Sunday, 9 November 2014

American Liberty

Emma Watson UN Speech:



Emma Watson's recent speech at the UN promoting the ‘HeForShe’ campaign is an expression of American Liberty. She is a feminist standing up for gender equality and the campaign aims form males to be advocates for ending the inequalities that women and girls face globally.

She expresses her right to the freedom of speech (the first amendment on the bill of rights) but from this has come a lot of controversy; people either readily agreed with everything she explained or didn’t agree at all.

In her speech she highlights that feminism isn't just for women and isn’t about ‘man-hating’ which has become more recently associated with the term. Instead, feminism is about gender equality; so men shouldn't feel pressured to be ‘masculine’ just as women shouldn't feel pressured to be ‘feminine’. 


Emma Watson's message has clearly been received from some but her target audience was aimed at males also. The letter, from Ed Holtom (15), is the view of one boy who quite clearly agrees with Watson and the ‘HeForShe’ campaign. Quite different to this view, some would argue that the campaign is harsh towards men or is simplistic to assume that men have not been involved in work towards gender equality simply because they haven't been 'invited'.
Watson isn't the only female celebrity that is standing up for feminism, for example Beyonce is also very influential. However, Emma Watson may be one of the first that addresses both males and females.

Sources:

http://www.unwomen.org/en/news/stories/2014/9/emma-watson-gender-equality-is-your-issue-too 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkjW9PZBRfk

http://www.blackgirldangerous.org/2014/09/im-really-emma-watsons-feminism-speech-u-n/ 

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