Wednesday, January 27, 2016

Tony Goldwyn Pens Feminism Essay

Actor Tony Goldwyn recently wrote an essay for More Magazine about feminism. The essay is excerpted below:

"As I entered adulthood, I had an image of what I’d want marriage to be like if I ever managed to find a woman with whom to share my life. The picture was of two train cars on parallel tracks, heading effort-lessly in the same direction. If at any point the tracks diverged, or one car gave up its course and tried to merge with the other, the relationship would derail. This required a partner who valued her independence and goals as much as I do mine.

The image is a simplistic one, but I still like it. And after 28 years of marriage to Jane, it still defines our relationship. This synchronicity has not been without tension, but that has turned out to be the great gift of our complex, careening and undeniably loving journey. I’m not referring to the petty disagreements of daily life, although we certainly have those. I’m talking about the tension inherent in the power struggle between a man and a woman. That tidal force that shifts and modulates as lives progress, sometimes in a gentle flow, other times with a disorienting, seismic impact.

Equality, of course, doesn’t come cheap. It must be fought for. It must be provided for. It is easy to pay lip service to the women in your life while still claiming the perks of being a man in a man’s world. On the flip side, you can too easily strip yourself of the positive qualities of virility—the willingness to shoulder responsibility, to fight for what you believe in and for those you love. It is a delicate dance, the steps of which I’ve learned over many years from three generations of extraordinary women.

...The theater was in Mom's blood. She did some prestigious shows … but she eventually gave up acting. Perhaps she didn't have what it takes. But my suspicion is that she lacked the support she needed from my dad (the film producer Samuel Goldwyn Jr.) and felt that her primary duty was to be a wife and mother."

Read the full essay in More Magazine.

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