It all began when Wentworth Miller shared an article entitled “4 Ways Sexist, Macho Culture Hurts Men.”
The gist of the piece — in case its not entirely obvious from the headline — is that outmoded concepts of masculinity — and in particular “macho culture” — promotes aggression, repressed emotions, and general societal ills.
Well, that prompted one man to refer to Wentworth Miller as “a little bitch” and not “a real man.”
Related: This Fat Shaming Meme Reminded Wentworth Miller Of His Suicidal Thoughts
How about we take this to the next level?
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“A real man on camera and nothing but a little bitch in real life,” wrote an unusually malignant gentleman from Germany. “Way to go, Michael.” (That’s the name of Miller’s character in Prison Break.)
The actor and screenwriter decided this little bit of unpleasantness was the perfect opportunity to illustrate an ever-valid point.
“Normally I would just ban this person,” he writes. “Their sentiments have zero nutritional value and, in my opinion, reflect an antiquated belief system that is not only harmful, but on its way out.”
That said, the attitude expressed does open the door to some interesting topics. Like gender performance, gender policing, shaming, sexuality, projection, toxic masculinity, and the lowering of public discourse.”
Related: Wentworth Miller Breaks Down The Reality Gay Actors Face In Hollywood
Later on, he further explained why he thought the comment should be highlighted:
I’ve read some lovely comments today. There was a lot of food for thought. I also read a lot of advice. Much of which boiled down to ‘It’s only words.’ ‘Sticks and stones.’ Etc.
“I recognize, and appreciate, that this is coming from a positive, supportive, protective place. If only it was true.
“Words matter. Labels matter. The way in which we speak to and about each other matters. Politicians spewing hate from the podium one day translates into real world violence the next. We know this.
“What’s more, IMO, ‘You shouldn’t let it get to you’ is code for ‘man up.’ With respect, I consider it to be another form of gender policing.
“For the record, this person’s comment was momentarily unpleasant. Then it was over. It affected me because I’m a human being.
“I feel things. Then I move through them. And one of the ways I do that is by examining the situation and looking for the gift. The gold. The lesson.”
“And as someone who’s been called a ‘little bitch’ before (because #sexism #misogyny #homophobia #toxicmasculinity), this felt like an opportunity for dissection and discussion. And I took it. Hence the repost.”
h/t: Attitude
rmarin776
Nice. Thank you, Wentworth Miller.
Jack Meoff
Never pass up an opportunity to educate and enlighten.
Baba Booey Fafa Fooey
This after he said he would never cast an openly gay man in a lead role? Sheesh. The troll was right. He is no real man.
BillSam
@Baba Booey Fafa Fooey: Do you have more information on this, when and where he said this? Thanks.
Chris2016
How disappointing to know that Wentworth buys into social justice mindrot. “Toxic masculinity”? “Gender policing”? Both of these terms are the equivalent to ‘mansplaining’. Meaningless buzzwords used in place of actual arguments.
Sure, some parts of masculinity is society/culture based. But much of it is based simply on how men are wired. There’s no conspiracy. If you want to get rid of the hyper masculine elements of masculinity, then that’s fine. But I often find that’s not what contemporary feminists (and that’s who usually advocates such things) aim towards. Often it’s an outright attack on masculinity (anyone remember ‘Masculinity so fragile’?), or an attempt to outright reform masculinity into something sweet and unassuming, which just isn’t realistic.
Billy Budd
Testosterone makes us macho and more aggressive than women. Fact.
Sluggo2007
Am I the only person who can see that the whole “macho” culture is a very homosexual facade?
Baba Booey Fafa Fooey
@BillSam:
“And if I’m an exec and I’m trying to please my corporate masters, and guarantee a big opening weekend – and you only get one shot at the box office – and I want to keep a roof over my head and I have to choose between hiring a straight actor for the lead in my movie and an actor who’s openly gay, I’m going to go with straight actor because I don’t want to risk alienating various demographics.”
— Wentworth Miller, discussing his decision to come out and the inner workings of the Hollywood system in the November issue of Attitude
MikeE
@Billy Budd: Correction: testosterone makes you more aggressive, not more “macho”. Machismo is learned behaviour, it has nothing to do with hormones. There are quite effeminate men with VERY high levels of testosterone, and vice versa. Stop kidding yourself that machismo is a natural thing. It isn’t. And it IS “toxic”. It encourages aggressive and competitive social behaviour rather than collaborative and constructive behaviour.
