Is Emma Watson less of a feminist for showing her boobs on the cover of Vanity Fair?
Of course she isn't.
Well, sorry to say this, Emma, but yes there is... especially now you're going out of your way to ignore the real reason people are calling you out for hypocrisy.
It's true that some of those criticising Watson have done so by saying that revealing her body in this way contradicts her feminist beliefs. And Watson has rightly responded by asserting that those who make such claims have failed to understand that 'feminism consists in letting women choose'.
'It just always reveals to me how many misconceptions and what a misunderstanding there is about what feminism is,' said the English actress in an interview with the BBC. 'Feminism is about giving women choice. Feminism is not a stick with which to beat other women with. It's about freedom, it's about liberation, it's about equality. I don't really understand what my tits have to do with it. It's very confusing.' Many social media users have leapt to the defence of the English actress.
But it's beginning to look like Watson (and her fans) are only addressing some of the comments: comments made by those who are, erroneously, questioning Watson's feminist ideals because she has posed for revealing pictures.
The problem is that the actress seems to have deliberately shied away from responding to comments that call her a hypocrite for another, more valid, reason. In 2014, Emma Watson challenged Beyoncé's feminism for exactly the same reason people are now questioning her's.
Watson could have kept quiet and waited out the controversy. But since she decided to comment on it, it would have been more appropriate for her to have faced up to her past mistake by answering those who've called her hypocritical for demanding a respect that she did not have for one of her peers.
Has Emma Watson's view of feminism changed over the past few years? That's certainly possible. Views evolve and it's never too late to change your mind about something. The most feminist thing she could have done would have been to take advantage of the conflict to show she understood she was wrong when she made those statements about Beyoncé. Because, in the end, feminism is about being allies, not enemies, of other women. Instead, the actress has ignored the issue and responded only to those accusations she could address without having to acknowledge the errors of her past.
So yes, Emma Watson is a hypocrite for her Vanity Fair cover – not because she shows her boobs, but because she's seen the specks in the eyes of others without acknowledging the beam in her own.
