Kaley Cuoco still doesn’t understand feminism, but let’s stop arguing with her

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I have two competing theories about Kaley Cuoco and her neverending comments about feminism. Theory #1: she’s an idiot and she really and truly does not understand what feminism means personally, politically, economically or any other way. Theory #2: this is all just some sort of convoluted PR scheme to give her headlines as she promotes The Wedding Ringer. Which do you believe? I don’t even know at this point.

It all started when she made some dumb comments to Redbook about not being a feminist because “I was never that feminist girl demanding equality, but maybe that’s because I’ve never really faced inequality.” She went on to say – within the same feminism conversation – that she enjoyed cooking for her husband, because we all know “cooking for one’s family” is antithetical to feminism. She later offered a halfhearted sorry if you were offended, if you know me, you know what I was trying to say” apology that made no sense. She also claimed she was misquoted. Then during the junket for The Wedding Ringer, she was asked more questions about why she doesn’t identify as a feminist, and she basically reiterated what she said to Redbook in the first place. So, guess what’s happening now? She still doesn’t get it.

Kaley Cuoco-Sweeting caught some flack earlier this month when her Redbook magazine story dropped, and she said she doesn’t consider herself a feminist. She apologized on Instagram, but now she’s speaking out more.

“It was a three-and-a-half-hour conversation, and we had two sentences taken out,” the The Big Bang Theory star, 29, tells PEOPLE, suggesting her quotes were taken out of context.

“That was what I was saying before this whole Redbook debacle. If I could say all the words I wanted to, it was really meaning that as independent as I am – and I’ve made a career on my own without a man – I love being a wife. I love cooking for my husband. I feel like I have it all,” she says. “I feel very lucky that I’m able to do that. I enjoy both aspects.”

The actress, who married tennis pro Ryan Sweeting, 27, in 2013, is ready to move on from the hullabaloo. Up next? She stars alongside Kevin Hart and Josh Gad in the new comedy The Wedding Ringer, in theaters Friday.

And Cuoco-Sweeting isn’t just focusing on her career: She and Sweeting would like to expand their family.

“Yeah, can’t wait. I love kids. My husband does, too. [I] can’t wait for that next part of my life,” she adds. “You never know. I’m always coming up with surprises! Probably not tomorrow, but sooner than later.”

[From People]

I give up. Kaley thinks that feminism isn’t important because she personally doesn’t need it because she’s always been independent AND she enjoys cooking for her husband, because that makes perfect sense. As I said, I give up. We need to stop arguing with her. She’s never going to get it. So let’s just agree with her and see how that goes.

I can’t be a feminist because I’m someone’s wife!
I can’t be a feminist because I love to cook!
I can’t be a feminist because I want kids!
I can’t be a feminist because I make my own money!
I can’t be a feminist because I clean my house!
I can’t be a feminist because I want to make my own life choices!

That’s exactly what she’s saying.

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Photos courtesy of WENN.

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73 Responses to “Kaley Cuoco still doesn’t understand feminism, but let’s stop arguing with her”

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  1. Bridget says:

    I bet she’d turn into a feminist pretty quickly if she was paid less than Jim Parsons or Johnny Galecki.

    She’s kind of a dope, but I find it hard to get worked up about her – I think it’s the blatant try-hard.

    • outstandingworldcitizen says:

      THIS^^^

    • Emma says:

      It wouldn’t be about female equality though – it’d only be about how life is unfair for HER. Non-feminists are pretty selfish in general – it’s only ever a problem when it affects them directly

  2. mimif says:

    Lol at the pic under ‘I can’t be a feminist and stuff because…’

    • Serenity says:

      I really hope that this is the pic that gets used every time Kaley says something dumb (meaning we’d probably be seeing this pic a lot)

  3. ali says:

    Education is so important.

  4. cr says:

    She’s an idiot.
    And the eye makeup in the last two pics is Not.Good.

  5. Sumodo1 says:

    She’s an idiot. No offense to real idiots, who probably would say that she’s not an idiot.