Bromancer7
@Baba Booey Fafa Fooey: Idiot. He’s saying that’s THEIR attitude, not his.
Ander
@Baba Booey Fafa Fooey: oh dear. You completely ignored or missed the context of this quote. Miller wasn’t advocating that attitude, merely illustrating that it exists.
Baba Booey Fafa Fooey
@Bromancer7: It IS his attitude – you stupid asshole. He would not hire an openly gay man.
Baba Booey Fafa Fooey
@Ander: See above.
Baba Booey Fafa Fooey
I’ll post it again:
“I want to keep a roof over my head and I have to choose between hiring a straight actor for the lead in my movie and an actor who’s openly gay, I’m going to go with straight actor because I don’t want to risk alienating various demographics.”
Baba Booey Fafa Fooey
And, again:
“I want to keep a roof over my head and I have to choose between hiring a straight actor for the lead in my movie and an actor who’s openly gay, I’m going to go with straight actor because I don’t want to risk alienating various demographics.”
Baba Booey Fafa Fooey
Once again – till you assholes get it:
“I want to keep a roof over my head and I have to choose between hiring a straight actor for the lead in my movie and an actor who’s openly gay, I’m going to go with straight actor because I don’t want to risk alienating various demographics.”
Baba Booey Fafa Fooey
And, in Arabic. The gay man’s chosen language:
“arid ‘ann tubqi ealaa saqf fawq rasi wa’ana yjb ‘an takhtar bayn alttaeaqud mae almumaththil alttawali lizimam almubadarat fi filmi wamumaththil munazzamat alsshhat alealamiat mithli aljins ealna, wa’inna dhahib lildhdhahab mae almumaththil alttawali li’annani la ‘urid ‘an khatar tanfir alttarkibat alsskkaniat almukhtalifa “.
Juanjo
@Baba Booey Fafa Fooey:
Basic rule I learned a long time ago in Hebrew School and reiterated to me in law school is -“text without context is pretext”. So if we go to the actual Attitude article and look at your excerpt in context he is not saying this is his opinion – he is discussing what network executives think and do.
So either you cannot read for content or you are deliberately lying.
http://attitude.co.uk/wentworth-miller-on-coming-out-i-did-it-in-my-own-way-and-my-own-time/
Bromancer7
Again, for emphasis
“So if we go to the actual Attitude article and look at your excerpt in context he is not saying this is his opinion – he is discussing what network executives think and do.
So either you cannot read for content or you are deliberately lying.”
Bromancer7
Another time, just in case your thick skull missed it again
“So if we go to the actual Attitude article and look at your excerpt in context he is not saying this is his opinion – he is discussing what network executives think and do.
So either you cannot read for content or you are deliberately lying.”
Bromancer7
And once more, this time in idiot-speak, your native tongue.
“You a mo-ron! That ain’t what he sayin'”
Baba Booey Fafa Fooey
@Bromancer7: You can’t get your point acrossed in one post? Why do you post 50 times? I posted multiple times, to you asshole, to get it through your THICK SKULL THAT HE WILL NOT HIRE AN OPENLY GAY MAN. I even posted it in the preferred gay male language and you still argue in favor of this asshole. Look, I get it. You don’t care that this asshole won’t hire an openly gay man. Fuck you and fuck him. Take care. 🙂
Littlewings85
@Baba Booey Fafa Fooey:
Holy crap!! Read what they are saying to you. The quote you have based your opinion on has been taken out of context. If you read the full interview you will see that this is not his opinion, it is how he feels that producers/directors etc in the movie industry think and act.
For clarification: Wentworth Miller IS NOT a producer/director or executive in the movie industry. He is predominantly an actor and a writer. This means that he doesn’t hire anyone; it’s not his job. Secondly: Wentworth Miller IS an openly gay man. An openly gay man who IS an actor and as such needs to be hired by aforementioned people e.g producers etc.
In the quote you are so angry about Wentworth is ‘playing the role’ of the director etc in the hiring role and speaking about how that person would think and therefore how they would act.
Essentially he is saying that as an openly gay actor (which Wentworth Miller IS) it is more difficult to be hired in a leading role as it is more of a financial risk to hire someone who is openly gay because as a director etc (which Wentworth Miller IS NOT) you risk alienating the homophobic f***tards that refuse to see a movie/show if they know it has an openly gay male (which Wentworth Miller IS) in the leading role.
Questions?