Emma Watson is the Women’s Goodwill Ambassador to the United Nations and recently delivered her first speech in this role. She gave an impassioned address on feminism and issues of gender equality. Her speech was met with a standing ovation, not only in the UN itself, but across the Internet. Watson was lauded for her words, especially her call to action, inviting men to come forward and speak out as gender equality is an issue that affects both men and women.
While the majority were praising Watson, Business Insider reported that an anonymous poster on 4chan, the same website through which private pictures of celebrities were recently dispersed, has posted a countdown timer indicating that pictures of Emma Watson were to be released next. The user posted a link to a site, “EmmaYouAreNext.com,” where said photos would allegedly be released.
Another twist appeared in the story, when the site mentioned began redirecting to the company Rantic Marketing, with a message that said “#ShutDown4chan”— it appeared that the threat of releasing nude pictures of Emma Watson was a hoax. A message on the site says: “Join us as we shutdown 4chan and prevent more private pictures from being leaked.” According to CNN, the message also includes a letter to President Obama urging the shutdown of 4chan, and attaching a link to send the letter to the White House.
The threat to Emma Watson can be seen as cyber bullying, something that women on the Internet face constantly. Watson boldly spoke about feminism, self-identified as a feminist, and urged others to do the same. Watson is not the first female celebrity to face this kind of negative publicity and backlash and, based on the slow progression of society when it comes to such issues, Watson will not be the last.
Despite having made such a strong positive impact with her speech, Watson was still subject to backlash. Oddly enough, this only strengthens her argument— we need feminism.
Watch Emma Watson’s speech.
Join her campaign for gender equality.