It’s a sad day for feminism when two of our favorite role models are caught in conflict. So what gives?
Emma Watson, who stars in the upcoming live-action remake of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, recently posed braless for Vanity Fair. She received criticism both for exposing underboob and from people who suggested she was undermining her feminist stance by being provocative.
Emma Watson: “Feminism, feminism… gender wage gap… why oh why am I not taken seriously… feminism… oh, and here are my tits!” pic.twitter.com/gb7OvxzRH9
— Julia Hartley-Brewer (@JuliaHB1) March 1, 2017
“Feminism is about giving women choice. Feminism is not a stick with which to beat other women,” she told The Telegraph. “I really don’t know what my tits have to do with it. It’s very confusing.”
However, Beyoncé fans are bringing up a 2014 interview Watson did with Wonderland magazine, where she criticized Beyoncé’s portrayal of her sexuality in her 2013 visual album, Beyoncé.
“As I was watching [the videos] I felt very conflicted, I felt her message felt very conflicted in the sense that on the one hand she is putting herself in a category of a feminist, but then the camera, it felt very male, such a male voyeuristic experience of her,” she said.
Bee emojis are now all over the comments of Emma’s Instagram, and one comment even reads, “Beyoncé’s feminism isn’t good enough and too sexual but yours is? White tears + white feminism.”
Naturally, fans (and Piers Morgan) also took to Twitter.
some people really hate when you bring up Emma Watson’s white feminism & things that EMMA WATSON said about Beyoncé’s feminism.
— chris lawrence (@chrislaawrence) March 6, 2017
Emma Watson isn’t a hypocrite b/c she’s a feminist and shows her breasts, she’s a hypocrite b/c she criticized Beyoncé for the same thing
— Zoe (@Zoe_Carlson_) March 6, 2017
Emma Watson attacked @Beyoncé for flashing her breasts in name of feminism, then did it herself.
My column:https://t.co/1GPcya7rT3 pic.twitter.com/kVuaXtyXtU— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) March 6, 2017
Tuesday evening, Watson tweeted a response to the Beyhive, posting a photo of the full interview:
This is the part of my 2014 interview with Tavi where we talked about Beyoncé. My words are in bold. pic.twitter.com/Y8vumOeyDT
— Emma Watson (@EmmaWatson) March 7, 2017
Is Watson guilty of promoting “white feminism,” or has she simply shifted her views on the relationship between feminine sexuality and female empowerment? Beyoncé has yet to comment, although she attended the Beauty and the Beast premiere last week.