Foster revealed how she had also challenged pervading gender stereotypes in her own family.
Talking about raising her children, whom she had with her former partner Cydney Bernard, and now raises with her wife, Alexandra Hedison, she said: “There was a moment with my older one when he was in high school, when, because he was raised by two women – three women – it was like he was trying to figure out what it was to be a boy.
“And he watched television and came to the conclusion: oh, I just need to be an asshole. I understand. I need to be shitty to women and act like I’m a fucker.
“And I was like: ‘No. That’s not what it is to be a man! That’s what our culture has been selling you for all this time.’”
Really? I grew up with pretty wholesome tv and films, where this decidedly was not the norm. Where masculinity was something noble, protective. I grew up with 'Lassie', 'Champion The Wonder Horse', 'Skippy The Bush Kangaroo' on TV, and films like 'A Matter Of Life And Death', 'The Guns of Navarone' and 'Shane'. What has changed?
And should Foster perhaps be looking in the mirror to find out?
