Emma Watson: I started receiving threats within 12 hours of HeForShe Speech...

Louise George
Mar 9, 2015
2 min read

"If you stand for equality, then you're a feminist."

Yesterday was International Women's Day and there were lots of wonderful events going on around The World in support of that, to inspire and encourage people everywhere to take action towards the advancement of gender equality. Sadly we are still not there yet and at the current rate of improvement we will not see it in our lifetime.

However, we have come a long way and more people are coming together to progress the movement.

It is not just about women and girls, it is about people, it is about what's fair and what's right, respect, kindness and equal opportunities for all.

I had the privilege of attending Facebook HQ in London yesterday where Emma Watson was speaking to Radio 1 presenter Greg James about the campaign.

I'm sure you all saw Emma Watson's speech for UN Women's HeForShe campaign last September, in which she called on the support of men and boys in the movement for gender equality.

During the Q&A at Facebook, Emma spoke about her journey on the HeForShe campaign so far and how she has been affected by taking on the role of UN ambassador.

Emma admitted to feeling a little nervous at the beginning of the talk but spoke with great composure and conviction throughout.

The Q&A was streamed live on Facebook and Emma answered questions from a few of her 30 million Facebook fans. Emma emphasised the need for us all to support one another...

"It's uncomfortable to acknowledge that there is a problem, but we need to understand that we are complicit... Some of the hardest moments I've had have been comments from other women. It's not just enough to ask men to come in and support us, we really need to support each other."

Emma also spoke of threats she has received since her speech, including a threat from anonymous hackers, to release naked photos of Emma, which she received "within 12 hours" of the speech going live. “I knew it was a hoax - those photos didn’t exist."

“People thought I’d be disheartened by this, but if anything it made me so much more determined. I was raging, it made me so angry and I realised that this is why I have to be doing this."

Emma credited her Mum Jaqueline as her role model.

"The obvious choice is my mum, she was a single mother and a type one diabetic, so to see her strength and resilience was really inspiring growing up. I think she instilled in me in my teenage years when I was feeling very insecure, that what I was thinking, doing, saying, were infinitely more important than my physical appearance.''

Millions of people around the world have seen Emma's UN speech and Emma has over 30 Million fans on Facebook, yet only around 200,000 men have pledged to commit to the HeForShe campaign online. It only takes a few minutes and really will help make a difference towards supporting this campaign. Men, please sign, women, please ask the men in your life to sign up here.

Please also commit to speaking up and taking action towards gender equality. Every day gestures go a long way towards changing the current paradigms.