Meryl Streep got everyone’s attention Thursday when she said that she doesn’t like the use of the term “toxic masculinity” and suggested it is hurting “our boys.”
“Sometimes I think we’re hurt. We hurt our boys by calling something toxic masculinity. I do,” the 69-year-old actress shared during a Q & A for the next season of her hit show “Big Little Lies,” per the Independent UK Wednesday. (RELATED: Princeton Seeks To Restrain Men And Their ‘Toxic Masculinity’)
90th Academy Awards – Oscars Arrivals – Hollywood, California, U.S., 04/03/2018 – Meryl Streep wears Dior. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni
“And I don’t find [that] putting those two words together … because women can be pretty f***ing toxic,” she added, according to The Independent. (RELATED: Fox Nation Host Tyrus Blasts Gillette’s ‘Toxic Masculinity’ Ad: ‘Clean Up Your Back Yard’ First)
Streep continued, “It’s toxic people. We have our good angles and we have our bad ones.”
The “Devil Wears Prada” actress explained that labels can be “less helpful” than just calling individual people out on their negative behavior.
“We’re all on the boat together,” the “Mama Mia!” star shared. “We’ve got to make it work.”
The term has become a popular one among those on the left. Companies have even taken to either praising the term or slamming it to promote their products. Most recently, the watch brand Egard Watch Company hit back at Gillette’s ad attacking “toxic masculinity” with the idea that “masculinity can be beautiful.”
“There’s been a movement in society I feel that’s just been painting men with a broad bush,” Egard founder, Ilan Srulovicz, said, calling that “a pervasive narrative in society that’s not helping anyone.”
“You know, for a company like Gillette to open up a commercial with a term like ‘toxic masculinity,’ I just don’t feel like masculinity is toxic,” he added. “I think masculinity can be beautiful.”