Emilia Clarke isn't just the brilliant actress who plays pivotal Game of Thrones character Daenerys Targaryen. She's also a proud feminist who says she draws strength from her most iconic role and uses her platform to encourage others to effect positive change.
Now Clarke has displayed her feminist credentials again by calling out a sexist interview question - one invariably posed to actresses who play female leads in films and TV shows.
Clarke's target: the fact her characters are so often referred to as "strong."
"Take the 'strong' out of it, find another adjective, damn it. I'm just playing women," Clarke said while promoting her new movie Solo: A Star Wars Story.
AdvertisementADVERTISEMENT
"If it's not strong, what is it?" she continued, according to Variety. "Are you telling me there's another option, that there's a weak option? You think a lead in a movie is going to be a weak woman? It just doesn't even bear having the conversation, so enough already with the strong women, please."
Clarke went on to point out the inherent double standard in calling a female character "strong" when this adjective is rarely used to describe male characters in filmsand TV shows.
"I’m very frustrated with this in particular because you don’t get ‘strong men’, unless they’re like, physically strong men. So unless I’m packing guns I don’t know about, let’s change [the question]," she added.
Well said, Emilia Clarke - and it was also great to hear the actress reveal recently that she's been paid the same as her male Game of Thrones co-stars since day one.
Read These Stories Next: