Famous Men and Sexism

[CKDexterHaven]

Are there any famous men you've irrevocably gone off because of their sexist worldview? Off the top of my head I can think of -

Richard Harris - I'd just started admiring him as an actor when I was a teenager and was watching a montage of his television interviews. He was coming across as incredibly intelligent and eloquent until he talked about how he loved to date beautiful women but lost interest in them completely once they started to speak. He wanted to take beautiful women out to dinner and look at them across the table but if they dared open their mouth to speak it broke the spell and 'ruined' them for him.

Michael Fassbender - I was trying to ignore the domestic violence rumours as he had never been charged but then he appeared on Graham Norton going on about how he wouldn't come out of his trailer unless they played 'Blurred Lines' and it kind of confirmed his sexist dickishness for me.

Marlon Brando - Years ago I was watching a retrospective documentary about him and they showed him during a press conference at the height of his fame. A young female journalist got up to ask him a question and he made her turn around slowly so he and all the other men could get a good look at her before she could ask it. Ugh.

I can never really enjoy anything with these guys in as a result of their misogyny. The same goes for men like Sean Connery and Jack Nicholson. Anyone else feel the same about other famous guys?

Ally Fogg is about as Feminist as I am the starfish queen of Mars. His is the type of column that, if I bought the paper, I'd cut it out to line the cat's little tray.

tewi I'm so impressed that someone else is enough of a Buffy geek to know that the best episodes were jane espenson ones!

As an ex take that fan I've been really disappointed over the years by their behaviour towards women. Gary Barlow once said he wanted to have sex with a woman from every country in the world, icky commodification of women in my book. Howard Donald has never been much of a dad to his first daughter. Mark Owen cheated on his now wife after she had his first child.

Daniel Radcliffe said sth feministy about the friend zone, he's in the good Nigel camp unless he screws it up.

Went right off Johnny Depp because

1 his island
2 roman polanski
3 woman twenty yrs younger.how utterly Hollywood predictable naff

Michael Douglas- 'sex addict' who marries woman 25 years younger and insists on a pre nup with £1million per year - that was bad enough. But then his blaming his cancer on cunilingus ie women and humiliating his wife in the process is so unforgivable imo.

Eddie Murphy- I used to think he was funny esp Trading Places but then the way he treated Melanie Brown, the whole paternity test debacle and afaik no involvement in angel's life. Wanker.

Dr Christian Jessen wasn't on my list because I always assumed he was sexist as fuck because of the show he presented. He hasn't disappointed .

Bit gutted by Martin Freeman and Johnny Depp (although not entirely there). Wasn't there a thread way back in FWR history dedicated it Johnny?

to not it

Ally Fogg is about as Feminist as I am the starfish queen of Mars.

[grin

This is a phrase that should be used more often. te, thanks for updating me on Marti Norton.

I really want Daniel Radcliff to be as un-sexist as he comes across. He seems so nice.

Anyway, which is worse, do you think? The unreconstructed 'sexism and I know it' types like Clarkson et al, or the 'I'm a bigger feminist than you and angry you do not know it' types like Fogg? I think the latter. There's something very scary about them.

I've just ordered Firefly, so disappointed to hear about awfulness. I've seen Serenity though so I know a bit about Inara.

We've just finished watching Angel and watched a couple of the extras. In one of them Joss Whedon comments that he was disappointed to finish the series there as he had finally found his perfect couple - Angel and Spike, which I thought was quite telling.

I like Firefly to watch. It has a lot of good characters. I like Kylie as well as Zoe and Wash. Besides, the flaws are fun to pick at.

In fact, this reminds me of another one - Nathan Fillion. I think he's a great geek-type, but he's let his roles turn out to be sexist wankers. That may not be his fault, but I am so fed up with it. Especially in Castle, which had the potential to be really good.

Do I let the side down, objectification-wise, if I admit my favourite couple could also be Angel and Spike? As Buffy herself says, 'there could be oil of some kind involved'.

I agree LRD the latter is much more insidious and devious.

LRD. Well, yes, um. Oil, you say?

But, you know, I thought it was interesting that he hadn't managed to find a 'couple' that were written as equals and with the humour and chemistry that Angel and Spike had.

Oh, yes absolutely, floc.

Sorry to have brought the thread down.

I do think that's his big problem. He comes at feminism thinking you have to write amazing women characters, but there's always a sneaking implication that you have to write amazing women characters in order for them to be as good as men.

I don't think he writes lesbianism well, either.

weatherall and LRD I like Angel/Spike too... A lot of the most popular fan couples are male/Male slash, I read a very compelling essay once that this is because so many of the best most interesting characters are male.

I have a lot of affection for Firefly and I did really love it when I first saw it. It's worth watching. The problem with Inara is that she's supposedly all empowerfulised and exalted, yet every five minutes someone (usually Mal) belittles her and treats her like crap.

Steven Moffat's (Doctor Who and Sherlock writer) writing is also very problematic, and he has said some amazingly cockwomblish things.

TeWi Another theory about gay slash fic is that the reason so many women read/write it is because by having gay protagonists you remove the gender power imbalance from the relationship, so you are free to fantasise about a relationship where gender has no role.

Martin Freeman is also a self-important plonker so don't feel too bad about wiping him off your list of celebs that you like. Lots of interviews with him recently about people not realising that he's, you know, an artist, and people thinking that they know him and actually he's very complex and it's all very difficult and blah blah blah.

Jonathan Ross is utterly dislikeable on the misogyny front too. Tries to get away with it because of his cheeky chappy schtick and his wife and daughters but actually the Andrew Sachs thing was absolutely not ok and nor was the Gwyneth Paltrow thing.

And not exactly a celebrity but Howard Jacobson. For being self-involved and denying that he can be misogynist because "I love women". You don't need any more than that phrase to know that he is one of them.

Mel Gibson but I never liked him anyway

Charlie Sheen - embarrassing that I liked him in his hot shot days

Rob Lowe- everyone forgets about the teenager he had DC with

Edward Furlong- it ruins T2 to know that he ended up with 2 domestic violence convictions.

Brian McFadden cheating in KK on his stag night- I never like west life but what an arse!

Alec Baldwin and his rant to his daughter.

The way Mick Jagger treated Jerry Hall.

These old rockers who get away with marrying teenagers.

Elvis

John Peel

John Leslie, the 'nice guy' from blue peter.

I used to be a big snooker fan and supported the Scottish champ, John Higgins. Until I saw him getting into a taxi after a night out with two women whilst he was engaged to his now wife.

And I don't suppose we can mention DB on a thread like this or it'll get deleted.

Dsis once went to a reception at No 10 (not so stealth boast) and she was chatting to some of her female colleagues at the reception and Tony Blair came up and said "What's this, a coven?"

indeed