Ryan Gosling Is Nice, But Is He Feminist?

Ryan Gosling is nice. Does that make him a feminist?

A new blog shows photos of the Canadian actor with feminist and woman-friendly quotes and sayings, all beginning with “Hey girl,” Gosling’s throwaway phrase which gained quite a lot of attention.

A photo of the actor’s chest has the caption “Hey girl, my eyes are up here,” while another reads “Hey girl, nolite te bastardes carborundorum,” from Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale.

Gosling is a nice guy. He loves his mum and he snogged a man in public. As far as I can see, those facts make him a nice guy, though not necessarily a feminist.

He did make a serious point about the way women are portrayed sexually on film, and censorship which rates female sexuality as more damaging than the sexual torture of women. He said:

• The MPAA is okay supporting scenes that portray women in scenarios of sexual torture and violence for entertainment purposes, but they are trying to force us to look away from a scene that shows a woman in a sexual scenario, which is both complicit and complex. It’s misogynistic in nature to try and control a woman’s sexual presentation of self. I consider this an issue that is bigger than this film.

While not being an alpha male doesn’t equal feminism, Gosling’s point about censorship did bring about action.

Can I say he looks nice in a suit? No, probably not.

Contact the author here: miriam@morningquickie.com