Meryl Streep calls the phrase 'toxic masculinity' very problematic

Meryl Streep has taken aim at the phrase “toxic masculinity,” calling it offensive to men and insisting that women can be just as toxic as their male counterparts.

Streep was talking at a panel for the new season of HBO’s Big Little Lies, as she has joined Reese Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman, Shailene Woodley, Laura Der and Zoe Kravitz for its second outing.

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“We hurt our boys by calling something toxic masculinity,” remarked Streep, according to the Guardian. “Women can be pretty f****** toxic … It’s toxic people.”

“We have our good angles and we have our bad ones. I think the labels are less helpful than what we’re trying to get to, which is a communication, direct, between humans beings. We’re all on the boat together. We’ve got to make it work.”

This isn’t the first time that the Oscar winner has quibbled over phrases. Back in 2015, Streep declined to be labelled a feminist, telling Time Out, “I am a humanist, I am for nice, easy balance.”

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Streep has been a fierce advocate in the pursuit for female equality in Hollywood over the last few years, too. She was one of the founding members of Time’s Up, she has been vocal about the lack of female film critics, while, although this is much less impressive, her impassioned response to Patricia Arquette’s call for equal pay during her Oscar speech even became a meme, too.

The second season of Big Little Lies will premiere at 2am on Monday June 10 on Sky Atlantic, although, for those of you that can’t get up at such an ungodly hour, it will also be repeated at 9pm later that day.