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Entity explains everything Emma Watson got wrong with the HeforShe campaign.

If you are a woman living in America, you’re probably aware that gender equality is a hot topic right now. We’ve marched. We’ve worn pink pussycat hats. And, as during other times in history, feminist campaigns are looking for ways to make tangible change.

READ MORE: Everything Emma Watson Got Right With the HeForShe Campaign 

One of those campaigns is Emma Watson’s HeForShe movement. Compared to second wave feminism in which many activists restricted the movement to women, Emma Watson aims to start a conversation about gender equality between men and women. As great as HeForShe’s mission sounds, though, Emma Watson’s movement has some big issues.

Emma Watson speaking for the U.N., 2016 on HeForShe campaign.

Emma Watson speaking for the U.N., 2016

Not convinced? Here are four parts of HeForShe’s stance, slogans or message that Emma Watson got majorly wrong.

1 The movement blames women for lack of male support.

The HeForShe campaign first gained popularity when Watson gave a 13-minute speech inviting men to advocate for equality. Although the campaign’s support on social media (if you search #HeForShe on Twitter or Instagram, you’ll be scrolling for months) cemented its place in the discourse of modern feminism, the world seemed more pleased that Watson supported feminism than the possibilities of HeforShe.

What is Emma Watson’s invitation actually saying – beyond the fact that, “Yay! She supports feminism and men and is even more awesome than fans previously thought”?  Watson’s invitation to men suggests that women have produced an unwelcoming environment. Under her framework, it seems men have not joined the movement because they didn’t care – they just hadn’t been asked!

Entity reports on Emma Watson's HeForShe movement and four ways she got her feminism majorly wrong.

This concept of feminism historically slighting men appeared again when Watson and actor Laverene Cox came up with the hashtag #ILoveMenButHatePatriarchy. Suddenly, it isn’t enough for women to fight for equal rights. They also have to make sure they aren’t stepping on any (male) toes along the way. 

READ MORE: Emma Watson’s New Take on Belle Will Make You Love Her Even More

True, in the history of feminism, some women have promoted separation from men. True, by pointing out male privilege, feminists have probably made men feel uncomfortable. However, women aren’t responsible for keeping men happy or making feminism “friendly” enough for them to support it. And, in the end, blaming women for feminism’s lack of male support only further complicates the problem of gender inequality.

2 Men are knights in shining armor while women are damsels in distress.

The real reason men have not joined the feminist movement is because of the way inequality benefits them – a point not found in Watson’s speech. She urges us to acknowledge how gender inequality and “man-hating” hurts men and their well being. However, feminism is only a movement because of women’s dehumanization at the hands of patriarchy. If you think about it, it really doesn’t make much sense to ask men – who (knowingly or not) participate in and control the very system that hurts women – to be the ones to “save us” from that system…but only because they’re also being harmed. (If that’s not a tongue and mind twist, I don’t know what is).

READ MORE: Emma Watson Promotes Women in STEM With ‘The Circle’ (VIDEO)

This focus on man as the liberator of himself and women also supports the stereotype of the “white knight” that women hold out for in order to be saved. As K.M. Deaver for Role Reboot explains, “You think gender equality is a problem now? Just wait and see what happens when we teach people that men have to liberate women because women have been unable to liberate themselves.” By telling men to fight for their sisters and daughters and assuming women deserve equality based on our relationships to men, Watson suggests that women need to be saved. This position diminishes decades of feminist efforts. 

Entity reports on Emma Watson's HeForShe movement and four ways she got her feminism majorly wrong.

Yes, the feminist movement might need the help of men in order to reach its final goal of gender equality. After all, how can you change the structural inequalities of society if you don’t have the power to make any official listen? However, men can’t be the knights in shining armor. Instead, they need to realize, as women’s rights activist Charlene Haparimwi writes, “though you are important to the movement you are not the primary part of it.” Once men play the hero in the feminist movement, the movement is really just following the stereotypical script of the patriarchy.

3 The campaign overlooks aspects of intersectionality.

As universally inclusive and aware as Emma Watson’s campaign strives to be, HeForShe isn’t immune to intersectional issues. Emma Watson has admirably acknowledged her own privilege – as a celebrity and a white woman – several times, whether in her speeches or in Twitter conversations with fans. However, the very phrase “HeForShe” sets up a binary of “men” and “women” with no in-between.

Entity reports on Emma Watson's HeForShe movement and four ways she got her feminism majorly wrong.

As Amy McCarthy told XOJane, “When we reinforce the idea that only people who neatly fit the gender binary are worthy of being protected and supported, we erase and exclude the people who are at most risk of patriarchal violence and oppression.” This campaign disregards the voices of those who do not fit the white, educated, heterosexual label.

READ MORE: Why I Can’t Label My Sexual Orientation

While the voices of people of color, the socially disadvantaged and LGBTQ people require the most support, they are actually the voices most commonly ignored – and, unfortunately, HeForShe is no exception.

4 HeForShe is making feminism more commercialized than accurate.

Perhaps the biggest flaw with HeForShe, though, is that, as Rosie Fletcher from the News Statesman puts it, by making “feminism more palatable, we ignore the unpalatable truths of patriarchy.” The truth is, violence against women – physically, emotionally, economically and structurally – is ugly. So is the fact that one in five women will be raped at some points in their lives and that a woman earns around 83 percent of a man’s wages (and even less if she’s a minority). These statistics should outrage or, at the very least, discomfort men – regardless of whether they’re promoted as being a “man’s topic” or a movement in need of male support.

As HeForShe critics have pointed out, the movement also rests more upon discourse – “men, support women and gender equality!” – than giving instructions on how men can actually support women without speaking over them. It’s impossible to deny that HeForShe has enacted programs benefiting gender equality. For instance, its IMPACT university plan has recently been shown to improve universities’ commitment to decreasing the gender gap in academia and end violence on campuses.

READ MORE: Emma Watson Advocates for Women’s Right to a Safe and Well Rounded University Experience

Entity reports on Emma Watson's HeForShe movement and four ways she got her feminism majorly wrong.

However, much of the public mentions of HeForShe are just that: mentions on social media. And while having hundreds of men proclaim their dedication to gender equality on networking sites like Twitter and Instagram is impressive, centuries of sexual violence and discrimination won’t be fixed with the click of a computer mouse.

The truth is, equality isn’t achieved by asking men to rescue women and it isn’t achieved when we ignore those who aren’t in positions of privilege. Emma Watson had good intentions with HeForShe, and the movement has its benefits of raising public awareness and even creating new programs. However, to fix gender inequality, we need more than a universal request for male deliverance. We need to create support systems where men aid women without hijacking the movement. We need solid plans that illustrate what solidarity – across different genders, sexualities, classes, etc – really looks like.

In short, we need more than just HeForShe.

Edited by Casey Cromwell
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