Actress Emma Watson has come out swinging against detractors of her recent Vanity Fair cover and shoot which included an image of the 26-year-old topless.
Some opponents argued that it was the wrong message for someone who is such a vocal campaigner for feminist issues.
However, Watson has hit back at the “confusing” rhetoric, arguing the whole point of feminism is about “choice”.
“Feminism is about giving women choice. Feminism is not a stick about which to beat other women with,’ she told Reuters.
“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.
“Most people are confused. I’m always kind of quietly stunned. They were saying I couldn’t be a feminist and have boobs,” she said.
Some of Waton’s detractors likened her shoot to a page three topless shot in a tabloid newspaper. Radio presenter and columnist Julia Hartley-Brewer questioned why posing topless for a “posh magazine” like Vanity Fair was “empowering” yet doing it for a page three tabloid was “exploitation”.
However, most people came out in favour of Watson and her decision to go to topless taking to social media to show their support. “It’s possible to be a feminist and be proud of your body. Emma Watson doing a revealing photo shoot doesn’t cancel out her feminist activism.” While another added: “Emma Watson to me is an actual feminist that fights for women’s rights and freedoms and not one of the very radical extremists that hate men.”
