How did you first become interested in feminism?

I’ve been married for 25 years, and I have four daughters and one son, and a grandbaby who’s also a girl—she’s 5. And I did some serious thinking about the world that they’re coming up in. I want my girls to have every opportunity to do whatever they want. When I see the world and the way people are treated, I see so many domination and control issues. And some people have just bought into them—they see it as, “I’m on the bottom, and you’re on the top, and that’s just the way it is.” The truth is, everyone is equal and valuable, and everyone is necessary, but there tends to be a dismissal of certain groups. I’m not here to tell guys that it’s their responsibility to come to a woman’s rescue. Women are more than capable of handling themselves, and have been doing so wonderfully for years. What I am saying is, as one man to another man, examine your own mind-set. Examine what makes you tick. Because if you feel that you are more valuable than your wife and kids, that’s a problem.

Coming up in the sports culture, I saw it was nothing for guys to say things like, “Oh, you know she wanted it.” I knew guys who had the attitude of, “You know you shouldn’t have walked out the door looking like that, girl,” thinking they had the right to feel on her or to rape her, because of what she was wearing. Once I realized that I was part of that culture, I knew that I had to change it. This is the truth—thinking is the hardest thing you can ever do. For example, 50 Shades of Grey—can you just think about what it’s saying? Every art form has a message, and the message I’m getting from 50 Shades is that it’s OK to dominate and control women. And not only is it OK, it’s sexy. And even worse, deep inside, she wants it. That’s the most dangerous mind-set you can have, and our mind-set will determine where we end up. We can do something about this. I’m very optimistic because right now, we have more ways to go than we did before. Before, as a man, it was that Mad Men type of misogyny or nothing.