Emma Watson has lashed out at those who questioned her feminism simply because she chose to take part in a scantily clad photoshoot.
Speaking to the BBC about her Vanity Fair cover shoot, Watson explained what feminism means to her.
“Feminism is about giving women choice. Feminism is not a stick to beat other women with. It’s about freedom, it’s about liberation. It’s about equality. I really don’t know what my tits have to do with it, it’s very confusing.”
.@EmmaWatson on the controversy over her almost topless @VanityFair cover shoot. https://t.co/9kNDAV90w6 pic.twitter.com/Bc2b5JuVHE
— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) March 5, 2017
Watson was criticised by some for the Vanity Fair cover, though it seems to us as though a woman doing whatever she wants with her body is pretty much the core idea of feminism.
But what do we know?
Emma Watson: "Feminism, feminism… gender wage gap… why oh why am I not taken seriously… feminism… oh, and here are my tits!" pic.twitter.com/gb7OvxzRH9
— Julia Hartley-Brewer (@JuliaHB1) March 1, 2017
However, some have pointed out that there’s a level of hypocrisy to Watson’s words. In 2014, the Beauty and the Beast actress had a similar critique of Beyoncé.
“As I was watching [Beyoncé’s visual album] I felt very conflicted, I felt her message felt very conflicted in the sense that on the one hand she is putting herself in a category of a feminist, but then the camera, it felt very male, such a male voyeuristic experience of her.”