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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

Well, hello Emma Watson

884 replies

crumpet · 24/09/2025 22:11

www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-15130209/Harry-Potter-Emma-Watson-treasures-J-K-Rowling-trans-rights.html

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MusettasWaltz · 30/09/2025 04:13

Quackedout · 30/09/2025 04:03

@MusettasWaltz Emma only got those roles quickly after rumours of her and Harvey Weinstein. She was apparently one of his conquests when she wanted to break hollywood then quickly fell out of his limelight.

There is a horrible photo of him grabbing her in public.

https://www.reddit.com/r/oddlyterrifying/comments/75qwua/harvey_weinstein_in_this_picture_with_emma_watson/

But does that mean anything actually happened? She was a millionaire, not like she needed money. Plus none of those films were Miramax or Weinstein Company (Little Women was post-MeToo, obvs other 3 weren't)

MusettasWaltz · 30/09/2025 04:15

Quackedout · 30/09/2025 04:12

@MusettasWaltz you can usually identify them, they are so hungry for fame that they will do anything, and their success comes out of nowhere. JL then won the Oscar. EW was in a ton of movies out of nowhere too. You can google it but essentially its when she had the pixie cut hairdo.

Not exactly equivalent given EW didn't get her career making franchise from Weinstein as Lawrence did. Are you just basing this on the picture or is there evidence?

MusettasWaltz · 30/09/2025 04:18

A franchise actor being hyped immediately after doesn't have to equal casting couch. Radcliffe was also hyped in plays & films for the immediate post-Potter years, doesn't mean Kevin Spacey or someone was fetting him roles.
Though I did incidentally read that Spacey pursued Radcliffe...hope he evaded that creep.

Quackedout · 30/09/2025 04:19

@MusettasWaltz its not the money, its the fame and the oscars. I remember that picture but there were loads more where she was happily there with him. She apparently was named as one who courted him in exchange for movies. I think others were Jennifer Lawrence, Olivia Wilde, Blake Lively (who was his main sidepiece).

CohensDiamondTeeth · 30/09/2025 04:31

Quackedout · 30/09/2025 04:03

@MusettasWaltz Emma only got those roles quickly after rumours of her and Harvey Weinstein. She was apparently one of his conquests when she wanted to break hollywood then quickly fell out of his limelight.

When you say "conquests" do you actually mean "victim"? We know Harvey Weinstein was a rapist who preyed on women in the film industry.

Thank you @GallantKumquat for the correction, I don't know where I got the racism thing from then, apologies all.

CohensDiamondTeeth · 30/09/2025 04:35

Quackedout · 30/09/2025 04:19

@MusettasWaltz its not the money, its the fame and the oscars. I remember that picture but there were loads more where she was happily there with him. She apparently was named as one who courted him in exchange for movies. I think others were Jennifer Lawrence, Olivia Wilde, Blake Lively (who was his main sidepiece).

These are unsubstantiated rumours painting women in a bad light, when the man in question is actually a rapist.

To me it feels very slut shaming and victim blaming, with a side order of these women wouldn't achieve anything if a HW hadn't give them a leg up in exchange for a leg over.

I find this really distasteful.

MusettasWaltz · 30/09/2025 04:39

CohensDiamondTeeth · 30/09/2025 04:31

When you say "conquests" do you actually mean "victim"? We know Harvey Weinstein was a rapist who preyed on women in the film industry.

Thank you @GallantKumquat for the correction, I don't know where I got the racism thing from then, apologies all.

Exactly, conquest is a gross word anyway and even if some women gritted their teeth consensually in exchange for a role, that ignores the many who were raped.

MusettasWaltz · 30/09/2025 06:40

ClawedButler · 25/09/2025 13:14

I'm in two minds.

On the one hand, she's young, she's not particularly bright, and she was just going along with what the loudest voices were saying at the time. It's easy to go along with what you think is the prevailing opinion, and it's really difficult, if your fame, your reputation and your appeal is your career, to go against that.

On the other hand, I do get where the "No, she made her bed she can lie in it" crowd are coming from.

And yes, she lost her license for repeatedly speeding.

She's not young, she's 35, and was 30 when this began.

MusettasWaltz · 30/09/2025 06:43

GoldThumb · 25/09/2025 13:48

Tbf, there’s a big difference between being intelligent and being educated.

Univeristies are hardly breeding grounds for critical thinking these days.

And Oxford in particular, no wonder it’s dropping down the ranks

She doesn't yet have an Oxford degree. Her degree is from Brown, we don't know what grade. She did get straight As at GCSE and A Level, but otoh Ivy League accepts legacy students,, why not a celeb? Besides, booksmart doesn't equal common sense, so many very smart people can also lose touch with reality.

