Sean Penn draws criticism over men's 'cowardly genes' comment
What's the story
Hollywood actor Sean Penn has done it again with his controversial take on social issues.
After noting that the "salacious" #MeTooMovement was "dividing" men and women, the two-time Academy Award-winning star has now claimed that men have become "quite feminized."
He opined that men are choosing to wear skirts because of "cowardly genes."
Understandably, these comments have opened the floodgates of strong criticism.
Context
Why does the story matter?
Back in 2018, the Milk actor had voiced his concerns about the #MeTooMovement that allowed hundreds of women to unmask their workplace harassers.
"This is a movement that was largely shouldered by a kind of receptacle of the salacious," he had said.
Through the years, the 61-year-old has implied men are becoming more like women due to feminism and that is a "bad" thing.
What happened
'Know women who don't take masculinity as sign of oppression'
His most recent comments came when Penn was speaking to The Independent while promoting his new movie Flag Day.
"I think that men have, in my view, become quite feminized," the I am Sam actor said about his view of masculinity.
He added, "I have these very strong women in my life who do not take masculinity as a sign of oppression toward them."
Details
Penn's daughter reportedly went 'quiet' beside him during his speech
"There are a lot of, I think, cowardly genes that lead to people surrendering their jeans and putting on a skirt," came Penn's comment.
His daughter (and Flag Day co-star) Dylan was also present during the interview, and she reportedly went "quiet" and "stared into space" during her father's speech.
The veteran actor has been voicing his idea of masculinity quite often these days.
Reception
Of course, not many were impressed with Penn's view
Earlier this month, he had told iNews: "I don't think that [in order] to be fair to women, we should become them."
One can see from his comments that Penn places men and women in strictly separate boxes and sees anything feminine to be "cowardly."
Twitter users, however, didn't hold back calling Penn "homophobic," urging people around them to continue breaking the gender norms.
Twitter Post
Such reactions were spread across internet
I'm sorry, but is this the same Sean Penn who won an Oscar (and several other awards) for portraying gay icon Harvey Milk? https://t.co/cwyYUsZEBV
— Yves' Pinned Tweet (@AdamantxYves) January 28, 2022