When I posted my Feminist Profile this week on Emma Watson, I had intended to follow it up with this article about her #HeForShe speech at the U.N. and our need for male feminists. The beginning of this week was a rather busy one for me at work, so I’m sad to admit I didn’t give Emma Watson’s Feminist Profile the attention and detail it deserved. Thankfully, I have another chance with this segment to add a little more to one of my favorite gals. So, without further adieu, let’s start out with her famous U.N. speech that started off the U.N.’s #HeForShe campaign. [While the entire speech is wonderful a worth the watch, I will only be highlighting certain parts of it here. But you can watch it here]
“How can we affect change in the world when only half of it is invited or feel welcome to participate in the conversation? Men—I would like to take this opportunity to extend your formal invitation. Gender equality is your issue too. Because to date, I’ve seen my father’s role as a parent being valued less by society despite my needing his presence as a child as much as my mother’s.
I’ve seen young men suffering from mental illness unable to ask for help for fear it would make them look less “macho”—in fact in the UK suicide is the biggest killer of men between 20-49 years of age; eclipsing road accidents, cancer and coronary heart disease. I’ve seen men made fragile and insecure by a distorted sense of what constitutes male success. Men don’t have the benefits of equality either.
We don’t often talk about men being imprisoned by gender stereotypes but I can see that they are and that when they are free, things will change for women as a natural consequence. If men don’t have to be aggressive in order to be accepted women won’t feel compelled to be submissive. If men don’t have to control, women won’t have to be controlled.
Both men and women should feel free to be sensitive. Both men and women should feel free to be strong… It is time that we all perceive gender on a spectrum not as two opposing sets of ideals. If we stop defining each other by what we are not and start defining ourselves by what we are—we can all be freer and this is what HeForShe is about. It’s about freedom.
I want men to take up this mantle. So their daughters, sisters and mothers can be free from prejudice but also so that their sons have permission to be vulnerable and human too—reclaim those parts of themselves they abandoned and in doing so be a more true and complete version of themselves.
You might be thinking who is this Harry Potter girl? And what is she doing up on stage at the UN. It’s a good question and trust me, I have been asking myself the same thing. I don’t know if I am qualified to be here. All I know is that I care about this problem. And I want to make it better.
And having seen what I’ve seen—and given the chance—I feel it is my duty to say something. English Statesman Edmund Burke said: “All that is needed for the forces of evil to triumph is for enough good men and women to do nothing.”
In my nervousness for this speech and in my moments of doubt I’ve told myself firmly—if not me, who, if not now, when. If you have similar doubts when opportunities are presented to you I hope those words might be helpful.
Because the reality is that if we do nothing it will take 75 years, or for me to be nearly a hundred before women can expect to be paid the same as men for the same work. 15.5 million girls will be married in the next 16 years as children. And at current rates it won’t be until 2086 before all rural African girls will be able to receive a secondary education.
If you believe in equality, you might be one of those inadvertent feminists I spoke of earlier. And for this I applaud you. We are struggling for a uniting word but the good news is we have a uniting movement. It is called HeForShe. I am inviting you to step forward, to be seen to speak up, to be the "he" for "she". And to ask yourself if not me, who? If not now, when?”
Emma gave this speech with great courage and bravery; I encourage you to watch the whole thing (its 12 minutes long, so totally doable on your next break!). I think she brings up some amazing points; IN ORDER FOR WOMEN’S EQUALITY TO SUCCEED, MEN HAVE TO GET ON BOARD TOO. That is a fact. The Women’s Movement cannot succeed in their fight if men do not fight with them. It takes all of us working together.
Some people don’t think men should be called 'feminists', that they can be 'feminist allies' but not a ‘feminist’. I do not agree with this concept. I think "Feminist" has to be a genderless term; if you believe in, and advocate for, the social, economic, personal, and political equality for all people, no matter their gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or able-bodiedness, then YOU ARE A FEMINIST. It’s that simple. By definition, feminism is the advocacy of women's rights on the basis of the equality of the sexes. Feminism is a range of political and social movements and ideologies, which, as it’s matured into current intersectional feminism, takes on all of these roles, because women are not just women, they are complex and multi-faceted people, and thereby experience complex and multi-faceted issues. A woman does not just experience prejudice as a woman, but perhaps prejudice for her race or ethnicity, her sexual orientation, her religion, her weight, her looks, her disability, or any combination of the above. The same goes for all people. We are not just our sex organs. We are whole beings, and thereby face a myriad of situations and experiences and have diverse perspectives.
It is my belief that in order for true societal, political, and legal change to occur, both men and women have to want and fight for equality of the sexes. WE NEED MALE FEMINISTS TOO. WE NEED THEM STAND UP AND BE COUNTED.
There are many men that are already doing this. They don’t hog the spotlight or try to speak for women’s experiences, rather they show up in support, at the voting polls, at the marches, in conference rooms, on social media, etc. They use their platform, whoever and wherever they may be, to support women and turn the mic over to them. They acknowledge the ingrained privilege they have as men, which in almost all societies and cultures, affords them 'special advantages not enjoyed by everyone'. (The definition I'm using for privilege in this context means "a benefit enjoyed by an individual or group beyond what's available to others.")
