Meryl Streep says she's a humanist, not a feminist

Actress Meryl Streep. Photo / Getty Images

Meryl Streep, who has a reputation for being a vocal advocate for equality within Hollywood, does not consider herself to be a feminist.

"I am a humanist, I am for nice easy balance," Streep told Time Out London's Cath Clarke.

This puts Streep at odds with friend Hillary Clinton. The two caused something of a girl-power Internet supernova in 2012 when photos surfaced of them posing together for a selfie. Lena Dunham recently sat down with the presidential candidate for an hour-long interview for her newsletter Lenny. She asked if Clinton considers herself a feminist.

"Yes, absolutely," Clinton said with great relish. "You know, I'm always a little bit puzzled when any woman, of whatever age, but particularly a young woman says something like - and you've heard it - 'Well, I believe in equal rights but I'm not a feminist.' Well, a feminist by definition is someone who believes in equal rights. I'm hoping that people will not be afraid to say, 'That doesn't mean you hate men. It doesn't mean you want to separate out the world so that you're not part of ordinary life. That's not what it means at all. It just means that we believe women have the same rights as men, politically, culturally, socially, economically. That's what it means."

Streep spoke to Time Out while promoting Suffragette, the historical film that tells the story of women's fight to get the vote in England; she plays activist Emmeline Pankhurst. Her answer is pretty unexpected, given that Streep was the one who was GIFed across the Internet, along with Jennifer Lopez, as the most visible amen corner during Patricia Arquette's acceptance speech for her Academy Award-winning performance in Boyhood.

Streep is the one who gave an impassioned - and most would say feminist - speech of her own when presenting Emma Thompson with the best actress award last year at the National Board of Review Awards for playing P.L. Travers in Saving Mr. Banks:

Some of [Walt Disney's] associates reported that Walt Disney didn't really like women. Ward Kimball, who was one of his chief animators, one of the original Nine Old Men, creator of the Cheshire Cat, the Mad Hatter, Jiminy Cricket, said of Disney, "He didn't trust women, or cats."

Even within her interview with Time Out, Streep discussed how to eliminate sexism within the film industry. "Men should look at the world as if something is wrong when their voices predominate," Streep said. "They should feel it. People at agencies and studios, including the parent boards, might look around the table at the decision-making level and feel something is wrong if half their participants are not women. Because our tastes are different, what we value is different. Not better, different."

But there you have it. Streep says she is a humanist, not a feminist. Perhaps Clinton can call her up and ask why.