Hermione Granger is a Feminist Too!

After reading Judith Butler's Gender Trouble I immediately thought of Emma Watson. If you're a Harry Potter freak like me, you'll know her as the one and only Hermione Granger. These past couple of years Emma has been speaking out on what it is to be a feminist, and how important it is to have equality. On September 20th 2014, Emma delivered an inspiring speech about feminism at the United Nations Headquarters. She discusses the ideas on how she wishes for not just women but for men to join the fight in gender inequality. Her "HeForShe" initiative aims for men and boys to help to pledge to join the feminist fight. Emma makes the very important point that in order for gender equality to be achieved, harmful and destructive stereotypes of and expectations for masculinity have got to change. Above is the entire speech, which I hope everyone who hasn't seen would take a look at. It's worth every minute!

What might this have to do with Butler's idea of feminist theory? I think just about everything. In her first chapter Butler discusses the controversial terms politics and representation. "On the one hand, representation serves as the operative term within a political process that seeks to extend visibility and legitimacy to women as political subjects; on the other hand representation is the normative function of language which is said either to reveal or to distort what is assumed to be true about the category of women" (2). This statement that Butler makes perfectly exemplifies Emma's speech at the UN. She discusses that feminism, by definition is the belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities. It is the theory of political, economical and social equality of the sexes.

Butler discusses the ideas of differentiating "man" and "woman" with the terms "sex" and "gender" and how in reality there is more that is connected between those two latter terms. She continues by stating, "this radical splitting of the gendered subjects poses yet another set of problems. Can we refer to  a "given" sex or a "given" gender without first inquiring into how sex and/or gender is given, through what means?" (9). How does one even identify what "sex" is? Butler asks if it is either natural, anatomical, chromosomal, or hormonal? Therefore, "gender ought not to be conceived merely as the cultural inscription of meaning on pregiven sex" (9).

During her speech, Emma Watson explains this idea perfectly by referencing back to a speech by Hillary Clinton in Beijing and how less than thirty percent of the audience was male. She continues and asks how one is supposed to expect change when only half the world is invited? And finally says:

"Men, I would like to take this opportunity to extend your formal invitation. Gender equality is your issue, too. Because to date, I’ve seen my father’s role as a parent being valued less by society, despite my need of his presence as a child, as much as my mother’s. I’ve seen young men suffering from mental illness, unable to ask for help for fear it would make them less of a man. In fact, in the UK, suicide is the biggest killer of men between 20 to 49, eclipsing road accidents, cancer and coronary heart disease. I’ve seen men made fragile and insecure by a distorted sense of what constitutes male success. Men don’t have the benefits of equality, either."

Overall I think her speech is a perfect example of how everyone should be willing to help in the fight against this inequality. No matter what "gender" because, in truth, what difference does it make if you are a man or a woman. Differentiating people by their bodies should not even be the case. Everyone deserves to be treated equally, and every little bit of help counts. 


- Kayla Gonzalez