MusettasWaltz · 30/09/2025 06:47

MissScarletInTheBallroom · 25/09/2025 14:10

Great post.

I read this and thought that because she spent her teenage years filming the Harry Potter movies, Emma Watson missed out on her true calling in life, which was to be head girl.

It's a really interesting point you make about to what extent her character was shaped by playing Hermione. Because whilst Hermione was a straight A student who desperately sought praise from her teachers, she also had the courage to go against the grain and defy authority when it really mattered. She fought unpopular causes even when others ridiculed her for it (the house elves, for example), she broke the rules repeatedly when there was a good reason to do so (brewing polyjuice potion, being a founding member of Dumbledore's Army, breaking into the Ministry of Magic), and ultimately she sacrificed her final year at Hogwarts to drop out of school and fight Voldemort, risking death in the process.

Emma Watson isn't that character at all.

Emma Watson might look like (a prettier version of) Hermione Granger, but she is actually Percy Weasley.

Tbf while a lot of articles say EW was homeschooled, she was at the Dragon School until 13 & then Headington School, where she stayed until 18.

Often articles say she was homeschooled, and it's true that she missed a lot of school so had tutors, but she did attend school throughout her childhood.

Rubyupbeat · 30/09/2025 07:01

Shame she couldn't have came out and offered her hand of friendship when JK was being kicked to the kerb!
She obviously has some ulterior motive!

MusettasWaltz · 30/09/2025 07:30

SionnachRuadh · 25/09/2025 17:31

Brett Cooper has been talking quite a bit about her experience of being a child actor in Hollywood, about how it's an environment where things like middle aged men hitting on 14 year old girls is entirely normal. She did a long interview with Jordan Peterson that very much confirms the theory.

Brett was never particularly famous as an actor, which might be related to why she's seemed to come out of it relatively unscathed.

I think the flip side of that is what we can see with the Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan and Elliot Page types, or from a generation earlier Drew Barrymore, who never got to have normal childhoods. Every time I see Drew Barrymore I get depressed, because this is a 50 year old woman who's still massively screwed up from her weird childhood.

Interesting, I agree. I'd also point out that all of those are US, which is much crazier

Incidentally, I quite like Brett Cooper. A lot of US conservative female influencers give off strong 'mean girl' type energy, mocking and criticising non-feminine women, lesbians etc I haven't seen any of that from her, though tbf I haven't watched much.
She's also called out right wing weirdos who say women should not work & shame her for being pregnant & working, including at the Turning Point Women's Leadership Summit this year. She's apparently supportive of gay people (or at least men, these types are often nicer to gay men) which makes a change from Candace Owens types.

She seems like a genuine, sympathetic person, and I suspect her difficulties in childhood may have something to do with that.

BernardBlacksMolluscs · 30/09/2025 07:45

Quackedout · 30/09/2025 04:19

@MusettasWaltz its not the money, its the fame and the oscars. I remember that picture but there were loads more where she was happily there with him. She apparently was named as one who courted him in exchange for movies. I think others were Jennifer Lawrence, Olivia Wilde, Blake Lively (who was his main sidepiece).

fucking hell, can you keep your social engineering PR bullshit to yourself? this is the feminism board

BernardBlacksMolluscs · 30/09/2025 07:48

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cwyj3vnkyn8o

I don't love feeling like I'm being manipulated, and some of the posters on this thread are making me feel like I'm being steered to disapprove of inconvenient women. 'side piece' for absolute fuck's sake

A collage showing Justin Baldoni on the left and Blake Lively on the right

Dark arts in Hollywood - how the publicity smear machine changed

The Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni feud has shone a light on a part of the entertainment industry that many of those within it would rather remain invisible.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cwyj3vnkyn8o

MissScarletInTheBallroom · 30/09/2025 07:49

BernardBlacksMolluscs · 30/09/2025 07:45

fucking hell, can you keep your social engineering PR bullshit to yourself? this is the feminism board

Yes, it's not very feminist to speculate about which famous women might have had sex with Harvey Weinstein to get ahead.

ThatCyanCat · 30/09/2025 07:51

MissScarletInTheBallroom · 30/09/2025 07:49

Yes, it's not very feminist to speculate about which famous women might have had sex with Harvey Weinstein to get ahead.

As a feminist board, it attracts a huge number of committed anti feminists.

SionnachRuadh · 30/09/2025 08:06

MissScarletInTheBallroom · 30/09/2025 07:49

Yes, it's not very feminist to speculate about which famous women might have had sex with Harvey Weinstein to get ahead.

No, it isn't.

I mean we know the casting couch exists, and Weinstein was the tip of the iceberg, and his downfall hasn't made that problem go away. There will always be speculation about why certain starlets suddenly become the flavour of the month, but it feels distasteful to me.

