Feminist Elizabethan is introducing a new segment called “Know Your Feminist Celebrity.” In this segment, we will introduce a celebrity who is a known feminist and we will provide some tid bit information on this celebrity like what she does, what kind of campaigns she has been involved in and some of her quotable feminist moments. Now, with no further ado, here is Feminist Elizabethan‘s very first “Know Your Feminist Celebrity.”

Ellen Page, a self-described “tiny Canadian,” is an actress who has largely been involved in the indie film scene. Some of the indie films that she has been in include Hard Candy, Whip It and The East, but she is most well-known for her part in Juno as a wise-cracking pregnant teen and as an architect in Inception.

Besides her acting, Page is also well known for publicly coming out as a lesbian at the 2014 Human Rights Campaign’s Time to THRIVE conference and for being a very vocal celebrity feminist.

Campaigns

• Page has participated in an online ad series called U.S. Campaign for Burma which   calls for an end to the military dictatorship in Burma.
• Page participated in the Human Rights Campaign’s first annual Time to THRIVE conference.

Quotes

Page on feminism:

…I don’t know why people are so reluctant to say they’re feminists. Maybe some women just don’t care. But how could it be any more obvious that we still live in a patriarchal world when feminism is a bad word?

Feminism always gets associated with being a radical movement – good. It should be. A lot of what the radical feminists [in the 1970s] were saying, I don’t disagree with it.

Page on films:

…Only 23% of speaking roles in films today are for women. It feels we’ve gone backwards.

When Page was asked about how some people believe Juno is pro-choice and how others think the film is pro-life:

I am a feminist and I am totally pro-choice, but what’s funny is when you say that people assume that you are pro-abortion. I don’t love abortion but I want women to be able to choose and I don’t want white dudes in an office being able to make laws on things like this. I mean what are we going to do – go back to clothes hangers?

When asked about what Hollywood is like for women:

I think it’s a total drag. I’ve been lucky to get interesting parts but there are still not that many out there for women. And everybody is so critical of women. If there’s a movie starring a man that tanks, then I don’t see an article about the fact that the movie starred a man and that must be why it bombed. Then a film comes out where a woman is in the lead, or a movie comes out where a bunch of girls are roller derbying, and it doesn’t make much money and you see articles about how women can’t carry a film.

I hate to admit it but, yeah. I definitely feel more of a sense of personal insecurity. I really try and smarten up when I feel that way but sometimes it does get to me. The fact is, young girls are bombarded by advertisements and magazines full of delusional expectations that encourage people to like themselves less and then they want to buy more things. It is really sad and it encourages the consumerist cycle. Boys used to have it slightly easier but I think they are now getting more of the same kind of pressure. Look at all the guys in junior high who think they should have a six-pack.

It’s how you’re treated, it’s how you’re looked at, how you’re expected to look in a photoshoot, it’s how you’re expected to shut up and not have an opinion, it’s how you – if you’re a girl and you don’t fit the very specific vision of what a girl should be, which is always from a man’s perspective, then you’re a little bit at a loss. There are moments when you are, um, encouraged to dress a certain way. But I can’t. It just erodes my soul. That’s no criticism to girls who can wear a tiny dress and kill it – that’s awesome. People always attribute being a feminist to hating girls being sexual, and that’s not it at all. I’m just not into it.