Henry Cavill has yet another new interview, this time with the Sunday Times (UK). I continue to be astonished by how much press Cavill is doing compared to the Batfleck – their film comes out two Fridays from now! Surely the Batfleck is going to get in promotional mode soon, right? Otherwise, we’re going to have to start calling him The Largely Absent Batfleck. Anyway, this Cavill interview is notable because Cavill seems to be saying that he’s the victim of sexism, or that he gets objectified and grossly propositioned the same way as any given woman. Some assorted quotes:
Ladies catcall him, apparently: “There’s a bit of a double standard, you know. I mean, if a girl shouts something like, ‘Oi, love, fancy a shag?’ to me as I walk past, I do sometimes wonder how she’d feel if a builder said that to her. Although, of course, I wouldn’t feel physically threatened, as she might.”
He hates when women approach him when he’s with his girlfriend: “I’ve heard some things in my time, I have to say. I’d best not say what. I don’t mind it – not unless I’m with my girlfriend and someone is being complimentary to me in order to disrespect her. People who don’t respect other people’s feelings really get my goat.”
He’s in touch with his feelings: “Everyone should be entitled to their full range of emotions. Whether they display them in public or not is a different debate, but, um – sorry! – yes, the acknowledgment that people feel things is important, on both sides of the, um, sex fence.”
He seems to understand the pressure his girlfriend feels? “The pressure that comes from dating someone in the public eye is enormous. Because that person’s fans of the opposite sex dislike you, there’s often a deep and nasty backlash, which is incredibly unfounded and unfair.”
Well… at least he acknowledges that a man catcalling a woman is a different thing than when the genders are reversed. And not to doubt his story too much, but… are women catcalling him all the time or something? Or did it just happen once or twice, like “Hey, Superman, fancy a shag?” As for people disrespecting his 19-year-old girlfriend… I don’t know. Maybe people just don’t know what to say to her? Like, what would you say to her? “How are your studies going?” Or, “what’s your favorite class at college?” Is that disrespectful?
Photos courtesy of Getty, WENN.
No chemistry at all. It is as though he hired her to accompany him to events.
Bingo.
The more he talks, the more I scratch my head.
The more he talks, the more I understand why he’s dating a 19 year old… Any one else would probably eat him alive…
Exactly. They likely match each other in maturity and intellect.
That was my guess for why they are dating. Come to think of it I probably would not date him at 19 either
Exactly. He sounds like an immature idiot
I give a +1000000 to “eat him alive” as I used that phrase while in my man hunting days. This is a prime specimen.
@Kate
I feel like he’s probably not the brightest bulb in the box.
Attractive but dumb as a box of hair. Totally kills the ladyboner every time.
Oh Henry, he needs to stop talking or get a publicist to coach him on how to do an interview. He seems to have a knack for giving interviews where the worst possibles sound byte can be extracted or for saying dumb sh*t before explaining himself….when he really just needs to stop saying dumb sh*t in the first place. It’s good that he acknowledged women can feel physically threatened so it’s not the same…but the comment still doesn’t come off well at all.
He really does come off as dumb, pretty, and kind of shallow and self-centered. Even Ben gives a better interview, or he has in the past.
Amazing isn’t it? Ben Affleck is in the middle of a nanny/divorce/scandal and has been fighting a douche-rep for nearly two decades and STILL comes across better than Cavill. Cavill needs to just stop talking and be pretty. Make that his only job: being pretty.
He did acknowledge the worst thing (to me) about inappropriate comments – for women, the threat of violence always looms. Still, Henry, stop talking. I sincerely doubt regular men are getting catcalled at a rate at all approaching what your average woman does.
They probably think she’s his daughter or neice.
I think we can agree that asking a man you don’t know if he fancies a shag is gross? So what’s the double standard?
Exactly! I would be appalled when women do that to men (though personally I’ve never witnessed it), and I am appalled when men do that to women. Though I think just about everyone, including the ‘whaddaboudamenz’ brigade, will have to agree that the latter situation is much, much more common. Any reasonable person would think the same. So where exactly is this ‘double standard’?
