Sean Penn has sparked criticism after complaining in a new interview that men have become too “feminized” and wear skirts because of “cowardly genes.”

The actor while speaking with The Independent argued that American men have “become quite feminized,” saying, “I have these very strong women in my life who do not take masculinity as a sign of oppression toward them. There are a lot of, I think, cowardly genes that lead to people surrendering their jeans and putting on a skirt.” 

Penn made the comments after being asked about similar claims in a prior interview, in which he said that “I don’t think that [in order] to be fair to women, we should become them.” The statements were made while Penn was being interviewed with his daughter, Dylan Penn, and The Independent wrote that the comments “[left] Dylan quiet, staring into space.” 

Penn quickly began to draw criticism for the remarks, including in a piece from The Independent itself. “Penn’s latest comments are problematic in a whole host of ways,” wrote Leonie Cooper, describing it as his “latest misfire” and an example of “old-school misogyny” from the actor, who has had an “unnerving number of ‘yikes’ moments over the years.” Penn previously sparked backlash after saying in 2018 that the “spirit” of the #MeToo movement is “to divide men and women” and that it’s “largely shouldered by a kind of receptacle of the salacious.”