Meryl Streep Is Not A Fan Of The Term “Toxic Masculinity”

Bella Breakdown

Meryl Streep is causing some debate over her feelings about the term “toxic masculinity.” The multi-award winning actress recently promoted her upcoming appearance on HBO’s Big Little Lies where she was questioned about men being fans of the series.

Streep appeared alongside co-stars Reese Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman and Laura Dern for a panel discussion. “Sometimes, I think we’re hurt. We hurt our boys by calling something toxic masculinity. I do,” Streep said.
Trying to take a more diplomatic approach, Streep said that both men and women can be “pretty f***ing toxic.” The actress went on to say that labeling men as “toxic” aren’t as helpful to cause that we are trying to get to. “We’re all on the boat together. We’ve got to make it work.”

Of course, Streep’s statement was met with a debate that even controversial journalist Piers Morgan weighed in on. “BREAKING: Meryl Streep slams term ‘toxic masculinity,’ says it’s damaging to boys/men & adds that ‘women can be pretty f*cking toxic’ too. I’ve had my issues with Ms. Streep, but on this, I applaud her,” he tweeted.

(Photo Credit: thesecondcity.com)

However, not everyone agrees that “toxic masculinity” is a way to be mean to boys. In 2017, Teaching Tolerance, a non-profit organization, said that the term is actually a way to describe “a form of gendered behavior that results when expectations of ‘what it means to be a man’ go wrong.”

As one of the founding members of the Time’s Up movement against sexual harassment, Streep has spoken out against the lack of female representation in entertainment. She has also called herself “a humanist” rather than a feminist.

See what else Streep had to say about toxic masculinity in the video above.