And Henry really, really needs to stop talking. We get it Henry. You’ve got a girlfriend. You’re A Bloke. We get it. Seriously, we do. Well no actually we don’t. But the more you talk, the less likely we are to get it.
This. The fact that there is no physical threat to his safety is not a throwaway issue that gets tagged on at the end. The fact that has a huge guy with no threat of physical violence is exactly WHY this is not a “double standard.” Yes, people are rude. Everywhere. All the time. But women have a totally different expectation of personal safety than men do as well as more judgement and ownership over their bodies and sexuality. I’m sorry that people are rude to him as I’m not excusing rudeness but he has a boatload of privilege here. This is not a double standard and it’s insulting for him to imply it is. That throwaway line about personal safety is the whole point.
Exactly! I had a female friend once who groped a total stranger in a bar – and I’m like, “That’s just not right. If he did it to you you’d be bloody traumatised. You need to apologise.”
There is no double standard. Some women are nasty and rude and treat people as objects, just as some men do. It’s not as if the people who are against men harassing women are also saying “But hey, girls, you can say whatever you like! It’s totally fine to scream sexual abuse at a guy in the street, really!”
The only differences are that there’s rarely any physical threat to a man from a woman, and that (crucially) it’s not nearly so common for a woman to catcall a man. Women just basically expect it every time we go out in public, from the second we hit puberty. Men – well, whenever I discuss harassment with male friends, they say they wish women WOULD catcall them once in a while because it’s such a compliment. But it never seems to happen to them.
I only catcall guys I know and it’s all in fun and we all know it. Women typically sit back and admire and make remarks to one another. And could someone please explain this statement: “I don’t mind it – not unless I’m with my girlfriend and someone is being complimentary to me in order to disrespect her.” Don’t even know how complimenting a man would disrespect the woman. If someone came up to my SO and said he was a fine looking man, I would go not feel disrespected.
A couple of years ago, The Guardian did a feature whereby a pretty young woman went around the city catcalling at men and, in a few cases, directly asking them if they were up for it. In every incident, the men looked embarrassed and slunk away. I remember reading men saying in the comments that it had to have been rigged or heavily edited, because no man would turn down an attractive woman, and in fact men would just love for women to chat them up on the street.
But it all seemed authentic to me. People – especially men – might SAY they would like to be approached by an attractive stranger, but in reality, having a complete stranger approach you on the street and ask you for sex is creepy. Women know this, because it’s happened to just about every woman at least once, whereas the vast majority of men – unless they’re Don Draper – have never had this experience. It wouldn’t surprise me in the least if men were to react just as women do in these situations, and just try to get as far away from the person as possible.
@Ethelreda, I remember reading about that too. For the guys who say it was rigged, if you simply changed the gender of the propositioning stranger I think they’d “get it” in a second. Have you ever heard the type of guys who think catcalling is a-ok talk about getting hit on or even looked at by gay men? There’s an element of fear there buried under the “no homo”. I want to shake them and scream that this is how women feel. We’re not flattered, we’re threatened. And if we’re not threatened it’s still fucking creepy.
I do not like him…. but I have to say it. The fact that (far) more women are harassed is not an excuse. Abuse is abuse. So on point A, I very reluctantly have to say that this once, I’m Team Cavill.
Then on point two, having been the wife of a man prettier than I was, I also have to side with team Cavill. Damn, that’s two time now! The number of time some prettier/younger woman came to our table, coming on to him, being all charming/flirty while totally ignoring me ! Some time it was so bad, it was (almost) funny. Most of the time it was humiliating and infuriating.
He’s really douched out. I used to think he was attractive but that’s over. Fancy a shag, who is he Austin Powers. He does talk a lot about his daughter…..I mean girlfriend. Good luck there Henry.
Wow, you’re bitter.
Still say she looks like the girl from Law and Order.. (Selena??)
and he looks so much better slimmer.. oh and I don’t like the pinky ring.
Does his catcall women threaten or begin to degrade him if he ignores them?
O.o
Henry really talks a load of nonsense – and seems very keen to let us know he has A Girlfriend – but I do like his comment about how disrespectful it is for women to try to chat him up in front of his girlfriend. I remember reading an interview with Jon Hamm where he said that women would walk right up to him and ask for a kiss, with his girlfriend standing right next to him. Talk about rude. I don’t think I could stand being the partner of a hot celeb for that reason.
