Emma Watson has spoken out about the ever increasing levels of abuse her feminist efforts have attracted.
Speaking to Esquire, the former Harry Potter star spoke about the inequality of pay in Hollywood, and said that no level of hate will deter her from promoting equality.
She said:
I’m not sure who put out the wage gap [between Theron and Hemsworth on the first film] but it took a hack unfortunately, the Sony hack, for Jennifer [Lawrence] to talk about the extent to which the prejudice was there for her, [her American Hustle co-star] Amy Adams and women generally.
We are not supposed to talk about money, because people will think you’re ‘difficult’ or a ‘diva’. But there’s a willingness now to be like, “Fine. Call me a ‘diva’, call me a ‘feminazi’, call me ‘difficult’, call me a “First World feminist’, call me whatever you want, it’s not going to stop me from trying to do the right thing and make sure that the right thing happens.”
Because it doesn’t just affect me, it affects all the other women who are in this with me, and it affects all the other men who are in this with me, too.
The actor, who is currently taking a hiatus from the profession, also addressed that no amount of wealth protects women from objectification.
She said:
I’ve had my arse slapped as I’ve left a room. I’ve felt scared walking home. I’ve had people following me. I don’t talk about these experiences much, because coming from me they’ll sound like a huge deal and I don’t want this to be about me, but most women I know have experienced it and worse. This is unfortunately how it is.
It’s so much more pervasive than we acknowledge. It shouldn’t be an acceptable fact of life that women should be afraid.
So there you have it. Haters, misogynists, cavemen – you are all wasting your time.
