Have you seen the Emma Watson Speech?

[Sallystyle]

Awesome

www.upworthy.com/her-voice-might-tremble-but-emma-watsons-message-is-strong-and-clear?c=ufb1

I don't know how old it is or anything but it is really good

I was so pleased today to hear my class discussing it - and being impressed by it. In the past few years I have been profoundly depressed by my female students declaring that they weren't feminists because they didn't want to be associated with that image, but the girls today were really excited and enthused by Emma Watson.

Can I share another good moment, sort of on topic? I was even happier to take my class to see a production of Streetcar Named Desire last week, and in this production Stanley has sex with Blanche when she is passed out drunk (rather than clearly raping her when she is fighting him, which is how many productions portray it). I was bracing myself for the inevitable comments (you know what I mean: she wasn't fighting back, she didn't say "no", etc) but all of them - boys and girls - were very emphatic that that was clearly rape.

I feel more optimistic about young people's feminism than I have for a number of years.

Bless her heart, that made me well up. What a wonderful role model she is.

She's a fantastic grounded lady

impressive!

Beautiful, talented AND intelligent. I'm amazed and, strangely, feel quite proud of our Hermione

Great speech. Brave woman.

Fantastic. And timely.

About the increases in male suicide, yes this is documented as part of the post industrial society transforming into a knowledge based economy. During this time there were absolute increases in death in younger men from accidents, drugs and violence and suicide.

I haven't looked into the figures recently but I think female suicides are catching up

Such a brilliant speech

Apologies, female suicides are NOTcatching up, approx three times as many male to female suicides.

Time, iirc, females make more suicide attempts, males succeed more often, sadly.

And now 4chan are threatening to release her nudes in 4 days time as punishment

www.salon.com/2014/09/22/4chan_users_respond_to_emma_watsons_powerful_un_speech_by_threatening_to_release_her_nude_photos/

Well done that girl! As a mother to 3 DS's and a DSS who recently seriously attempted suicide, I am so grateful that feminism is opening up to the sexism that males experience too. I am aware that across the world the issues that women have battled for decades, centuries even, are of an overwhelming number and magnitude, but I love the way EW is uniting the genders in one fight which will benefit both. She is right that the word 'feminist' elicits harsh innovations: man hating, aggression and isolation. However, I'm not a fan of the name heforshe. Heandshe would of sounded more uniting and less effeminate- it is quite close to 'he-she' too which may be another stumbling block when attempting to empower men to unite.

*connotations, not innovations

likklemum i'm sorry that your dss attempted suicide, that must have been terrifying and i'm sure you're still feeling the aftershocks of that. i hope you are all getting the support you need

but feminism has never been "closed" to the idea that gender stereotypes negatively affect men too - a central tenet of feminism is that gender stereotypes are damaging to all. feminists have fathers, brothers, partners and sons and it's not about making the world a miserable place for them all. you are misinterpreting her words - she is saying that feminist has been linked with those things incorrectly - they should not be ascribed to feminism (and it's not feminists who have "elicited" those connotations, either). she's not trying to create something new, she's trying to open the eyes of those who have made incorrect assumptions about feminism

and what do you mean by "effeminate"?

She was fantastic- eloquent and poised

Wow, what a speech! I naively would not have described myself as a feminist before listening to that but now I can see that any sensible human being is.

Very inspiring, made me well up at several points.

Brilliant!

I have a big thing about girls being labelled bossy but boys acting similarly are labelled as leaders .... boys are never described as bossy, girls (or my 6yo DD1 to be precise) often are.

Its not fair and its not right and its one thing i'm often on my bandwagon about in the playground in my little sleepy corner of England. I hope it starts to make some difference.

so we can forgive her for that awful rape joke scene in The End recently then?

heforher would have sounded nicer - but I have issues with it sounding like we need men to swoop in and save the feminist movement...

mumble grumble. nit picking really. It's not perfect but it's a lot better than most stuff that goes on, and if it helps young people to understand feminism than that's enough for now.

Thanks for the transcript.
She's a good egg

I'm glad of this. Look at all the young people who have grown up looking up to clever Hermione.

Great speech. I'm also not quite convinced by her argument but she is young and clearly completely sincere about what she said.

Her backlash is no doubt going to be severe - all for saying "I've had this idea that maybe we are equal". Okay her backlash isn't likely to see her sent to prison for 27 years a la Mandela, shot like Malala or put under house arrest like Aung San Suu Kii, but she will need reserves of fortitude to get through it. I think she knows that; let's see what she can do.

To have the courage, conviction, confidence, lucidness and oh everything at her her age to stand and say that....Bravo Emma.

I am years older than her, but to my shame I have never thought about feminism like that before, purely in terms of gender stereotyping I mean, and that if we battle for one side, we are also battling for the other. I have known too many young men who have had depression and killed themselves, and known too many young women who have thought they are worth nothing more than being controlled by men.

I think it is a bit odd that the speech is sort of imploring men to come and help feminism but has come from a woman. But I suppose that is a bit sexist in itself.