I’ve seen women be very aggressive when they are around famous men. It is sometimes very hard for them to cope with. As a woman, if you respond, you are just protecting yourself but everything is filmed these day and nobody wants to be seen being “rude” when they are maybe just trying to protect their personal boundaries, which men are entitled to do too.
And I think that’s why his comments come across so douche-y – he does not talk from the perspective of a regular guy. He talks from the POV of a famous guy (who is also, depending on your opinion, a good looking guy) and I am sure there are lots of times he gets propositioned or offered lewd comments or his GF is ignored or even told off. I can only imagine war kind of comments she gets on her social media.
Now I completely agree – he will never feel physically threatened by a catcall whereas those of us who have experienced it know there is always an underlying shiver of fear and we quicken our step when it happens; he at least is aware of that difference (we get our crumbs where we can, right??) However, just because there is no physical threat does not mean it is right. No person, male or female, famous or not, should have to be subjected to unwelcome advances.
I understand celebs being asked for pics and whatnot at a public event, when they’re there for that purpose. But if they are out casually, leave them alone. And being mean or disrespectful to his GF, no matter her age, looks or background, is just rude.
+100
“However, just because there is no physical threat does not mean it is right.”
That’s pretty much what Cavill was saying, yet you call him a douche for saying it. Weird.
I’ve seen women walk up to my non celeb husband and hit on him when he clearly has a ring on and I’m right there. It’s a fact of real life. It has nothing to so with his celebrity and a lot to do with the quality of woman he attracts. ETA: No offense cause if he wasn’t talking I’d hit it hard until it talked.
For the love of God, will someone at Warner Bros shut this man up? The more he talks the less I believe he’s Clark Kent. He’s just awful. I can’t believe how much my opinion of him drops every time he talks.
Same here. Even Affleck comes across more likable.
I feel like he should sit down with Channing Tatum to get advice on these things. Somehow Channing and his wife have handled the crazy fans with grace.
He does make a good point. There is a double standard to catcalling including some other unholy things that DO happen to men also mainly by other men..such as rape. Anyway…we need to bring attention to both and not just one sex.
I’m not negating that these things happen to men too. Men are raped. But this runs dangerously close to “not all men” BS and it’s often used as a way to silence wondn and shout down their very real concerns of sexism and abuse. The reality is that men, thought also sometimes victims in some way, do not exist daily in a societal structure designed to degrade them. Being objectified will never stop them from having equal pay and their safety will never be threatened in the same way. And no matter how hot they are….their value will never be measured entirely on their appearance the way a woman’s will….especially as they age. So, no, it’s not a double standard. Feminism seeks to protect male victims the same way it protects women while acknowledging that men will always have a privilege that women don’t have. His comments are dangerously close here to that “not all men” BS “what about the men” derailment and I’m not here for that.
Thankyouthankthankyou!!
Seriously couldn’t have said it any better if I tried.
I agree Kate. Plus I have never in my life seen a man be cat-called. Ever. Whereas I’ve certainly learned to avoid walking down certain streets and still feel tense walking past any kind of construction area.
“Feminism seeks to protect male victims the same way it protects women…”
Funniest thing I’ve read all day. Thanks!
Sex fence? Sounds painful. Or kinky, I guess. Please elaborate.
-TheRealPinky
I know… “sex fence”? Good lord, he sounds so dumb.
Men who date women who are “teenagers” shouldn’t be talking or giving advice on anything!!!
Right ?
Sorry, not sorry, but I would have to agree with him re: catcalling – especially here in the UK where some women are really vile and catcall men, especially on night out and hen’s parties. I feel ashamed for them. So yes, although catcalling can be felt as scary by a woman, I would still find it highly inappropriate and uncomfortable in reverse.
Also, I don’t think the problem is that people don’t know what to ask his gf, women can be absolute bitches and simply elbow her out to get a pic or something, happens to many other actors (I have seen it). That’s not cool, no matter how long someone has been together, or how famous that person is.
