Emma Watson was more "quietly struck" than concerned over critics that accused her of going against her feminist values for posing nearly topless in her cover shoot for Vanity Fair.
In a conference with Reuters, Watson, a UN Women Goodwill Ambassador and the forerunner behind the #HeForShe campaign, answered the circulating controversy by clarifying the meaning of feminism to critics.
Emma's Statement
"It just always discloses to me how many fallacies and what a confusion there is about what feminism is," she said. "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 really don't know what my t-s has to do with it." She continued, "I'm also confused. Most people are confused. No, I'm just always just quietly stunned."
Critics Over Photoshoot
Once the photos were released, some social media netizens and publications accused Watson of being a "hypocrite." Radio host Julia-Hartley-Brewer tweeted, "Emma Watson: 'Feminism, feminism... gender wage gap... why oh! why am I not taken seriously... feminism... oh, and here are my t-s!'
Nearly Topless Emma
In one of the photos shot by Tim Walker, Watson was shown nearly topless, with a white shawl covering above and some area near of her chest. Watson added that she remains "so thrilled about how motivating and gorgeous the photographs were." "We'd been doing so many crazy things on that shoot, but it felt incredibly artistic," she said.
For her Vanity Fair cover story, Emma addressed the ups and downs of embarking on a career in the public eye. "I've been doing this since I was 10 or 11, and I've often thought, 'I'm so wrong for this career because I'm too serious; I'm a pain in the ass; I'm difficult; I don't fit,'" the UN Women Goodwill Ambassador said. "But as I've got older, I've realized, 'No! Taking on those fights, the smaller ones, and the bigger ones, is who I am,'" she explained.
