Last Monday, Emma Watson, well-known for her role as Hermione Granger in Harry Potter, addressed the UN to introduce her campaign HeforShe. HeforShe is a “solidarity movement for gender equality that brings together one half of humanity in support of the other of humanity, for the entire of humanity.” This initiative is her first campaign as the UN Goodwill Ambassador for Women under the domain of UN Women, which was established specifically to accelerate progress on meeting women’s needs worldwide.
With bearing and conviction, Watson dismissed the label of “man-hating” that is often incorrectly equivocated with “feminism.” In spite of being nervous, she acknowledged to the audience how her fame is both a detriment and a positive force in regards to her present position as a Goodwill ambassador. Watson’s speech was clearer because it came from a deeper desire to be understood despite her celebrity status. Watson is in a powerful position that most would never have the opportunity to attain. In that “hot seat” however, there is great opportunity for change.
Watson recounted her painful ascension to adulthood through the scrutiny of the public eye. The audience was made indelibly aware of her choice to go to college and her career choices since Harry Potter. Her story pieced together a fabric that composed Emma and delineated her discourse on the subject of feminism. The further impact and discussion of this speech in the media can also be partly attributed to the fact of its timing in the midst of a celebrity photo scandal, a moment where feminism and celebrity has the world’s attention.
During her speech, Emma Watson did not hesitate to publicly call herself a feminist. Artists such as Katy Perry and Taylor Swift have shied away from the title “feminist” in fear of its “negative connotation.” Watson emphasized that the most important thing about fostering feminism was its message of empowering women. Her speech delivered a powerful message to young women to be unafraid to say the words “I am a feminist.”
In the initial response to Emma’s speech she was heralded as the “ambassador of the magic touch” (The Guardian), and the media praised her honesty, intelligence, and her inclusivity of both men and women in the fight against injustice against women. In the last week, however, many reviews have chided her (“Emma Watson’s HeforShe campaign is short of concrete proposals” or “Sorry Emma Watson, but HeforShe is Rotten for Men”) and have focused on the attractiveness of the “celebrity hunks” who have posted pictures on Twitter walls with #heforshe. Many articles have unfortunately been focused on her outfit choice at the speech and if she brought her boyfriend to the event. Many magazines have also focused on direct threats from a website that was created to count down the hours to when Emma Watson nude photos would be leaked; her photos would not be released if and only if she denounced her feminist views. Although these threats were never fulfilled, they reveal how much work must be done to equalize the way in which we regard female celebrities.
Watson’s speech has made all the more clear the work that must be done to achieve equality. Together we must be the instigators of change for equal opportunity around the globe. Send your tweets to Emma’s twitter at #heforshe to support her campaign.  In the words of Hermione Granger herself “if not you, who, and if not now, then when?”
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