Yeah sure it may be uncomfortable, inappropriate, rude, crass, whatever other adjective you can think of but none of those men have to quickly run into a busy shop or call someone to pick them up for fear those catcalling women are going to follow them, stalk them, harrass them, assault them, rape them, murder them. There isn’t likely to be a physical imbalance which would mean the men have to genuinely fear for their safety. They don’t have to play the event over and over in their head, wondering what they did wrong, how they were inviting this interaction. And if something *does* happen to them, they don’t have the whole of society tell them it was their fault anyway.
It isn’t a ‘double standard’ because there is close to zero risk of that happening when the genders are reversed.
It is a disgusting habit and should be stamped out wherever it occurs, absolutely. But it isn’t the same and claiming it is is damaging.
Stop making so much damn sense.
Again, people have this need to equalize every damn thing in order to claim “double standard!”. It’s the cool new thing, don’tcha know.
I guess it’s easier to make a “clever” point by pretending that the male and female experience are entirely equal, to ignore the statistics that women most often die at the hands of a man, to ignore the inherent physical strength disparity between genders, and to pretend that women weren’t oppressed and degraded for centuries because “won’t you please think of the menz?!”
Now would I ever harass or catcall a man? No. Because I’m not a creeper and because I know what it feels like to be on the receiving end of that sh*t.
But let’s not pretend that if I did, it would be the same thing as my twenty-something self being harassed every single time that I stepped out my front door. Women are catcalled on a daily basis, during broad daylight when they’re just wearing their gym clothes or going about their daily business and people here are happily comparing that to one drunken female friend making a pass at a guy in a pub that one time. Come on now.
The fact that you are saying that one crime against women is worse than the same crime against men is in principle wrong. No matter how you justify it. I have seen women pushing themselves onto men, touching them!, and laughing when they were taken aback and complaining “because they were men”.
Just because you have not seen such things, or because men don’t speak out as much as women about this (maybe because it’s a source of shame) it doesn’t make it any less true.
I would suggest you go on Reddit and read the various threads on men abuse and catcalling for reference.
If you think we didn’t even talk about male rape until recently! We have to stop taking things to the extreme, not only regarding gender but also race. In order to defend one side we are creating more division than helping a common cause.
“He seems to understand the pressure his girlfriend feels? “The pressure that comes from dating someone in the public eye is enormous. Because that person’s fans of the opposite sex dislike you, there’s often a deep and nasty backlash, which is incredibly unfounded and unfair.”
I think he’s right. I think a good example of this is Luciana Damon. It amazes and appalls me when women demean her in the manner they do (“She was … gasp … a ‘waitress’ on the prowl for a rich man!”). Sad.
Deep thoughts….by grown man who dates teenager. Autobiography by Henry cavill
He’s such a typical closet headcase. Now, he’s sensitive about women hitting on him in front of his beard? He had no problem licking dude’s faces or letting strange men grabbing his ass on the dance floor at the gay clubs in WeHo back in the day. (No this isn’t a typo or petty gossip, there are plenty of receipts about his exploits in his 20s all over the web).
That header should have said “Henry Cavill Thinks?!” Lego Man makes me frown.
So, he doesn’t feel physically threatened by women who catcall him. So. It’s no less disrepsectful than a man doing it to a woman. I’ve had many a disgusting thing yelled at me, but always from a distance. I never felt a physical threat, but I still definitely felt degraded, angy, and loathed the person doing it. Why is it so hard to beleive he could or should feel just as degraded and angry? Disrespect is disrespect is it not?
And I would not limit it to famous men. I’ve had an awful lot of women sidle up to my handsome huband, invade his space, make lewd comments, touch him, and even treat me nasty, because yeah, if I weren’t there, in their mind, they might have a shot at him. I have no problem calling a skank a skank and it isn’t becuase I feel threatened or am jealous or insecure. It is simply because they are disrespecting both he and I and they know it. I think some women think because they are a woman and are not a physical threat, that it’s okay to act a fool toward a good-looking man. It is never okay, regardless of gender, regardless of physical threat, and regardless of whether he has a lady on his arm. Show a bit of class and stifle your desire. Behaving like a desperado in heat is neither attractive nor acceptable.
You’re really lucky if you never felt physically threatened, REALLY lucky.