  6. QQ says:

    Anything you all want so Long As we don’t have to keep seeing her Pursed lips Smiling thing

  7. Lauren says:

    I used to love her in 8 Simple Rules and TBBT, but she really ruined it for me. It began with the awful haircut and now her big mouth 😔

  8. bettyrose says:

    Also world hunger has ended because Stephen Colbert just had a sandwich.

  9. Potato_Chip says:

    Two words: Airhead Barbie Wannabe.

  10. minx says:

    What happened to her? She looks 10-15 years older than she is.
    And her comments, too idiotic to even bother with.

  11. Good Lord–that hair must not be a feminist either…it hurts my eyes!

    I think Kaley’s just kinda dumb when it comes to this, and is reiterating it since it got some attention. Attention she desperately needs because her films aren’t doing so well. The last movie trailer I saw of hers, it was of some POS about a writing support group, and she was the “hot” writer who was the first (and only?) of the group to be offered a publishing deal. It was basically her role in BBT….pretty much. It looked awful.

    • Kiddo says:

      WORD.

    • Erinn says:

      Ahahah. Wow. Girl needs to enjoy the BBT ride while she can. I hope she’s investing wisely – though somehow I doubt it unless someone else is doing it.

      I don’t understand how she keeps getting the ‘hot’ roles. There are so so many women who are much prettier than she is with equal levels or talent (or more) who could easily fill the spot- and likely for less money.

  12. Kiddo says:

    If I could say all the words I wanted to, I would say words, words that are the same words. All the words.
    Words words words. WORD.

    • cr says:

      And now I have a Missing Persons earworm. Mashed up with Cameo.

    • Brittney B says:

      Exactly… if her comments were “taken out of context”, why does every single clarification tell the same exact story? “Everyone thinks I said I wasn’t a feminist because I love to cook for my husband, but GUYS, I actually said I wasn’t a feminist because I love to cook for my husband! Not fair!”

      WHAT?!

      • Lucy2 says:

        Yes- not only does she not seem to understand what feminism means, but the phrase “taken out of context” seems to be eluding her as well.
        I think she probably lives in a privileged little bubble and just doesn’t get it. But I would have hoped the negative reaction she got from her comments would have made her stop and think about it more, and try to learn. Instead she keeps just doubling down on this “I like to cook dinner!” thing.

  13. kibbles says:

    I find her to be unattractive and have always wondered how she able to make it in Hollywood, even with her breast implants.

    Anyway, she will be a feminist once that husband of hers knocks her up to ensure 18 more years of spousal and child support before he takes her to the cleaners. These two will not be in it for life.

    • minx says:

      Exactly. I read somewhere that he made less than $200 last year. And that she can beat him at tennis, to boot.
      She seems not to care that he doesn’t do anything, but we’ll see. He might not seem so endearing if the years start piling up and he stays unemployed.

      • Brittney B says:

        …which, ironically, makes her look MORE like her own warped definition of a feminist (“someone who doesn’t need a man and wants to flip gender roles so that women have more power than men”). It’s perfectly fine to choose a lifestyle in which one partner works and the other doesn’t, but she’s under some illusion that she’s choosing the traditional role of a “domestic wife”, when in all actuality she’s the only one with any real power in the relationship. Basically, she’s doing what men have done for centuries: make all the income and buy things for the sexy spouse who stays home all the time.

        That said, it’s also sexist to assume he’s worthless (or that she’s being played or used) because of it. Maybe he’s just not that bright or competent, and she actually LIKES having all the power. Maybe she’s making these comments to keep up the illusion that her unemployed husband is still the “head of the household”. Who knows?

      • minx says:

        Their arrangement is their business, obviously. I wonder, though, if she’s making these pronouncements about feminism for some reason related to her marriage. She met this guy and married him very quickly. Regrets? Or she’s trying to reassure everyone that things are fine?
        If she wants to be the breadwinner that’s entirely her choice. If they have kids it might make sense for him to stay home while she earns lucrative sitcom bucks.
        But, again, things that may not have bothered her in the first flush of marriage might get irritating as time goes on. I’ve been married 36 years, and I can say that without hesitation.

