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Zooey Deschanel Is a Feminist

Photo: Ellen von Unwerth for Glamour

In a refreshing twist on the lady mag staple “I’m not a feminist, but” quote, wide-eyed divorcée Zooey Deschanel confessed to Glamour that she is, indeed, a feminist.

“I’m just being myself. There is not an ounce of me that believes any of that crap that they say. We can’t be feminine and be feminists and be successful? I want to be a f–king feminist and wear a f–king Peter Pan collar. So f–king what?”

It actually sounds a lot like the speech Deschanel’s New Girl character, Jess, gave last season to defend herself against her feminist foil Julia, played by Lizzy Caplan:

“I brake for birds. I rock a lot of polka dots. I have touched glitter in the last 24 hours. I spend my entire day talking to children, and I find it fundamentally strange that you’re not a dessert person. That’s just weird and it freaks me out. And I’m sorry I don’t talk like Murphy Brown, and I hate your pantsuit and I wish it had ribbons on it to make it slightly cute. And that doesn’t mean I’m not smart and tough and strong.” 

I was about to be all, “we should all be so lucky to have New Girl creator Liz Meriwether drafting our lines,” because, what can I say, her self-infantilizing (She wears saddle shoes!) still bugs me. But then I read the full interview (in print only) in which Deschanel pushes back on interviewer Logan Hill’s gendered line of questioning in an awesome way.

Glamour: Do you want to have kids?

ZD: That is so personal, and it’s my pet peeve when people press you on it. And it’s always women who get asked! Is anybody saying that to George Clooney?

Here I was, expecting her to go into her Muppet voice and claim not to know how babies were made. But then, Deschanel has this to say about snarky blog haters like me:

“If you are tearing down somebody who has forged her own path just for wearing a tiara, rethink your priorities. I never stop myself from doing something because I’m afraid of what people might think. I remember I was with Loretta Lynn last summer, and she said, ‘They say I’m not a feminist.’ And she’s the best role model you can think of. In the sixties and seventies, she was writing songs about the birth control pill and being a strong woman, and people still criticized her. So I always think about that. The thing about the Internet is that people can sit in a dark room and criticize other people and no one can see them.”

Except, of course, on Deschanel’s own site, Hello Giggles, a ray of Internet sunshine where if you don’t have anything nice to say on such controversial topics as Treats, Cuteness, and Moms, you don’t say anything at all.

Zooey Deschanel Is a Feminist