It started with a simple "Hey Girl". Readers submit images of the actor to a Tumblr blog (Fuck Yeah! Ryan Gosling, tagline: "The most awesomest, raddest, coolest dude since me" – Orson Welles), each captioned with messages, starting "Hey Girl". An example: "Hey Girl, let's cuddle on the couch. I want to hear about your day." It's received so much attention that Gosling was asked to read a few aloud during an interview: he acquiesced, giggling.
Last weekend, writer Danielle Henderson launched Feminist Ryan Gosling – in which photographs are annotated with feminist theory. Sample: "Hey Girl, Anne Fausto-Sterling has a theory that five categorical sexes would help break constrictive gender norms, but the only sex I need is you." It's been a runaway success – one Twitter comment read: "It's practically porn."
So why Gosling? It goes beyond looks. He was raised by a single mother to whom he's close, and he waxes lyrical about his female co-stars and ex-girlfriends. Guys love him too – he kissed Drive director Nicolas Winding Refn on the Cannes red carpet, and co-star Steve Carrell says he's "even more attractive on the inside". He loves his dog, is self-deprecatingly funny and recently broke up a street fight in New York. On top of all this, he's a good actor. Basically, he's perfect.
