Shailene Woodley Is Not a Feminist: Here's Why!

"I love men," Divergent star tells Time

By Zach Johnson May 06, 2014 3:42 PMTags
Shailene WoodleyJon Furniss/Invision/AP Images

Shailene Woodley is a supporter of women—but don't call her a feminist.

Why not? "Because I love men," she tells Time, "and I think the idea of 'raise women to power, take the men away from the power' is never going to work out because you need balance. With myself, I'm very in touch with my masculine side. And I'm 50 percent feminine and 50 percent masculine, same as I think a lot of us are. And I think that is important to note. And also I think that if men went down and women rose to power, that wouldn't work either. We have to have a fine balance."

While Woodley doesn't consider herself a feminist, she does champion the bonds of sisterhood.

"I don't know how we as women expect men to respect us because we don't even seem to respect each other," the 23-year-old explains. "There's so much jealousy, so much comparison and envy, and, 'This girl did this to me and that girl did that to me.' And it's just so silly and heartbreaking in a way."

Citing the revenge comedy The Other Woman as an example, Woodley tells the magazine, "I think it's really neat that it shows women coming together and supporting each other and creating a sisterhood of support for one another versus hating each other for something that somebody else created."

(Woodley mistakenly tells Time that filmmaker Judd Apatow created The Other Woman. In actuality, the 20th Century Fox comedy was written by Melissa Stack and directed by Nick Cassavetes.)

In the movie, the characters played by Cameron Diaz, Leslie Mann and Kate Upton only join forces after learning they've been duped by the same man. Still, Woodley thinks it sends a positive message. "They create a sisterhood," says the actress, who next appears in The Fault in Our Stars. "And he did something wrong, and they're, you know. They're going to go after him for it. I think it's great."