Recently, Divergent and The Fault in Our Stars actress Shailene Woodley has been under fire for her comments about feminism to Time. When asked if she considered herself a feminist, she answered:

No because I love men, and I think the idea of 'raise women to power, take the men away from the power' is never going to work out because you need balance

After the interview surfaced, feminist-friendly websites like Tumblr blew up with comments shaming Woodley. Following their stead were sites such as the Huffington Post and Jezebel, writing the actress off as ignorant and a shining example of what is wrong with the image of feminism. According to them, what she described is feminism and the fact that she doesn't consider herself a feminist is an insult to the term and society. Woodley instead labels herself as a believer of "sisterhood."

Not many have jumped to Woodley's defense but I would sure like to try. It is my belief that Woodley was a victim of the press and her statement, however true or not, is an overblown opinion that only received this outcry in result of a targeted article.

Feminism is a delicate subject, mostly because of the negative images that many still associate with it. In its early stages, feminism was denounced by right-wing parties during the late-19th and early-20th century. Many left-wingers supported these women but they were still seen as revolutionary in their own right. After receiving the right to vote, the feminist movement continued to move forward with calls for other rights such as equal pay. There were a few extreme cases of violence to achieve this goal and they did more to set the movement back than move it forward. In the 60's, the infamous "burning bras" image started with a group of protesters in Europe. These few extreme occurrences were enough to denounce the movement for many. Today, the images still stick and feminists are widely regarded as bra-burning, violent, and greedy. Their agenda is spun to be an open attack against men rather than what it really is - a call for equality. There will always be extreme branches of any organization, but as a whole feminists want equality - not a power-shift. Because of the tendency of the media to only report on shock-value news, the message has somehow been lost. While it is up to a person to label themselves whatever they please, a lack of information on labels such as feminism can prevent an "accurate" stance.

Hollywood can roughly be labeled as a liberal industry. Many celebrities are activists in the gay rights movement, charity for third world countries, and feminism (among others). When a celeb comes out as against any of the "normal" views of the industry, there's bound to be uproar. After a few choice comments, Kirsten Dunst was labeled as an anti-feminist and went under similar scrutiny as Woodley earlier this year.

The problem is not with Miss Woodley, the problem is with society and the media. If you read the entire article, it is framed to make her sound like an ignorant young starlet. An example can be seen with her mention of The Other Women, a movie she mistakenly labeled as being directed by Judd Apatow. They seem to have quoted her verbatim, with her direct statement being "There's that new Judd Apatow movie [sic] movie coming out, The Other Women, and that looks really good because I think it shows women coming together and supporting each other..." Later, they made the point of clarifying:

Not everyone agrees The Other Women (which was not directed by Judd Apatow) is so empowering

They used the [sic] marking (meaning, roughly, "this is what they actually said") in a negative way, making it blatantly obvious that she made a mistake and using it against her argument against feminism. The entire article is a subtle attack against Woodley and she is merely a victim. I cannot say whether or not this frame affected how others read it, but it sure stuck out to me.

The point of the matter is that Woodley has the right to say whatever she likes, whenever she likes - just like any other person. The only difference is that her opinion is broadcast for everyone to see. Especially now, in what can only be described as the taking-off of her career, whatever she says will be scrutinized. No doubt she had at least a dozen people telling her what to say and when to say it. That's a lot of pressure for anyone to feel. While her statement can be read as ignorant, if one looks into the source of her statements, they can see the larger problem. Miss Woodley's words were framed in a negative article, one that used her as a puppet to expose the taboo of feminism and how anyone labeling themselves as anti-feminist is wrong and misinformed. It's not fair to Miss Woodley nor to the public to put the blame on one person and use them as the face of ignorance. The face of ignorance is in the mirror, more times than not, and the only one that can prevent it is you.