Shailene Woodley covers the April issue of Nylon to promote Insurgent. She talks about feminism again. To briefly recap, Shailene spoke last year about why she’s not a feminist: “I love men, and I think the idea of ‘raise women to power, take the men away from the power’ is never going to work out because you need balance. I’m very in touch with my masculine side.” Many of us rolled our eyes because Shailene didn’t understand feminism’s definition. She later “clarified” her thoughts: “The word ‘feminist’ is a word that discriminates, and I’m not into that.” Shailene didn’t claim to be misquoted but believed the original journo tried to “burn” her. Nylon picks up the discussion, and Shailene still doesn’t know what she’s talking about:

On not identifying as a feminist: “The reason why I don’t like to say that I am a feminist or I am not a feminist is because to me it’s still a label. I do not want to be defined by one thing. Why do we have to have that label to divide us? We should all be able to embrace one another regardless of our belief system and regardless of the labels that we have put upon ourselves.”

On media scrutiny of her words: “I mean, if we spent as much energy focusing on the genocide that’s going on right now in parts of Africa as we spent on that one article, think about what we could accomplish. Change is not going to come from focusing on the small things that actors say.”

On her career path: “Two years ago it was very easy for me to understand and also emotionally tell the story of a 16-year-old, and now, I feel like I could not tell that story as truthfully because I just can’t empathize with it. I’m not there on an emotional level anymore.”

Acting doesn’t define her: “It does take up 10 to 11 months of my entire year, so it is my career now. It’s still just a hobby, just something that I live and breathe to do. In a few years, I’ll probably take some years off to explore the other things that I’d love to do while I’m still in my 20s.”

[From Nylon]

The last quote shows how insulated Shailene is from civilian life. Shailene begrudgingly admits that acting might be her career because it takes up most of her year. Most people would jump at the chance to have 1-2 months of annual free time. She takes that major perk for granted. Shailene believes she’s enlightened and in touch with world because she pays attention to some social issues, but she picks and chooses. Feminism is important on a worldwide basis, and women’s rights tie in directly to some of the international conflicts she’s talking about. Sometimes it’s hard to see the forest for the trees, right?

Photos courtesy of Hilary Walsh/Nylon