Oscar-winning actor Sean Penn faces criticism over recent comments he made to different media outlets about masculinity and traditional gender roles.
During an interview with the British news outlet iNews, the 61-year-old veteran actor expressed his concerns about the state of American masculinity, which he claims has come under threat as more and more men are challenging “traditional” gender norms.
“There has been an absence of male behavior,” Penn told the outlet. “I don’t think that being a brute or having insensitivity or disrespect for women [has] anything to do with masculinity, or ever did. But I don’t think that [in order] to be fair to women; we should become them.”
In another interview with the Independent, Penn further expanded on his opinion and blamed men’s so-called “feminization” on “cowardly genes.”
“I think that men have, in my view, become quite feminized,” Penn explained. “I have these very strong women in my life who do not take masculinity as a sign of oppression toward them. There are a lot of, I think, cowardly genes that lead to people surrendering their jeans and putting on a skirt,” he continued.
Penn’s inflammatory comments sparked backlash on social media, as many rushed to condemn his rhetoric as sexist, homophobic, and transphobic.
