Gina Rodriguez is not one to stay silent when it comes to social issues and injustices, especially concerning women. She's spoken out about equal pay, diversity, mental health and acceptance, just to name a few, and is overflowing with valuable life advice. The Jane The Virgin star recently graced the cover of Bust magazine's upcoming August/September issue with her adorable dog Casper, and as you can already tell, this fierce feminist is about to get seriously frank on some important topics—feminism and masturbation included.
"In all honesty, I used to feel guilty for masturbating. Oh my god, this extreme guilt!" the actress admitted, talking to the magazine about how she was affected by"'purity culture." "And that lasted way too long. Or maybe I masturbated too much!" But what she really wants readers to know is that self-love is absolutely nothing to be ashamed about.
"It’s okay to look back in retrospect and be like, it wasn’t good that I felt bad about touching myself. And it isn’t bad that I want to share my love with my boyfriend. I’m 32 years old, I’m an adult, I can do that!" In a world that can find just about anything to shame, it's important to realize that touching yourself is totally natural—even if you've dealt with conflicting feelings about it.
Along with bringing self-love to light, Gina is also an advocate for feminism and credits her biggest inspiration. "Hell yeah [I’m a feminist]. Everybody should be a feminist," she explains. "My grandmother is the biggest feminist. She is an activist, she is a voice against injustice. I grew up with that."
Finally, Gina shares how she and her boyfriend Joe LoCicero met at a boxing gym, and what you can do as a consumer to bring more diversity to the big screen.
"The second time I saw him, I didn’t recognize who he was," Gina says, who didn't realize that LoCicero had acted in a Jane The Virgin episode just months before running into him at the gym. Awkward! "He came in through the door and I was like 'Good God!' and I fell into his eyeballs. On the fourth day [that we saw each other at the gym], he asked me out, and I have been dating him ever since. Now I know what it means to date your best friend." #Relationshipgoals.
As a Latina woman, Gina is also passionate about diversity, especially in the entertainment industry. When it comes to what you personally can do to see more diversity in film, Gina says that all it takes is refusing to consume the products that don't represent you—or America. "Latinos make up 38 percent of the box office every weekend," she explains. "That’s a lot! So if you want to see Latinos in big studio films, and they don’t exist in them, don’t see them, because in this industry, money talks more than anything. If you do not see yourself and your community in the ways that you want, don’t purchase tickets. If you don’t purchase, they’ll stop making. If you don’t purchase, they’ll start to include.”
Masturbation, feminism, love and diversity—it's never a dull conversation with Gina Rodriguez. Can she just be our best friend already?
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