The world applauded Emma Watson recently for an incredible speech she made to the UN on feminism and equality.
Watson, who was named as a U.N. Women Goodwill Ambassador, was speaking at the launch of the “HeForShe” campaign which aims to propel men into becoming advocates for ending inequalities for women.
Her speech called for action from males allies and added that there was a misconception about feminism in general.
The speech also saw Watson quoting Edmund Burke:
“…all that is needed for the forces of evil to triumph is for good men and women to do nothing.”
Well one 15-year old school boy Ed Holtom took the speech on board, and putting pen to paper, wrote quite an impressionable piece on what feminism means to him.
Published in yesterday’s Sunday Telegraph the piece reads:
A magnificent letter in the Telegraph from 15-year-old @EdHoltom. pic.twitter.com/68Bzkq0GhB
— Nicholas Pegg (@NicholasPegg) September 28, 2014
Although the newspaper edited the original letter, Ed supplied the original in full to a number of media outlets:
“I recently had a religious studies lesson where we talked about gender and the role it plays in modern society, having watched Emma Watson’s speech about gender equality the night before and agreed with everything she said, I was disappointed by how ignorant some of the other boys in my class were (I attend an independent, all boys school in Hertfordshire). I felt compelled to write down my views of gender equality, although I’m not sure how well they would be received by people at my school, I wanted to share it somehow, so here it is.
“If We Really Want Equality”
We’re lucky to live in a western world where women can speak out against stereotypes. It’s a privilege. Gender equality and feminism is not about “man-hating” or the idea of “female supremacy”. It is, by definition, the opposite. The definition of feminism is, “a person who believes in the social, political and economic equality of the sexes.” It’s pretty simple really, and if you believe in those things, then you’re a feminist. Feminism can also be interpreted as a woman owning her sexuality, in the same way men do, wearing clothes that make her feel good about herself, or that show off her body, not for the attention of men, without being called a slut and with freedom from the threat of rape, because she wants to.
Recently we’ve been hearing about what it means to be “masculine” and what it means to be “feminine”. It means nothing, barring biological differences. By perceiving these two words as anything other than the description of a human’s genitalia, we perpetuate a stereotype which is nothing but harmful to all of us. By using words such as “girly” or “manly” we inadvertently buy into gender stereotyping whether we like it or not.
We live the gender stereotype without realising it, we have been born with it, we played with toys designed for our genders, we go to schools which are segregated, we play sports which other genders do not, and it takes some mindfulness for many people to even acknowledge its existence and the injustice it entails for both genders. If we want equality, it will take more effort than paying women the same as men, or giving women equal opportunities to men.
If we really want equality we must all make an active decision to abandon phrases such as “what it means to be masculine” and the like. If we really want equality we must try our best to ignore gender and stop competing with one another. We must stop comparing ourselves to each other, particularly other people of the same gender, because that leaves us with a feeling of insecurity and self doubt.
We must stop pressuring each other to fit with this stereotype which more often than not leaves us feeling repressed and unable to express ourselves. And most of all, if we really want equality, we need to stop caring. Stop caring about gender, stop caring about another person’s sexual preference, stop caring about how far someone fits in with the stereotype and stop caring, most of all, about how much we fit this stereotype, we must not let gender define us.
Kind regards,
Ed”
If this is the effect of one speech, we can’t wait to see the campaign movement in full swing.
