Ryan Gosling Is, Like, 47% Woman

In a new interview with ES Magazine, Ryan Gosling provided some very on-brand, feminist quotes. He said things like, “It’s our time as men to be on the receiving end of the stick,” when asked about the objectification of male celebrities. He gave us such lines as, “I think women are better than men. They are stronger. More evolved.” And, most excitingly, when asked what percent woman he is, he gave us this: “I’d say 49%, sometimes 47%. It depends on what day you catch me.”

What a day this is, friends. I bet you thought the Hey, Girl memes were the most feminist this guy could get. Or maybe you thought it was when he was the only boy in a children’s dance group and he acknowledged how secure in his masculinity he was by dancing in hammer pants among the girls. You may have even guessed it was when he practiced gender-blind casting and had audience member Karen Hoydic play Russell Crowe’s part in a scene reenactment from The Nice Guys. But those were all just stretches, a limbering up for the big event. This interview has bestowed on us peak feminist Gosling, and it delights me. My default setting is humor. It’s the lens through which I view nearly everything I come across in this world, including this interview. But I can’t ignore that the actor’s response also highlights a sad truth: Gosling, who is 47% woman, can be feminist without consequence. And women, who are 100% woman, cannot. When a hot actor lends his voice to the women’s rights movement, he is celebrated. When a woman does it, she has an agenda. And isn’t that a real kick in the ass?

The full interview appears in this week’s issue of ES Magazine, out June 2.