Henry Cavill, who is popularly known for essaying the role of Superman recently gave some incredibly questionable and weird comments in an interview to GQ Australia.
The interviewer asked him about his thoughts on the Me Too movement and his comments on dating in light of that movement seriously pissed off many people on the internet.
He stated something along the lines of how difficult it was to flirt in this time since even for simply talking to a woman there’s a chance you can be called a rapist.
Social media blew up with many people getting surprised by such a well-known actor saying such things.
A journalist called Niecy O’Keeffe tweeted out that,
Dear Confused Men like Henry Cavill,
No one’s going to call you a rapist for saying, ‘Hello,’ to a woman.
They will only call you a rapist if you rape them.
Hope this clears up any remaining confusion.
Kind Regards,
An Actual Woman.
P.S: If still confused, ask yer Ma.
Basically, many people are not happy with his statements since it seems to be putting the Me Too Movement in a negative light.
What Henry Cavill Was Asked And What He Said
In the GQ interview, Cavill was asked what he had learned from the Me Too movement along with also how it had made him reflect on his own behaviour around women.
For his thoughts on the movement itself, Cavill gave a very vague comment that only centered on him by saying that,
“I’ve been fortunate enough to not be around the kind of people who behave that way,” he says. “To my memory there’s been no moments where I look back and think, ‘Ooh, OK, maybe someone shouldn’t have gone through that’. I know there have been situations with people I’ve worked with being perhaps overfamiliar with some of the actresses. But, I’ve always walked up to them and said, ‘Hey, are you all right? That’s creepy’.”
On his behaviour around women, he said that, “I like to think that I’ve never been like that. I think any human being alive today, if someone casts too harsh a light on anything, you could be like, ‘Well, OK, yeah, when you say it like that, maybe.’”
And added the following that,
Which is again a very strange way to comment on a movement that is more about women or people in general speaking out about their own experience with harassment and how widespread it is.
The strange thing I noticed here was that nowhere he actually mentioned the real predators like Trump, Harvey Weinstein, Woody Allen or many of the several other men who have been accused by many women of harassment, both sexual, verbal and more.
Nowhere did he mention how it has brought forth many evils in the Hollywood industry and other sectors too that were earlier being silent on these subjects.
How many people of power have actually used their position in a very bad and cruel way to take advantage of women and even men in many cases for their own sick pleasures. But that this movement has put those kinds of men on guard since people are being encouraged to speak out about their harassers with the Me Too movement.
It is disappointing that Cavill did not take this opportunity to show the wrong side of predatory men which definitely exists and there was not really any outright acceptance of the wrongs in men and Hollywood.
His comments on the flirting angle also don’t really make sense since I believe he is entirely missing the true aim of the movement and only seeing the negative of it.
It is not to give more power to women or anything, instead, it is just to create a dialogue between two parties and understand the meaning of consent.
There is nothing wrong with flirting, but with this movement, a person is being asked to be aware of the other person and see if their behaviour is making them uncomfortable or not. And then taking their consent to continue things further.
So if you cannot differentiate between harmless flirting with harassment, perhaps you need to take a better look at what you are saying to the woman.
And to be honest, not everyone is bashing Cavill, instead, a large amount of men are actually agreeing with him and how the Me Too movement has made it difficult for them to interact with women.
Which is totally not correct and not something that should be made popular, and so it is a little worrying to think of the impact his comments will create on his followers, who will take it as a validation of blaming #MeToo for not being able to talk to women in any manner they like.
Read More: Girls Please Don’t Spoil The Dating Scene For Us, Due To Your Stupidity
But Then Again, I Don’t Blame Cavill Entirely
However, a part of me understands that part where he said that his fame might be a danger to him and who knows what might happen if he does flirt with someone.
The incidents with Aziz Ansari and Jamie Foxx both having had some relations with a woman and then those very women going to media publications and twisting the story around entirely to paint themselves as a victim using the Me Too movement to gain clout has certainly made some people wary.
And I believe even women these days are extremely confused as to what to do exactly and how to know themselves what is harassment and what is nothing more than common talk.
Also, it is high time that when in the dating world, women start speaking up when someone is making them uncomfortable.
In that world, you are an equal, sure if say in the campus sector if a professor hits on a student, there is an apparent power dynamic that can affect the student badly if they do speak out without having any proof.
But in the dating world there is no power struggle, you both are equal, and if it is the duty of the man to ask for the consent, then the woman also needs to speak up if she is not willing to give it.
Stop playing the victim afterwards and saying you were harassed when you could simply walk out any moment if you are uncomfortable in any way.
One must also understand, that there will be some wrongs with such a controversial and big movement but that should not take away the real essence of it.
Image Credits: Google Images
Sources: The Guardian, HuffPost, Bustle + more
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