Emma Watson "quietly stunned" by backlash to "topless" photoshoot
“Feminism is about giving women choice. Feminism is not a stick with which to beat other women”
Emma Watson has responded to critics who say she has betrayed her feminist principles by posing for a revealing photo in Vanity Fair magazine, in which parts of her breasts are visible.
The Beauty and the Beast and Harry Potter actress, who is also the face of HeforShe, a campaign to encourage men to be feminists, has said she is “quietly stunned” at the backlash.
“It just always reveals to me how many misconceptions and what a misunderstanding there is about what feminism is,” she told the BBC.
“Feminism is about giving women choice. Feminism is not a stick with which to beat other women with. It’s about freedom, it’s about liberation, it’s about equality. I really don’t know what my tits have to do with it. It’s very confusing.
“I’m confused. Most people are confused. No, I’m just always just quietly stunned.”
The Vanity Fair shoot was taken by the acclaimed fashion photographer Tim Walker, and shows Watson in crocheted jacket with a sheer top underneath and no bra.
The actress, who is also the UN Women Goodwill Ambassador, was being interviewed for Beauty and the Beast, in which she plays Belle alongside Dan Stevens’ Beast.
When he asked what she was discussing, Watson explained: “They were saying that I couldn’t be a feminist and... and have boobs.”
Beauty and the Beast is out in UK cinemas on 17 March
