“Emma Watson on Finding Her Voice: A Reflection on Her 2020 British Vogue Interview” on being a women’s rights activist, movie star, and a single white female.
Emma Watson’s journey to fame was nothing less than impressive. We watched her grow from Hermione Granger in Harry Potter to her celebrity voice in the fight for women’s rights. A UN Women Goodwill Ambassador starting the HeForShe campaign, Emma’s dedication to gender equality as a big supporter of the trans community is truly inspiring. She speaks with Britsh Vogue’s Paris Lees, a trans woman journalist, about her educational journey navigating work from Hollywood to activism and what it means to be a feminist today.
Reflections on Her Interview with British Vogue
Emma Watson’s interview with British Vogue sparks important conversations about feminism, privilege, and intersectionality. By addressing complex issues, Watson shows that being a feminist is not a one-size-fits-all solution. She encourages us to reflect on how we contribute to the movement. As a well-known figure in the feminist movement, Watson’s claim highlights the need for white feminists to acknowledge their inherent advantages in society. Her acknowledgment of the struggles faced by the trans community is a step towards a more inclusive feminism that is necessary in today’s world.
Finding her voice and pushing for change
Her acting work around “Little Women” starred the likes of Saoirse Ronan, Timothée Chalamet, Laura Dern, and Meryl Streep. It was that moment that sparked an introspective investigation into the feminine roles presented. Fostering her love of literature and film she continues exploring the female experience. (Watson’s intersectional feminist book club, Our Shared Shelf, has 420,000 Instagram followers).
Then further inspired by the feminist movement (and being criticized as a ‘white feminist’) Watson sought out feminist icon Gloria Steinem. Her need to start a conversation around finding a voice, a stumbling block she expressed growing up in the public eye, feeling her opinions didn’t matter. She needs to make a change. And she found just that in 2014. During the Me Too movement when her un-comfortability could no longer keep her silent. She found the issue of gender equality not being addressed. The movement’s gender violence agenda did not include transgender women and Watson was shocked to find they were not represented or in the conversion that sought to find validity in their rights to be heard.
As a call to action in 2014 Emma Watson launched the HeforShe initiative, an alliance for men and people of all genders to stand in solidarity with women to create a bold, visible, and united force for gender equality, and was appointed UN Women Goodwill Ambassador. Through her work as a UN Women Goodwill Ambassador and advocacy for gender equality (taking note of Gloria Steinem’s insights- that change often comes from small acts of rebellion, speaking up, and listening to other voices and perspectives); she found her voice and realized the power of speaking out.
Exploring how she balances being an advocate, actress, and single woman
On the cusp of entering her 30s, she expressed her anxieties of subliminal messaging around finding a husband and settling down while still trying to figure it out, not to mention finding the balance between being an advocate for women’s rights, an actress, and being ok to be happy, as a single. All the while enjoying connecting with other actresses involved with activism, like Meryl Steep and Laura, and studying English Literature at Brown University.
“There was no word for this kind of subliminal messaging and anxiety and pressure that I felt building up, but I couldn’t really name, and so I used the word ‘self-partnered’. For me it wasn’t so much about coining a word; it was more that I needed to create a definition for something that I didn’t feel there was language for. And it was really interesting because it really riled some people up! It was less for me about the word but more about what it meant — just this idea that we need to reclaim language and space in order to express ourselves because sometimes it’s really not there.”
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“I never believed the whole ‘I’m happy single’ spiel, I was like, ‘This is totally spiel.’ It took me a long time, but I’m very happy [being single]. I call it being self-partnered.” She explained.
This does not exclude dating. Emma re-enforces Oxford’s definition of being single as “unmarried or not involved in a stable sexual relationship“. Self-partnering means in a relationship with yourself. Dating is still on the cards. She is dating. “Not one specific person,” she’s keen to clarify, “but I’m going on dates. Dating apps are not on the cards for me,” she concedes “I’m very lucky in the sense that because I went to university and because I’ve done these other things outside of film, my friends are really good at setting me up. Really good. And what’s really nice is some of my best friends are people I got set up on a date with and it didn’t work out.”
Aside from the occasional overwhelming celebrity interludes filling her with anxieties and doubts, Emma Watson is a strong independent woman, the first to own the term ‘self-partnered’ and announce it’s status in public, inspiring many to follow suit. She has struck a balance to be that push for change through the lens of feminism and the voice to articulate it.
This is why she is our celebrity squish!
Photos Courtesy of British Vogue