I thought I’d celebrate the men who are already doing that with a little highlight of some of my favorite celebrity male feminists, who use their privilege and their platform to speak up about Feminism and Women's Rights issues.
Mark Ruffalo (My FAVORITE ((and delightfully outspoken!)) male Feminist)
“It becomes kind of a moral issue about who you are and how you view the women in your life,” the Avengers star, an outspoken feminist, said in January 2014 via a promotional video for The Center of Reproductive Rights. “There’s a common sense and a wisdom and a decency in women that needs to be upheld and doesn’t warrant being pushed back 30 years into the whole nightmare that brought about the abortion rights movement that we’ve fought for and created laws around … As a man, I see no wisdom in going backwards.”
“I am a man. I could say this has nothing to do with me. Except I have two daughters and I have a mother.”
[In response to people rejecting Feminism] “You’re insulting every woman who was forcibly restrained in a jail cell with a feeding tube down her throat for your right to vote, less than 100 years ago...You’re degrading every woman who has accessed a rape crisis center, which wouldn’t exist without the feminist movement.”
Joseph Gordon Levitt
“What that means to me is that you don’t let your gender define who you are — you can be who you want to be, whether you’re a man, a woman, a boy, a girl, whatever. However you want to define yourself, you can do that and should be able to do that, and no category ever really describes a person because every person is unique.”
“What that means to me is that you don’t let your gender define who you are — you can be who you want to be, whether you’re a man, a woman, a boy, a girl, whatever. However you want to define yourself, you can do that and should be able to do that, and no category ever really describes a person because every person is unique.”
“That, to me, is what feminism means. So yes, I’d absolutely call myself a feminist. If you look at history, women are an oppressed category of people. There’s a long, long history of women suffering abuse, injustice and not having the same opportunities as men, and I think that’s been very detrimental to the human race as a whole. I’m a believer that if everyone has a fair chance to be what they want to be and do what they want to do, it’s better for everyone. It benefits society as a whole.”
Will Smith
“[Jade and I] let Willow cut her hair. When you have a little girl, it’s like how can you teach her that you’re in control of her body? If I teach her that I’m in charge whether or not she can touch her hair, she’s going to replace with me some other man when she goes out in the world. She can’t cut my hair but that’s her hair. She has got to have command of her body. So when she goes out into the world, she’s going out with a command that is hers. She is used to making those decisions herself. We try to keep giving them those decisions until they can hold the full weight of their lives.”
Chris Hemsworth
“Oh yeah, for sure [I’m a feminist]. My mum’s a big feminist. I think that my views on things, as far as my respect for women and so on, came from my mum. My dad has a very balanced and respectful view on a lot of things too. They were huge positive influences in my life. I think the balance has been tupped for a long time heavily in men’s direction.”
He also said that Charlize Theron should be the next James Bond. "She’s smart as hell. She’s physically able. Ya know watching her in those fight scenes, doing it in high heels by the way and 8-foot long gown [in ‘Snow White and the Huntsman’], was even more impressive. And I just think why not? It’s time.”
Seth Myers
“When you work with the sort of really strong women that I work with, the idea that anyone would want to make decisions for them is hard to wrap your head around.”
John Legend
“All men should be feminists. If men care about women’s rights, the world will be a better place. We are better off when women are empowered — it leads to a better society,” said Legend before performing with Global Citizen partner CHIME FOR CHANGE at their concert in 2013.
John Hamm
Despite having played Don Draper on Mad Men, John Hamm is actually a proclaimed feminist, and former teacher. At a benefit for the Rape Treatment Center in Los Angeles, he specifically emphasized the importance of educating boys and men on the impact of gender-based violence. “It is an important thing to instill in a younger generation about the impact of rape, the lasting impact of rape. Children from grade school to high school to college are incredibly susceptible and incredibly malleable, as we all know. To get them early, to teach them about the facts and figures and other realities of rape is key. It is an important issue to me as not only a man, but as an educator, as a human being and as a person on this planet."
Farhan Akhtar
“...You are growing to be a confident, independent and conscious young woman. You’ve spoken to me about the movies our industry makes, about how women are sometimes portrayed as ‘objects’ and I’ve always tried to answer your questions. It gives me great pleasure to speak with you about women and gender issues.
Tom Hardy
It wasn’t long before memes of “feminist Tom Hardy” began to circulate the internet after Hardy proudly stated that it’s about time the lead role in an action film like “Mad Max” went to a woman. And he’s all for more of these roles. “It would be interesting to take crime genre and replace men’s parts and have women play them, and not even question it. Just let it go,” said Hardy.
Jason Sudeikis
Jason Sudeikis has always considered himself a feminist — even before the birth of his daughter, Daisy. “I think [feminism] is a sign of masculine evolution on my part. And I’m going to wave that flag freely and as high as I can hold it."
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