      • Brittney B says:

        @ minx — I fully agree (to the extent that one can agree with speculation). I didn’t word it as well in my comment, but I get that feeling too… like she’s overcompensating for something that’s missing from her own marriage, or trying to justify something that her heart isn’t 100% into.

        (Like the fact that she she picked an insecure man whose identity is tied to his masculinity — which wouldn’t be a shock for a failed professional athlete, but I’m just guessing — and she spends her life trying not to “emasculate” him more than her income already does. I loathe that word, but I wouldn’t put it past her to buy into that idea, especially because she seemed so hell-bent on finding a husband and becoming a wife.)

    • Jay says:

      How can you say they won’t be in it for life? Can you read their thoughts? I know this is a gossip site, but come on. People talking like they know celebs on a personal level is kind of pathetic.

      • Whiskeyjack says:

        You don’t have to know someone personally to understand statistics. They only dated a few months before marrying, that’s not likely to last simply put.

      • Jay says:

        Sure, it may not be likely to last, but that’s not what said. She said definitively that they will not make it. Just strikes me as odd when random people declare the relationship between people they never met to be hopeless.

  14. GingerCrunch says:

    Enough already! Enough with her thoughts, enough with her face. ENOUGH!!!! AAAAAAAHHH!

  15. misstee says:

    Lemon Sucking Twat.

  16. Greek Chic says:

    She is the blandest of the supposed hot girls. I never got her appeal.

  17. lucy says:

    She is not the most articulate person, and may not realize that the freedoms she enjoys are actually benefits of feminism, so by talking about it isn’t she doing herself any favors.

    Neither is that horrendous eye makeup! But I do enjoy the sight of her naturally overlapped front teeth.

    I wonder what she thinks feminism actually is.

    • Brittney B says:

      You know what? If reporters actually cared about furthering the feminist cause or standing up for women’s rights, they wouldn’t simply bait her into new quotes that express the same old ignorance. That’s just plain bad reporting… if someone proves, while answering a question, that they don’t actually understand what the question means, you’re supposed to clarify. Give them a chance to respond to what you *actually* meant. Respond to her trite “I love to cook” BS with the reminder that feminism is actually about the freedom to make that same exact choice, not about preventing women from making it.

      But no, pitting women against each other is the media’s favorite way to write the modern feminist narrative. Don’t get me wrong; I don’t blame this site for reporting on this stuff, and it’s very very refreshing that these interviews always inspire new discussions about exactly what feminism actually DOES mean. But for the people (mainly young girls) who hear these quotes in the mainstream press but don’t actually read the discussions about them, it’s still just a bunch of dangerous misinformation.

      • lucy says:

        Brittney, thanks for saying what I was trying to so much better than I did, and then some. 🙂

  18. Lucy says:

    …I don’t even know what to say at this point. Can’t talk seriously about her because I just don’t take her seriously.

  19. scout says:

    If she has GED/high school diploma, it’s time to sign up for college for few semesters. College education isn’t just to get degrees, it’s a learning experience to think critically and analyze which she won’t get by acting, making money and shopping.

  20. AlmondJoy says:

    You would THINK that after being blasted for her comments, she would at least make an effort to do research on what feminism is and why it’s the important. The definition really is quite simple.

    May I also point out that this is a very unfortunate set of pics of her? 😩

    • lucy says:

      One would think, so. Or at the very least, her publicist would do it for her?

    • Santolina says:

      Exactly, you look it up in the dictionary…

      fem·i·nism: The advocacy of women’s rights on the grounds of political, social, and economic equality to men.

      fem·i·nist: A person who supports feminism.

      So Kaley is saying she’s NOT an advocate of women’s rights? Either that, or she’s a bimbo who never even bothered to look it up.

  21. Izzy says:

    I’ll stop arguing with her when she stops talking.

