Emma Watson is a badass.

[mckitterick]

UN Women's Global Goodwill Ambassador Emma Watson just gave a talk to the UN at a special event for the HeForShe campaign at the United Nations' Headquarters in New York on September 20, 2014. This is a brilliant speech. Here it is:

Click to view

Some important callouts

Comments

[mckitterick]

INORITE?

By the way, if you didn't see my post on Facebookland, The Mens have come out against Emma Watson. Um, what? I'll save you the suffering, but it's the gamerworld attacking feminism because of Zoe Quinn... the "QUINNSPIRACY!!!" My response to that crap:

When I posted the wonderful Emma Watson video yesterday about feminism and the HeForShe campaign, I forgot to take into account the Feelingz of The Menz. Have you ever felt that a woman "had it coming" when dogpiled by jerks, or that the gaming world is suddenly overrun with "feminazis," people like John Scalzi with his "Easiest Player Setting" commentary, and women gamers (gasp!) who use the gaming metaphor to discuss privilege?

Because the voices of straight white male gamers have for years dominated the gaming industry, narrow-minded guys who fit that description have come to consider it their exclusive playpen. It's like Calvin and Hobbes' tree fort with the sign, "No Girls Allowed!" If a woman gets uppity and tells others about death and rape threats she receives when she speaks out, that's not okay! She should just take it or get out of our playpen! Hey, we treat each other like shit, too; she's just being a special snowflake! Blah blah blah.



What The Mens are feeling as an attack is simply their privilege being pointed out. Wouldn't you rather have women in your playground? How about guys who aren't all assholes? Think that might make it more fun? Because diversity is a lot more interesting than endless sameness.

Finally, anyone who uses "But she was a BAD GIRL WHO HAD SEX" as an example of the dangers of feminism (Zoe Quinn's name was evoked) needs to take a breath and get up to speed on what, exactly, equality means. Maybe The Mens hate guys who have the hawt sexxxings, too; that just makes you a hater, dude, someone who wants to control others. Did she physically threaten or rape some guy, or threaten to kill them? Does having more women in gaming harm the industry? Do you want to go back to a time when women and minorities should be seen only when and how you want but never heard from unless you demand it?

If that's what you think, no one's going to respect your opinion except assholes, and who cares what assholes think of you?

[scarlettina]

Yeah. I've been following this general discussion for a while now. It was a no-brainer that as a result of being courageous and standing up for women and for equality that Watson was going to be the target of the same kind of hatred that not just Zoe Quinn but Anita Sarkeesian (that goes to a video of her TED talk on the subject) has received--among many others. What amazes me is how fragile these haters are that words and ideas can scare them that much. What worries me is how these men have gone from being simply online bozos to terrorists. Too strong a word? How else do we refer to people who make bomb threats? That's what these men are doing. I also use the word "men" very deliberately. These are grown adults doing this, not just teenagers getting off on the power of online anonymity. They are scary. They are dangerous. And their actions and words make the fight that Watson, Quinn and Sarkeesian are leading that much more important.

[mckitterick]

Absolutely! And it's not surprising that all this is coming to a head now, when recent surveys show that the majority of gamers are now female.