There are more interesting career paths we could speculate on. Like asking why Phoebe Waller-Bridge is suddenly in everything leads us to Hollywood's habit of falling in love with a British comedian, spending a lot of money to bring them over, then having no idea what to do with them. That goes back to Dudley Moore if not further.

Or there's John Cusack. I used to be a big fan of John Cusack, and he seemed to be in everything, and then he hit the headlines for his latest antisemitic social media incident, so I checked his IMDB. Guess what, he used to do a steady six movies a year of which two would be blockbusters and he'd often have a Woody Allen film for his arthouse credentials. In the past ten years, everything he's done has been either straight to video or made in China. It's obvious he's been quietly cancelled and nobody in Hollywood will work with him - I don't know if it was the antisemitism did it, or he's constructed a conspiracy theory about why he's unemployable, but I'd love to know the backstory.

That's the kind of thing that I'm interested in. Yes, if an actress wants to talk about the casting couch I'm all ears, but I'm not interested in speculative slut shaming.

BernardBlacksMolluscs · 30/09/2025 08:17

Quackedout · 30/09/2025 04:19

@MusettasWaltz its not the money, its the fame and the oscars. I remember that picture but there were loads more where she was happily there with him. She apparently was named as one who courted him in exchange for movies. I think others were Jennifer Lawrence, Olivia Wilde, Blake Lively (who was his main sidepiece).

let's remember who had most of the money and all of the power in this situation. It wasn't any of the women, including Emma Watson.

I may not like her much but I sure ain't gonna try to imply that she's somehow responsible for the casting couch system, unlike some of our new overnight visitors

SionnachRuadh · 30/09/2025 08:55

Zoe Strimpel in the Spectator

The banality of Emma Watson | The Spectator

Theunamedcat · 30/09/2025 08:58

Rubyupbeat · 30/09/2025 07:01

Shame she couldn't have came out and offered her hand of friendship when JK was being kicked to the kerb!
She obviously has some ulterior motive!

The tide has turned she is setting her stall out just in case its reciprocated

Helleofabore · 30/09/2025 09:26

I wonder if this was her way to start the process of getting it out of the way well before she will do another cycle of PR in the future? Perhaps it has been a long term strategy.

If she gets this dealt out in the open now and dealt with, by the time Emma Watson has to do another PR cycle, this will have died down in most people’s minds. There will be plenty who won’t forget, but those not following closely will have.

Of course, she has to rebuild. At least now she can rebuild a fresh. Sure she has legacy and it is easier in a way than to start with nothing. I watch with interest.

AutumnyCrow · 30/09/2025 09:41

CohensDiamondTeeth · 30/09/2025 04:31

When you say "conquests" do you actually mean "victim"? We know Harvey Weinstein was a rapist who preyed on women in the film industry.

Thank you @GallantKumquat for the correction, I don't know where I got the racism thing from then, apologies all.

Re the ‘racist aunt’ comment: @CohensDiamondTeeth, did you follow the Prof Jo Phoenix / OU employment tribunal, on this board?

One of Jo’s colleagues said it about her, I seem to recall.

MissScarletInTheBallroom · 30/09/2025 10:01

Helleofabore · 30/09/2025 09:26

I wonder if this was her way to start the process of getting it out of the way well before she will do another cycle of PR in the future? Perhaps it has been a long term strategy.

If she gets this dealt out in the open now and dealt with, by the time Emma Watson has to do another PR cycle, this will have died down in most people’s minds. There will be plenty who won’t forget, but those not following closely will have.

Of course, she has to rebuild. At least now she can rebuild a fresh. Sure she has legacy and it is easier in a way than to start with nothing. I watch with interest.

What does she think she'll need to do PR for? I can't see her getting any further acting roles.

Helleofabore · 30/09/2025 10:27

MissScarletInTheBallroom · 30/09/2025 10:01

What does she think she'll need to do PR for? I can't see her getting any further acting roles.

I reckon it will be laying the work for more patronage work and a future writing career. There may be a short stint of theatre or a project coming up, but I think it could work to get the worst out there now and to complete the reinvention later.

Otherwise, I cannot see why she is doing a PR cycle now.

Lalgarh · 30/09/2025 10:36

Gosh she's 35 now? Time really has flown.

It's not really a new thing is it? "Former child actor struggles to get acting work as an adult"

I was going to phrase it "struggling to get adult film roles " but that would mean something entirely different. Which might actually be part of it. Goldie Hawn used to say there are only 3 stages for an actress in Hollywood: Hollywood babe, district attorney and Driving Miss Daisy.

As the Cis Women with their ovarian privileges over TRAs will know, after this age you start having ppl mutter about clocks ticking and getting called perimenopausal