Joseph Gordon-Levitt explained in a new interview why he considers himself a male feminist. He was also surprised to hear that some celebrities are trying to avoid that label, although he’s embracing it.

While chatting with the Daily Beast, the site noted that he has considered himself a “male feminist” in the past. He also said he didn’t know there were some celebrities who didn’t like being considered a “feminist.”

“What that means to me is that you don’t let your gender define who you are—you can be who you want to be, whether you’re a man, a woman, a boy, a girl, whatever,” the Dark Knight Rises actor explained. “However you want to define yourself, you can do that and should be able to do that, and no category ever really describes a person because every person is unique. That, to me, is what ‘feminism’ means. So yes, I’d absolutely call myself a feminist.”

JGL added that he thinks women not having the same opportunities as men has been a real problem for human society.

“I’m a believer that if everyone has a fair chance to be what they want to be and do what they want to do, it’s better for everyone. It benefits society as a whole,” he explained.

Elsewhere in the interview, Gordon-Levitt said that he did not audition for Chris Pratt’s Star-Lord role in Guardians of the Galaxy. However, he did confirm that he has another comic book project in the works.

“...I am working on Sandman and we’re in the very early stages of working on the adaptation,” he explained. “It’s such rich material, and it’s a challenge to adapt Sandman into a feature film because it wasn’t written that way; it was written as 75 issues of an episodic comic book, so adapting that into a feature necessitates us getting really creative with it.”

Also, Gordon-Levitt has complete confidence that his Brick and Looper director, Rian Johnson will do a great job on Star Wars.

JGL stars in Sin City: A Dame To Kill For, which opens on Aug. 22.

image courtesy of Peter West/ACE/INFphoto.com