Because feminism is much less threatening when a man explains it, a new study from the University of Saskatchewan has shown that men are more likely to agree with feminist statements after looking at Ryan Gosling memes. Specifically, they respond positively to pictures of Gosling from the Feminist Ryan Gosling tumblr, which layers feminist text over pictures of the actor staring directly into the camera with his piercing baby blue eyes or thoughtfully stroking his chin while wearing a three piece suit or whatever.
The graduate students who conducted the study polled 99 students, a third of which were male, showing each group either an unadorned picture of Gosling, a picture from the Feminist Ryan Gosling tumblr, or a picture of the similar, but less politically inclined Gosling-based meme known as “Hey Girl.” The men who viewed the Feminist Ryan Gosling images were up to 10 percent more likely to agree with statements like “men use abortion laws and reproductive technology to control women’s lives“ compared to the other men in the study. (Women’s beliefs remained largely unchanged.)
However, considering the inevitable Feminist Ryan Gosling book came out in 2012, creator Danielle Henderson shut down the Feminist Ryan Gosling blog over a year ago, and Gosling himself was too busy procreating to star in any movies in 2014, perhaps it’s time for a new comforting white male face of identity politics. Queer Theory Benedict Cumberbatch, perhaps?