Dame Helen Mirren is an ardent feminist, and kudos to her. Yet her latest comment - slamming women who let men put their arms around them - has left even her fans head scratching.
The Oscar-winning actress claimed that when guys sling their arms around a woman it looks like “ownership.”
"Of course, when you’re young, you want the guy to take your hand and look after you," said the star of The Queen. “But when I see girls being leaned on, I want to say, ‘Tell him to get his damned arm off your shoulder’.”
In a recent interview with the Mail on Sunday, Mirren also had strong words for women who get married young (she didn't marry until age 52). She likened the female of the species to “toddlers in this modern world,” trying to find their way and negotiate issues of "sexual liberation, birth control, education and financial independence.”
I'm all for feisty, outspoken women. I'm all for equal rights in a sexist, ageist industry like Hollywood. But Mirren seems to have disdain for her contemporaries. Her words are, well, a bit patronizing.
Some of us do marry young - and stay married. Some of us actually like having an arm around us, and don't feel "owned" or otherwise under the thumb. We feel cherished and content.
I don't think this kind of thinking runs contrary to feminism. But that could just be me.
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