Bro-Feminists: Eight Great Guys Who Treat Women As Equals


It’s a tricky thing attempting to define exactly what makes a man pro-feminist or bro-feminist. Even with dudes removed from the equation entirely feminism makes for tricky subject matter what with its vast ideological and philosophical framework, multiple waves throughout history, and a gajillion varying definitions (it all depends on who you’re talking to at the time and their opinion on hand-mirror assisted vagina gazing). The topic is loaded, is what we’re saying. Keeping that in mind, we wanted to take time to acknowledge some memorable bro-feminists out there whose outspoken support for gender equity helps you temporarily forget about incidents like thisthisthis and this.

Ryan Gosling 

When Blue Valentine was rated NC-17 and producers filed for an appeal, Gosling was mildly outraged and said this: 
“You have to question a cinematic culture which preaches artistic expression, and yet would support a decision that is clearly a product of a patriarchy-dominant society, which tries to control how women are depicted on screen. 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.”
Then BAM. Gosling became attached to a mad desirable and pretty rare quality known as male-outlook feminism or something. While the ‘male-outlook feminism’ concept is basically bullshit because stipulating gender essentially kills the whole philosophy of feminism (and um, this entire article? LOL! *Shrug*), Gosling’s heart was in the right place and that’s why he’s here. Overtime this has translated into his high-memeability (Hey Girl) that often subverts the notion of established gender roles before the dawn of protofeminism.
Seth Meyers
Testament to comedy not being synonymous with being a right asshole, the Saturday Night Live Weekend Update anchor, writer and apparent sweetheart said this little really cool thing:
“When you work with the sort of really strong women that I work with, the idea that anyone would want to make decisions for them is hard to wrap your head around.”

Jon Hamm
Of his enshrined hedonistic role as Don Draper in a vastly different time and space, Hamm spits profound life learnings: 
“Men ruled the roost and women played a subservient role [in the 1960s]. Working wives were a rarity, because their place was in the home, bringing up the kids. The women who did work were treated as second class citizens, because it was a male-dominated society. That was a fact of life then. But it wouldn’t be tolerated today, and that’s quite right in my book … People look back on those days through a thick veil of nostalgia, but life was hard if you were anything other than a rich, powerful, white male.”

Quentin Tarantino, most of the time
Save for the latest addition to the Tarantino pantheon with Django Unchained (and the incredible but pussy-subordinating piece of cinema that is Pulp Fiction), Tarantino illustrates gender equity in power, physicality and smarts in his movies Kill Bills Part 1 and 2, Inglorious Basterds and also Deathproof.

Image by Jason Merritt via Getty

David Pocock

We bringing it back to the local for a second here with this Wallabies flanker. When he discovered his now-wife’s passion for women’s studies, he secretly read feminist texts to get in her panties woo her in the early days. An actual all ’round legend, together with being all for the ladies, he launched his own brand of football boots to protest against slave labour, has campaigned for same-sex marriage and runs his own charity ‘Eightytwenty Vision’ that designs initiatives for people in rural Zimbabwe to dilute poverty with small self-help projects. Did somebody say best dude ever?


Image by Mark Kolbe via Getty

Matt Damon  
Forget that time he was made to look like a bumbling idiot in Team America (can’t, won’t), he also thinks like this:
“If I had a bucket list, I’d say raising my four girls to be strong, good women would be No. 1.”


Jay Baruchel 
A ticketholder on the same train as aforementioned Mr Gosling, the writer/actor/filmmaker is disgruntled by femme screen portrayals:

“I was raised by my mom, I have a little sister, and I’m constantly annoyed [by] how terribly written most females are in most everything – and especially in comedy. Their anatomy seems to be the only defining aspect of their character, and I just find that untruthful and it straight-up offends me. A lot of the strongest people I know are chicks. And as a viewer, I get a kick out of watching real characters. So I take it upon myself to clean that shit up and write actual women. And I like writing strong women, because as a straight male, there’s nothing more attractive to me than a strong girl.”

Image by Jason Kempin via Getty


John Lennon 

Miles ahead of his game, Lennon heralded the good shit long before his death in 1980, much to the credit of his Yoko:
“…we hear from all kinds of people. One kid living up in Yorkshire wrote this heartfelt letter about being both Oriental and English and identifying with John and Yoko. The odd kid in the class. There are a lot of those kids who identify with us — as a couple, a biracial couple, who stand for love, peace, feminism and the positive things of the world.”
Pedestrian has kicked off the 2013 Pedestrian.TV Bachelorette of The Year brought to you by the really, really ridiculously looking MINI Ray and with it an ongoing focus on sista-centric listicles, interviews and features. This means all ye brilliantly talented ladies, or your brilliantly talented girlfriends can be nominated here and go into the running to win a trip for 2 to Japan.

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