While her film career remains the envy of up-and-coming actresses the world over, these days, Emma Watson is as well-known for her political activism as for her work in Hollywood.
Watson rose to international fame at the tender age of 10, thanks to her role as Hermione in the now-iconic Harry Potter franchise.
These days, the 26-year-old is promoting her upcoming role in Disney’s live action remake of Beauty and the Beast, one of the buzzed about projects of 2017.
Not surprisingly, she’s everywhere at the moment, as she’s tasked with boosting a film that has the potential to earn $ 1 billion worldwide.
It’s not an unfamiliar role for Watson, but these days, she finds herself in a new and rather unique position.
Despite the fact that she’s an educated woman who’s racked up numerous film credits in the years since she left Hogwarts, there are those who will always think of her as Hermione (and, thus, as a young girl).
She’s also a stalwart feminist who’s spoken at the United Nations about the importance of combating sexual assault, and who’s vocally advocated for closing the gender wage gap in Hollywood.
Perhaps it’s for all of those reasons that so many were surprised to see this racy photo of Watson in the latest issue of Vanity Fair:
As is usual the case with this sort of thing, there were plenty of dumbasses on social media carping about how Watson destroyed their childhood, but a larger and more vocal group is criticizing the actress for allegedly abandoning her feminist ideals:
There argument might be best summed up by this tweet from UK journalist Julia Hartley-Brewer:
“Emma Watson: ‘Feminism, feminism… gender wage gap… why oh why am I not taken seriously… feminism… oh, and here are my tits!"”
Others have argued that it’s ironic and anti-feminist to limit Watson’s freedom of expression she because she advocates for equality of the sexes.
Obviously, it’s a complex issue, but it’s worth noting that whether she intended it or not, Watson’s photo makes a valuable point about the importance of consent.
Last year, Watson revealed that she was threatened with a nude photo leak after speaking at the UN.
But anyone who thinks that Watson is being hypocritical by posing for a nude photo that she knew would be published is missing the point:
The issue was never nudity, but rather the importance of all women’s right to do what they want with bodies without fear of threats, intimidation, or coercion.
So are we coming down on Watson’s side of this argument?
Yeah, but don’t give us too much woke-ness cred.
We’re always on the side of exposed boobs.
(Provided they’re exposed under the right circumstances, of course.)