A New Wave of Feminism?

I’m sure by now you’ve all watched Emma Watson’s wonderful HeForShe speech (ten times over if you’re near as crazy as me). As a feminist, I am jubilant to see the reception which it has received – stirring celebrities to get their Twitter thumbs active and post #HeForShe in support. But is one speech really enough to change the attitudes of an entire generation?

It’s always interesting telling people that I’m a feminist. I’ve had a number of responses, from an eye-roll to the beginnings of a heated debate. But mostly, you get a glazed look and a hastened attempt to change the bloody subject. It’s not a fashionable word and it definitely comes with a mass of connotations. 

I’ve recently come back from a trip travelling around Europe. Six countries later and it’s safe to say that I’ve met my fair share of people from different backgrounds, different countries and different upbringings. One thing they shared? A lack of understanding about what feminism really is. 

Enter Emma Watson. A beauty who we’ve grown up with on our screens. Hermione is a feminist hero for young girls and they don’t even know it. Her speech was moving, so on-point and made a solid endeavour to break impassive perceptions of the unmentionable ‘feminism’. It was witty, informed and personable and most of all, spoke to men as well as women. Interestingly, I watched Watson’s UN speech on the back of watching this:  


(talk about contrasts!) and I was almost crying with joy by the time I reached the end, after having almost cried with disdain after watching the Vice doc. 

It’s incredible that Emma Watson’s speech has gained so much attention – through social media, traditional media and word of mouth. It’s brought the issue of feminism into the light, from which it was once banished. It’s opened dialogue between boyfriends and girlfriends and mothers and daughter and, hopefully, many in between. 

Of course, it’s an exclusively positive event but my hesitations lie within the longevity of this reaction. How long before Kim Kardashian or the latest ‘hilarious’ Vine are back filling your newsfeed? Social media allows us to get wrapped up in the latest craze – consult Kony 2012 – before we ultimately discard it for the next one. Collectively, we’ve never had so much power at our fingertips but we’re using it in the wrong way – under the wrong attitudes. 

I crave for feminism not to be exiled back to its hole of hush and misunderstanding, a month or two down the line. I implore every man and woman who watched that video of Emma Watson and felt a little stir of revolution in the pit of their stomach to not let this wash away with the next tide. Now is the time to change your attitudes and begin to create a metamorphosis of our viewpoint on feminism. Wouldn’t we all love to live in the world 

outlined by Watson? Well, it’s not going to change itself…