Emma Watson defends revealing Vanity Fair photo
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Watson's most famous role might be that of Hermione Granger in the "Harry Potter" film adaptation, but the English actress has also displayed strong turns in "The Bling Ring" and "The Perks of Being a Wallflower." (Reuters)
The “Harry Potter” star fired back over the weekend at critics who have accused her of betraying her feminist values by revealing her cleavage in a recent Vanity Fair photo shoot.
“I really don’t know what my t- -s have to do with it. It’s very confusing,” the 26-year-old British actress and activist told Reuters while promoting her new flick, Disney’s live-action “Beauty and the Beast.”
In addition to being a UN goodwill ambassador, Emma Watson has helped launched HeForShe, a UN campaign encouraging men to advocate for feminism.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}She appears on the cover of the magazine’s March issue, but it was a shot inside — of her in an open white crocheted bolero jacket with nothing on underneath — that drew criticism.
British journalist Julia Hartley-Brewer suggested the image, taken by fashion photographer Tim Walker, was hypocritical, given Watson’s feminist advocacy.
“Emma Watson: Feminism, feminism . . . gender wage gap . . . why oh why am I not taken seriously . . . feminism . . . oh, and here are my t- -s!” Hartley-Brewer tweeted.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Speaking to Reuters, Watson said her critics were distorting what it means to be a feminist.
“It just always reveals to me how many misconceptions and what a misunderstanding 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.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“It’s about freedom, it’s about liberation, it’s about equality.”
Hartley-Brewer, meanwhile, received nearly 100 responses to her Watson-bashing tweet — overwhelmingly in support of the actress.