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TERRY CREWS"I kind of relate [women's rights] to civil rights — the people who were silent when it was the black lunch counter and the white one or the schools were segregated...and you were quiet. You were accepting it. Same thing with men right now. If you don't say anything, you are, by your silence—it's acceptance. I'm not going to be silent."
"Coming up in the sports culture, I saw it was nothing for guys to say things like, 'Oh, you know she wanted it.' I knew guys who had the attitude of, 'You know you shouldn’t have walked out the door looking like that, girl,' thinking they had the right to feel on her or to rape her, because of what she was wearing.
Once I realized that I was part of that culture, I knew that I had to change it. This is the truth—thinking is the hardest thing you can ever do. For example,
50 Shades of Grey—can you just think about what it’s saying? Every art form has a message, and the message I’m getting from 50 Shades is that it’s OK to dominate and control women. And not only is it OK, it’s sexy. And even worse, deep inside, she wants it. That’s the most dangerous mind-set you can have."
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MARK RUFFALO"When I heard the story [of my mother's illegal abortion], I was aghast by the lowliness of a society that would make a woman do that. I could not understand its lack of humanity; today is no different. What happened to my mother was a relic of an America that was not free nor equal nor very kind.
My mother's illegal abortion marked a time in America that we have worked long and hard to leave behind. It was a time when women were seen as second rate citizens who were not smart enough nor responsible enough nor capable enough to make decisions about their lives. It was a time that deserved to be left behind."
Ruffalo has joined demonstrations for abortion rights and filmed a video for the 41st anniversary of Roe vs. Wade in 2014 about the need to keep abortion legal.
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SIR PATRICK STEWART"As a child I witnessed [my father's] repeated violence against my mother, and the terror and misery he caused was such that, if I felt I could have succeeded, I would have killed him. If my mother had attempted it, I would have held him down.
I heard police or ambulance men, standing in our house, say, "She must have provoked him," or "Mrs. Stewart, it takes two to make a fight." Wrong. Wrong. My mother did nothing to provoke him and even if she had,
violence is a choice a man makes and he alone is responsible for it."
Today, Stewart gives speeches and fundraises for Amnesty International's Violence Against Women campaign. "I do what I do in my mother's name, because I couldn't help her then. Now I can."
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EDDIE VEDDERIn 1992, the Pearl Jam frontman wrote "PRO CHOICE" on his arm during a live MTV Unplugged Performance. The same year, he wrote an article for
Spin magazine about why abortion needs to remain legal.
He and Pearl Jam performed at the 'Rock for Choice' concert in 1994 and continue to raise millions for abortion rights through concert performances benefiting the cause.
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ALAN ALDAAlda campaigned tirelessly (though unsuccessfully) to get the Equal Rights Amendment passed in the '70s and '80s and has written articles about the need for men to support women's equality in
Ms. magazine.
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FOREST WHITAKERWhitaker's foundation, the Whitaker Peace and Development Initiative, aims to advance peace in the world. As part of that effort, they give training in conflict resolution and community building in South Sudan and Uganda to former child soldiers and to boys and girls who have been rescued after being abducted by rebel forces.He recently talked about the need for more strong female characters in film and praised the women in his movie Black Panther: “What’s powerful about it is that there are different
types of powerful women. Danai and what she did with that role (Okoye), she embodies strategy and physical power. Angela has this powerful, motherly role, but she’s not just his mother, she’s an adviser. Letitia’s character, Shuri, directly combats this myth that women don’t excel at science, math and tech, and I think her being the most brilliant person in the movie, and the youngest, makes a statement. Even with Lupita (Nakia) being a spy, you see this confident warrior, but you also see a loving, sensitive side as well. There’s just so many different depictions of female power, and I think that’s very unusual.”
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EZRA MILLERMiller attended the 'One Billion Rising' rally in New York in 2013 and spoke to reporters about the need to end rape culture and violence against women.![]()
JOHN LEGENDLegend partners with the men's grooming company AXE to
advocate for gender equality and help break the cycle of what he calls "toxic masculinity" by mentoring high school students near his Ohio hometown. "[The idea behind the campaign] is thinking and living beyond the restraints of what it means to be a man. Young people are just trying to figure out who they are."
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ANDY SAMBERG
Samberg has repeatedly defended female comedians from criticism by other male comics (like Jerry Lewis and Adam Carolla) who claim that women just aren't funny. When he wore a "National Organization for Women" t-shirt onstage at a SPIKE TV event 11 years ago, some thought he might be ribbing women, but he later stated that he is a "totally sincere" feminist and was actually taking a jab at the network's male-centric profile.
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DAVID SCHWIMMERWell before the Harvey Weinstein scandal and the Time's Up movement, Schwimmer joined with Israeli-American filmmaker Sigal Avin to
create six short online videos starring celebrities like Emmy Rossum, Cynthia Nixon, Bobby Cannavale, Noah Emmerich and Schwimmer himself acting out real instances of sexual harassment, in order to bring awareness to the problems women face every day.
Schwimmer was recently praised for his "sensitivity" by a female film critic who noted that when she had interviewed him years ago and the hotel restaurant they were in was too noisy for them to hear each other, he offered to finish the interview upstairs in his hotel room - but quickly assured her that he would have a third person present so that she would know she was safe.
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