Kit Harington says words about being ‘wrong’ for claiming to be a victim of sexism
Many times, a dude will say something dumb or offensive, and we’ll yell at him and then the story ends and it’s rarely brought up again. So it was with Kit Harington, who spent much of 2014 through 2016 saying many dumb words about how he knew the struggles women faced because he too was the victim of double standards and sexism. You see, Kit struggles because everyone thinks he’s so beautiful and ripped and could you just stop looking at his ripped, oiled-up body calling him a hunk? Yes, it was a bad phase. But here’s something sort of nice: Kit learned some of the right lessons from that phase. He actually listened to the criticism of “Kit Harington Says Words” and those criticisms changed his perspective, and changed the way he talks about sexism and objectification. It’s not the most ideal situation, but it’s a start. Kit gave a lengthy interview to the Guardian, which was published last weekend. Some highlights:
On playing dumb characters: “I love playing a thicko,” he says, then corrects himself, in case anyone is offended. “That’s probably an incredibly terrible term, thicko. But, you know, someone who is wonderfully well-meaning, but isn’t… I’ve always been the kind of person who’s well-meaning but slightly vacant at times.”
He doesn’t want to be treated like a dumb guy though: “Because you don’t want to be defined like that. There’s an element that I can get, ‘Ahhh, sweet Kit, little Kit.’… And I’ve worked very hard against that. I don’t want to be patronised.” Do people patronise him? “No, I don’t think so. If they do, you shut it down pretty quick.” He grows so quiet that it’s hard to hear him. “You have to stand up for yourself. But I won’t go into that.” He takes a deep breath, and shuts himself up. “Mmm.”
On his comment, last year, that there’s “sexism against men”: “I was wrong there, though,” he shrugs. “Sexism against men is not something I should have really said. I think what I meant was, being objectified. At that time, I did feel objectified, and now I’ve learned how to control that.” How? “Just shutting it down. Look, I do think men can get objectified. I do feel I have been objectified in the past, sexually as well, in pieces that have been written about me. Has that made me feel uncomfortable in the past? Yes. Do I think my position is the same as a woman’s in society? No. They’re very different things, and I should have separated them. I was wrong.”
He plans on sending his kids to state-schools: “Um, they get brought up in London, hopefully, and see a very multicultural society, and hopefully go to a state primary school, and have the first 11 years of seeing the city I love. Then get the beauty of going to the country and being given space and air, and have the beautiful halcyon memories that I have. It’s the sense of space, the big open sky, that in those years can be good for thinking and emotions.”
While his background is aristocratic, he didn’t grow up rich: “Mum and Dad didn’t have the money to send us to private schools, first and foremost, but second, they wouldn’t have wanted to. They believe in the state system, they believe in the NHS, they believe in state education, and they’ve instilled that in me.” He says his upbringing was privileged – “I was very middle class: not loads of money, not no money” – but that he’s not quite what you might think he is. “One’s family history is one thing, and I’m very proud of my family history, but it doesn’t directly speak of who I am.”
On the debate about private-school actors versus working class actors in Britain: Harington is keenly aware that there’s an ongoing debate about working-class access to the arts, and to acting, but thinks we’re kicking the wrong target by criticising Etonian actors rather than drama cuts. “There has to be more effort put in at an educational level, to give people those opportunities. Let’s face it, Eddie Redmayne, Benedict Cumberbatch, they are very good actors who deserve to be where they are, and they got there because their educational systems recognised their talent. That needs to happen [in state schools].”
[From The Guardian]
Does this really show that Kit has grown as a man, that he’s learned from his mistakes? Or does it show that a publicist finally got ahold of him and told him that he should stop trying to equate his struggle to that of oppressed women around the world? I think it’s a little bit of both – he’s “growing up” and becoming more aware of structural inequities between women and men, and some of those realizations are probably coming from a publicist yelling at him.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
Source: Kit Harington says words about being ‘wrong’ for claiming to be a victim of sexism
4 total views, 4 views today