There are a lot of discussions when it comes to men and feminism. Can men be feminists? (Erm, yes, ofc). Are they not intimidated by the word feminism? Why not use the term gender equality? (Personally I think it’s daft to get so hung up by the name, feminism = gender equality, simple as that). All that jazz.
Anyways, there are some men in popular culture who I think deserve recognition of their contribution to feminism, simply by creating some bad ass female characters.
Joss Whedon
From his mind came the wonderful creations of Buffy, Firefly, and more. And in his creations he has written some great female roles – women who can look after themselves, who aren’t afraid to show their vulnerable side, and are never silly damsels in distress. I got addicted to Firefly recently, and I was impressed by the variety of women characters and their personalities: strong, caring, genius etc. Whedon is a self-proclaimed feminist, and this makes his shows and films worth watching. That and the good story lines.
Stieg Larsson
The unfortunately deceased creator of the Millennium Trilogy (Girl with the Dragon Tattoo etc). This trilogy is, to summarise, amazing- and this is partly thanks to the fascinating female characters, in particular the unapologetically unique protagonist Lisbeth Salander. The other female characters too are always smart, intuitive, and able to protect themselves. The trilogy itself is a fascinating and horrifying insight into the abuse of women, the first novel’s original Swedish title after all is Men Who Hate Women, which haunted Larsson since he apparently witnessed the gang rape of a girl. Salander in turn is an enthralling anti-hero, and you can’t help but admire her slightly scary no-nonsense attitude.
Pedro Almodovar
A great Spanish filmmaker whose characters are always flawed, but human. His film Volver focuses on a group of women in a small community who know how to support themselves, and each other in the face of hardships. Almodovar shows skill in not creating characters who are two dimensional, or stereotypical, and his complete variety of genres means he has created female characters for all situations.
Inside a Mind 