  22. Doc says:

    I don’t think that other women or feminists should have a problem with someone saying they are not a feminist. This word is thrown around so much that it’s almost lost it’s meaning completely. It’s also used by famous women in the wrong contest (I walk around naked, and do my shows naked, therefore I am a feminist narrative is so insulting). I’m not trying to defend her, but it might be worth trying to look at the wider picture and maybe giving her the benefit of the doubt, i.e. she doesn’t want to call herself something that she doesn’t know/ feel she is. It’s more honest than any of the recent uses of feminism in Hollywood I’ve read about or seen.

    • Jayna says:

      I’m not. But a woman who thinks that you can’t be a feminist because you are a nurturer and love to cook and take care of your family shouldn’t even be discussing or qualifying her comments anymore.

      • Doc says:

        Yes, I guess I focused on the fact that she said it, but not what she justified it with. That quote about nurturing and taking care of your family is quite ridiculous and shows her complete lack of knowledge for the topic. I wonder if she is
        representative of how much people don’t know about feminism.

    • GoodNamesAllTaken says:

      Then she should say “I can’t call myself a feminist because I’m not sure what that means,” and not try to bs her way through the answer. I have more respect for someone who just says “I don’t really know” than someone who just gives a completely illogical answer. I can’t be feminist because I like to cook?

      • Doc says:

        You’re right. Btw, thanks for being so nice @Jayna and @GoodNamesAllTaken about my comment. Beside a feeble ‘Agreed’ the other day on a Goop article on CB, this is one of my first ventures into the comment section, after reading CB religiously for two years at least. I came back, thinking I’d have been trampled and wasn’t :).

      • lucy2 says:

        Totally agree. If you don’t know, admit that.
        The young woman who stars in Jane the Virgin did just that recently, when informed of the actual nature of feminism. She owned up to not knowing, and realized she did in fact believe in it. That’s education and growth – good things.

    • Onthefly says:

      What Goodnames said. Besides, what I really object to is the fact that she is implicitly passing value judgement on what she thinks is a feminist – some sort of an aggressive woman who doesn’t love cooking for her family and has no respect for a husband. That is a uninformed opinion which stereotypes equality advocates. And I think her outlook can be basically summed up as ” As I am independent and economically well-off, I don’t need to support equality ?” That sort of self-centeredness is very off-putting to me. What about recognizing the need for equality outside your home and what about looking beyond your own privilege?

  23. Jayna says:

    Just let it go. She’s a not-too-bright, sweet girl on a sitcom, who shouldn’t even be discussing feminism as she hasn’t a clue.

  24. Lau says:

    That woman is so overrated.

  25. pegasus says:

    I have met yams with more brain power than this overrated try-hard.

  26. Sister Carrie says:

    If one can properly use (and pronounce) the word “debacle,” one can learn the definition of “feminism.” I give her no slack.

  27. Frosty says:

    I think Kelly gave this kind of offhand response to the question, went into damage control, and then realized she was getting all this free PR — and now is trying to extend it.

  28. PoppyAdair says:

    She has had an amazing publicist for about the past year and a half, at least in terms of getting her more attention and name recognition. The problem is that no one ever bothered to give her media training…or else she was too stupid to understand why media training is important. Yeah, I think it’s her chronic incurable ignorance and her obvious thirst that are rapidly making her infamous instead of famous.

    [Patting Kaley’s head] “Back to your sitcom, sweetie! Don’t interrupt the grownups! Good girl!”

  29. JT says:

    The funny thing is what she is saying is exactly what feminism is, she just doesn’t realize it. Feminism is simply about equality among men and woman. That is IT. It’s not flippen rocket science sweetheart.

  30. Hazel says:

    Both theories are true. She’s an idiot & doesn’t understand feminism, and they only reason she’s getting press right now so that we know about this is the promotion for her new movie.

  31. emma says:

    never liked her, don’t like her now, will never like her

  32. TJ says:

    I have a brain, and it is hurting.

    I have eyes, and they are screaming.