Chris Hemsworth, MOTY: ‘You can’t have a great man without a great woman’

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Chris Hemsworth isn’t even my favorite Hemsworth, so I’m ambivalent about Chris being named GQ Australia’s Man of the Year. But I am enjoying his beard and his arms. Chris was honored last night in Australia – although he didn’t actually show up to the event – alongside Iggy Azalea (Woman of the Year), Joel Edgerton (Actor of the Year), Jon Hamm (International Man of the Decade) and more. Apparently, Chris’s GQ profile was written by none other than Tom Hiddleston, which is actually the reason I’m covering this.

Tom wrote in GQ: “One morning on the set of Thor: Ragnarok, I watched Chris zero in on an important scene between Thor and Loki with razor-sharp focus and commitment. The scene required a lot of nuance, but he wanted to shoot it quickly, because he had to be off-set by lunchtime in order to make it to father-daughter day at school in the afternoon. That’s a Man of the Year if ever I saw one.”

Hemsworth was unable to attend the black tie dinner in celebration of GQ Australia’s Man of the Year Awards, so he recorded a video message to express his gratitude.

“It’s been a real dream of mine, since I was a young boy, to be a man. I achieved that when I was 18, but this obviously is the icing on the cake and the true recognition of what it takes to be a man—the highest honor,” Hemsworth joked. “I’m just going to continue to do manly stuff throughout my life and uphold that title: chopping firewood, wrestling crocodiles, all sorts of manly business.” After acknowledging his fellow honorees (and ribbing guest Chris Evans), Hemsworth took a moment to give Elsa Pataky props. “Thanks to my wife and all the great women of the world who make us men truly what we are,” he said. “You can’t have a great man without a great woman.”

[From E! News]

Why can’t I put my finger on why this irritates me so much? I don’t know. I guess what bugs me is the whole idea that Chris is being praised (by Hiddles, no less) for having an amazing work-life balance, and managing to make it to his daughter’s school. If we were talking about a “woman of the year,” would that be part of the conversation, or would it be a given that a mom would show up for her kids, instead of being cited as evidence of her goodness?

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Photos courtesy of GQ Australia.

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22 Responses to “Chris Hemsworth, MOTY: ‘You can’t have a great man without a great woman’”

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  1. Lightpurple says:

    Good for Chemboy. He needs to do more comedy.

  2. spidey says:

    Not having a dig at Tom’s summer antics his he?

  3. Alleycat says:

    When I read Tom’s excerpt, I got annoyed because I don’t find that amazing. 1) Becauxe he was scheduled to work so he should have made other plans. I’d be irritated if I was working that day and we had to rush because someone had somewhere else to be. 2) I hate when we pat men on the back for doing crap they should be doing anyway. Not cheating on their wife? So amazing! Being involved with their children? Such a brave man!

  4. Helen Back says:

    His Mamma raised him right.

  5. Miss M says:

    I have been told time and time again by friends living in Australia this is one of the most feminist cultures out there. It seems his work-life balance is a reflection of his up bringing. But What do i know?

    Ps: I loved he acknowledged Elsa. Congrats, CHems!

    • K2 says:

      Huh. I don’t think I agree, personally. Maybe it depends what part of Australia you’re talking – it’s a huge country – but I know a lot of incredibly sexist men in QLD.

    • Lex says:

      Hmm I live in Sydney and I agree it depends where you go. In general, it seems the brunt of childcare still falls to women although most women with children I know were back at work within the year of giving birth (some 3 months by choice, some 6 months, some a year). It’s probably just because cost of living is expensive and most families rely on a double income (or at least 1.5 income with a part time worker).

      My ideal of the future would be for each partner to work part-time simultaneously once the mother has recovered from the birth (such as both working 2 or 3 days a week and the kid maybe with a grandparent or daycare the one other day, or whatever other arrangement). The kid gets dual influences from each parent, no one misses out on their career and thus employers wouldn’t see women as liabilities, one parent isn’t expected to do all the ‘home’ stuff (cooking, cleaning), no one is too tired to help with the kids when they get home from work.

      That, to me, would be equality.

  6. Lora says:

    Urgh I love him!! My ovaries are exploding right now

  7. Tanakasan says:

    Do we praise his feminism or criticize his heteronormalcy?

  8. Erica_V says:

    It’s bothersome because it’s saying gay men can’t be great because they don’t have a great women behind them. Or that a man can’t be great if he was raised by two men without a “great” mother.

    Why are straight men SO AFRAID of any man who isn’t also straight? Like why does their sexuality have any affect on your life whatsoever? It doesn’t harm your masculinity or what you think “should be” considered masculine.

    • K2 says:

      I think it’s also bothersome because it harks back to the idea that women are amazing helpmeets… and that’s their best and finest role. AKA as Duggar territory. It’s defining women, yet again, by their connection to men.

  9. CeeBee says:

    Can confirm, as a mom I get no credit or appreciation for taking good care of my children and my home. But when we are around family, if my husband changes one diaper or calms down one toddler tantrum, all I hear “Oh good job Dad!”. While he is an excellent Dad/husband and helps me out A LOT with the kids and the housework, it annoys me that it’s so wonderful when he does it but so expected when I do it. Does that make sense to anyone? I hope I get an amen lol, I can’t be the only one.

    • spidey says:

      Totally makes sense to me and I am single with no kids. But it would certainly p**s me off too.

    • emilybyrd says:

      My mom has had to do that with my dad for years–praise him and encourage him to help out with tasks that she gets absolutely no recognition for doing ’round the clock as part of her regular schedule of chores (he usually does very little housework at all). She gets tired of having to express her appreciation so much, so a lot of times, she just ends up doing the job herself. She says it’s easier that way! My sister says her husband can be the same way sometimes. This does not make me look forward to married life!

  10. Emma33 says:

    That comment about “great women” annoys me so much! How would we feel if someone said “you can’t have a great woman without a great man behind her”?!?! It would be absurdly offensive, and although he probably means it as a compliment to women…it’s not. We’re just as flawed and real as the guys. We don’t need to be put up on some fake pedestal by chris hemsworth, we can give ourselves dignity!

    Anyway…the dalai lama is a great man and he doesn’t have a great woman behind him. Just one example.

  11. virginfangirl says:

    I read his comment as more personal. From his perspective, if his wife wasn’t along side of him, he would not be great. So maybe the general comment is too much. But any woman with a great, caring husband might say he and I together make it easier to be great. Not to say you can’t be great on your own.

  12. Lex says:

    While perhaps it was phrased badly, what I feel he was trying to say was like:
    Thank you for the honour but I really wouldn’t be able to succeed if my wonderful wife weren’t there supporting me
    (or whatever)

    He wasn’t trying to make grand statements about the role of women in society or the benefits of heterosexual relationships where a man is the head and the woman is the backup. He was just trying to thank his wife in a public way after he was awarded an embarrassing award by a pointless magazine. I too would be embarrassed and would modestly try to shift focus to someone else if that were me.

  13. DesertReal says:

    Wait wait wait, wait wait, wait. Wait.
    Iggy Azalea is woman of the year?
    …Say what now?

  14. nnk says:

    corn-fed