recognize. That women in the 60s and 70s had to endure a sh** ton of institutionalized misogny and fought against it, paving the way for 80s girls like me to be able to choose career paths and avocations that we wanted–without fear of societal reprisal. Our mommas paved the way. We benefited from that. These Millennial actresses should be down on their gilded knees thanking their grammies for the freedom they have now.
tear drip…
I love her and she makes me feel good about the next generation of women!
I really like this young woman. I find her to be a very good actress and an interesting human being.
Yes yes yes!!!!!!
So glad there are young girls like her.
I love her. Yes, I have no patience in this day and age with any girl who doesn’t identify as a feminist. If you want to clarify that to you, feminism means equality for women, not hatred for men, then great. But to refuse the label entirely does a disservice to everyone because it ratifies the idea that feminism DOES equal hatred of men. So it’s AMAZING to see people like CGM and Emma Watson speaking out about this.
Saw Equalizer today and her role is definitely much better than her Taken equivalent’s… I’ve been talking about that a lot to my friends about how action heroes always have to save their little girls from scary foreign men, and the movie ends without so much as a scratch on their heads. Chloe’s role is certainly different from those tropes. So good for her!
My 16 y.o. son loves both Chloe and Emma – he thinks they are beautiful AND smart, which I think is AWESOME! Go feminism!