Sean Penn says American men have become ‘quite feminised,’ blames it on ‘cowardly genes’

Penn has said that he was seeing an “absence of male behaviour” nowadays. Photo: AFP

Sean Penn has a theory about why men have become “feminised” in American culture: genetics.

The Oscar award-winning actor and filmmaker was asked to clarify his views on gender roles in a new interview with the British newspaper The Independent.

He said that men in the US had become “quite feminised".

He added: “I have these very strong women in my life who do not take masculinity as a sign of oppression toward them. There are a lot of, I think, cowardly genes that lead to people surrendering their jeans and putting on a skirt.”

The 61-year-old father of two was reiterating a previous comment he made on masculinity, which the outlet referred to as his “old school” views.

Recently, Penn told British outlet iNews that he was seeing an “absence of male behaviour” nowadays.

He added that he believed that “American culture have become wildly feminised. I don’t think that being a brute or having insensitivity or disrespect for women is anything to do with masculinity, or ever did,” he said.

“But I don’t think that (in order) to be fair to women, we should become them.”

During the interview with The Independent, he was asked to clarify his previous statement – and doubled down on his claims.

Penn, who has won two Oscars for best actor – including one in 2009 for his portrayal of the groundbreaking gay politician and LGBTQ rights icon Harvey Milk in the biopic Milk – was being interviewed next to his 30-year-old daughter, Dylan Penn, to promote their new film, Flag Day.

His answer, the outlet noted, left his daughter “quiet, staring into space". – New York Daily News/Tribune News Service