I’ve had dudes follow me to my door late at night yelling sh*t at me, I had a guy get off the bus and follow me for blocks to the point where I had to threaten him with pepper spray, one guy got in my face and pushed me at a bar, and I got punched in the face by a man and had to get stitches in my chin simply because I verbally fought back and refused to let him say rude and degrading things to me.
I wonder if Henry has experienced anything similar from women?
Kinda doubt it.
I doubt it too, but apparently you missed my entire point. Remove the physical threat element and it’s still disrespectful, and entirely natural for the victim to feel offended and angry. You’re basically saying that only your experiences merit any upset or only experiences to the level of your’s and that’s not true. Just because a person isn’t scared of being beat up or raped, doesn’t mean they have no right to feel offended and disprespected when verbally assaulted and degraded. Physcial threat aside, having nasty things yelled at you, vile gestures toward you, and basic verbal degradation derserves no negative reaction from the target. Okay. Got it.
But of course yelling or verbally harassing anyone is never ok but isn’t that a matter of common human decency and basic politeness? I mean, does that even need to be pointed out? BTW, that’s not really a gender-specific thing, you know? Be nice to other people, don’t yell at or harass them…obvious point is obvious.
I don’t think I missed your point at all, I just don’t see how any of what you said has to do with the larger discussion that Cavill raises when he compares women getting harassed to men getting harassed. The larger discussion being that women getting cat-called is symptomatic of a patriarchal society that says any female who exists in a public space becomes property of the male gaze. It’s epidemic and it’s insidious and it’s accepted as the norm. And NO, men almost NEVER have to experience this because groups of women don’t readily and happily objectify men in a verbal manner. I don’t see how you can argue with that basic reality. Cavill’s example of a really good-looking movie star getting unwanted female attention, while unfortunate, can easily be seen as a job hazard. That’s a bit different than my basic human right to walk to the gym without having dudes yell sh*t at me or honk their horns at me or eye me up and down, you know?
Sorry but if you don’t see male-on-female harassment as indicative of something bigger and more detrimental to women and society at large then truthfully, I think you’re the one that’s missing the point.
“And NO, men almost NEVER have to experience this because groups of women don’t readily and happily objectify men in a verbal manner.”
That’s one hell of an assumption you’re making there.
I’m waiting for all the people who saw him at these nightclubs to come out and share their story of how he’s a hypocrite when it comes to disrespecting women and married women. This man shouldn’t be preaching to the crowd.
He is now officially ridiculous. He is either an extreme nitwit or he’s got some kind of unclassified disorder. Shut it Cavill.
“As for people disrespecting his 19-year-old girlfriend… I don’t know. Maybe people just don’t know what to say to her? Like, what would you say to her?”
I’ve seen Sophia Vergara comment on how she gets treated when women want to approach Joe Mangiello. Doesn’t sound too pleasant. I can believe that people probably aren’t that nice to Cavill’s girlfriend. Why they would approach him when he’s with his girlfriend is a bit baffling to me in the first place. I mean, it’s not like any of these actors are suddenly going to dump their girlfriends to be with you. But who knows how extreme fans think.
I’ll admit I have a hard time picturing women cat-calling him before he became famous though. Do women really yell out to men about shagging? I’m not doubting that that could happen — I guess I just can’t imagine too many women willing to endure the embarrassment of saying that out loud.
Over the years I’ve read many comments by wives of actors and lead singers of bands, etc., talk about how women come up to their husbands and hit on them, flirt with them, even try to pass them their numbers, completely ignoring the wife as if she isn’t there.
I can’t wait for Superman v Batman after reading the LA Times interview of all three, Zac and his vision for the movie, Ben and Cavill, not that Cavill has much to say, Ben and Snyder did, and now Ben’s interview out with the New York Times out today.
What a difference in an interview with Ben and an interview with Henry. LOL Henry is so limited.
Opening day can’t get here soon enough. I hope the movie doesn’t let me down.
Movie studios need to rethink PR in this media-saturated world we live in. Sometimes less is more.
Very few actors are articulate and string together prepared sound bites let alone actual spontaneous thoughts in an effective and appropriate way.
Usually the more PR I experience, the less I want to see the movie.
Ineffective PR kills a lot of movies.