VIDEO: Stop what you're doing and watch Joss Whedon give a speech about feminism

Joss Whedon is the cinematic genius behind films like Toy Story and The Avengers and this year's beautiful, modern adaptation of Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing. He's also an Advisory Board member of Equality Now, a group that advocates "for the human rights of women and girls around the world by raising international visibility of individual cases of abuse, mobilizing public support through global membership, and wielding strategic political pressure to ensure that governments enact or enforce laws and policies that uphold the rights of women and girls."

For as eternal as that mission statement feels, the group does a lot of admirable work toward closing the gender chasm.

On November 4th, Equality Now honored Whedon at its Make Equality Reality event in Beverly Hills. Whedon used the event as an opportunity to express his feelings about words like "feminist" and urge people to fully evolve.

His speech was passionate and poignant and hilarious, if not enlightening. Giving up 14 minutes of your day is the least you can do for the guy who brought Woody and Buzz to life nearly two decades ago.

"You either believe women are people or you don't. It's that simple." - Joss Whedon [h/t Jezebel]