Original subtitles

People accuse me of, like, trying to cancel the Kardashians.

I'm not trying to cancel the Kardashians.

Just stop selling the diet rhetoric, and I'll get off your dick.

♪♪♪

Today I'm talking to a fierce feminist, who truly does it all--

a TV host, actor, podcaster, and activist.

She's unapologetically herself, and she was born to confront the patriarchy.

My amazing friend, Jameela Jamil.

I love everything that you stand for, truly.

Likewise. I have looked up to you for such a long time,

and even though you're younger than me,

I've been interviewing you for 11 years. - Yeah.

Literally, I've raised you.

- [ laughs ] - And so I take full credit.

I wanna talk about some of the work specifically that you do

with the I Weigh campaign.

Will you explain to people who may not what it is?

So the I Weigh campaign started, 'cause I kept on seeing pictures

of really famous, successful, extraordinary businesswomen talents,

with numbers written across their bodies,

and those numbers were never how many awards they've won

or how much even net worth they have earned for themselves,

and so I realized the number on a scale can dictate her worth in our society.

So one day I just posted what I weigh, which is my financial independence

my relationships, my love life,

my orgasms, my contributions to society.

I weigh the sum of all my parts,

and it just kicked off this kind of endlessly viral campaign.

I love the idea of empowering women

through what their values are rather than a number on a scale.

Yeah, I think it's just so important that we remember

that we were not born to just look nice for men.

We were born to be humans to contribute and to live and to have something

to look back on on our death bed,

not just, like, how many abs we could count.

I feel like it's a distraction. Oftentimes society uses it to distract females

because we are very powerful.

We are in touch with our emotions.

We're intuitive, and we are capable of just as much of anything as men are.

Well, we're just given all this extra homework to do, right?

- Yes. - You know?

So how can we ever catch up our agenda if we are sleeping less than men,

because we're having to wake up earlier to do our hair and our makeup?

- Mm-hmm. - Or if we are

eating less food than we need, or we're exercising more than we need?

I don't understand how we were ever expected to keep up...

- Mm-hmm. - ...if this is what we're having to do

that they don't have to do.

♪♪♪

Something that you have called yourself is a "feminist in progress."

That's how you-- I've heard you describe yourself.

What does that mean to you?

It means that I understand that I cannot access all information

about all different groups and all different experiences,

and it's my duty as an actual feminist to continue to update with our society.

My experience of feminism is not the same as a Black woman's experience of feminism

or a white woman's or a trans woman's or a disabled woman.

Feminism is supposed to be intersectional. Therefore we are always learning.

I was afraid to speak out on other-- on social inequality because

I felt like I didn't know enough.

I sometimes want to be the most woke in the room,

but I also am aware that I don't have the life experiences

that some people have.

And I feel like we've both done that a lot this year

of just signal boosting other accounts and therefore sharing our platform

but passing the mic.

- Yes. - And so it's understanding

you don't have to be all things.

You just have to be working with all people.

A huge reason why some people haven't been as vocal as they may want to be,

it's kind of been a fear-based mindset to be in in the world of cancel culture.

Yeah, but we just need to normalize changing your opinion

upon learning new information.

If someone's criticizing me, it means that they think I could do better,

and so, you know, people accuse me of, like, trying to cancel the Kardashians.

I'm not trying to cancel the Kardashians.

First of all, you can't cancel white billionaires.

- Second of all, like... - [ laughs ]

I think that they can do amazing things,

and we've seen what Kim's done with prison reform. That's incredibly cool.

Just stop selling the diet rhetoric and the diet product,

and I'll get off your dick. I don't want-- - [ laughs ]

I just want us all to ascend, and everything--

every mistake I've ever made has often been highlighted to me by other women,

and I don't cry, "You're not feminist." - Mm-hmm.

I just say, "Sorry. That's what growth is."

Exactly.

♪♪♪

I feel like the term "feminism" is really off-putting to a lot of men.

Why do you think that is?

I think a lot of people misunderstand feminism as a hatred of men,

but it isn't. Like, we're just asking for equality.

The definition is feminism is just equal rights for women.

I think inherently men are afraid of women,

which is why feminism even needs to exist.

I don't think that you would go this far out of your way

to oppress a group that you weren't actually afraid of.

- You just leave them be... - Right.

...because you don't see them as a threat, but, you know, now we don't need them

to go out and forage for us 'cause we have Postmates.

And we don't need them to protect us from tigers 'cause we've got walls and windows.

- Right. - I think they don't

wanna become redundant, and that's because we've never had a culture

that talks about the relationship between men and women.

They can be friends or lovers or companions.

My life is so rich for the men in my life, and I love companionship,

but I don't feel like we talk about that enough.

It's like what service can we bring each other?

Mm-hmm. So for our viewers who

are just beginning their relationship with feminism,

what would you like to leave them with?

First of all, just remember feminism is only about equality.

It's not about hating men.

Second of all, learn our history, not just of those who look like you,

of all women's history and make sure that you don't just diversify your feed.

You diversify your day. Think about who you're going to lunch with

and make sure that those people don't all look just like you.

- And also stick together, like... - Totally.

we have a bigger oppressor to deal with right now.

- Yes. - And so I think it's really important

that we stick together and deal with that first

before we start spending all of our energy on just inter-checking each other.

- Yeah. - We have to take the patriarchy down.

Thank you so much for coming on here and speaking the truth.

- Air high five. - Air high five. Bye. Love you.

- Love you. - [ laughs ]