Emma Watson, best known for her role as Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter Series, spoke in front of the United Nations about feminism and gender equality. She used her fame and popularity to gain attention and address a topic worth advocating others about. After initial upload, the video went viral and collectively received millions of views. The speech was advocating for both men and women to make a change regarding gender equality. In the speech, she acknowledged personal experiences and listed examples that were relatable and could easily be sympathized with. The language that she used was basic and simple; making this speech easy to follow. This alone allowed others to quickly understand the core message and help pave way for the feminism movement. In the speech, Watson said “I started questioning gender-based assumptions a long time ago. When I was 8, I was confused for being called bossy because I wanted to direct the plays that we would put on for our parents, but the boys were not. When at 14, I started to be sexualized by certain elements of the media. When at 15, my girlfriends started dropping out of sports teams because they didn’t want to appear muscly. When at 18, my male friends were unable to express their feelings.” In this quote, her own experiences added honesty and showed that although famous, she too had faced gender bias while growing up. By using past experiences to pave the reason for her involvement in this movement, she was not only advocating to awaken the public’s awareness toward gender equality but also used this to emotionally appeal to her audience. Watson appeared to be overly aware of the audience that she was speaking to; primarily consisting of the very well-educated and high council of the United Nations.
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She made sure to identify and appeal to her target audience (O'Hair, Dan et al., 87). Assuming that her audience might wonder the candor of her speech and personal experiences, she made fun of herself to lighten the situation and change the tone briefly to something a little more positive. She also made sure to highlight her ardent involvement by stating “You might be thinking, “Who is this Harry Potter girl, and what is she doing speaking at the UN?” And, it is a really good question. I’ve been asking myself the same thing. All I know is that I care about this problem, and I want to make it better. And, having seen what I’ve seen, and given the chance, I feel it is my responsibility to say something.” Here, Watson’s joke may not have been seen appropriate based on the topic of her speech, but it was built on truth which ultimately strengthened her presence in the conference. She also used credible materials (O'Hair, Dan et al., 136) to strengthen her argument. By referencing a woman of power (Hillary Clinton), Watson was able to draw connections between the pressing issue outlining the fact that this has been going on forever and happens worldwide. She thoroughly tackled the idea of Masculinity versus Femininity by bringing up some of her own experiences and by providing statistics that helped aid in the overall power of her message. 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. We don’t often talk about men being imprisoned by gender stereotypes, but I can see that they are, and that when they are free, things will change for women as a natural consequence. (Watson, 2014) In this quote, she addressed masculinity versus femininity (O’Hair, Dan et al., 95) and tackled the idea that gender equality is an issue faced by both men and women. When most people hear the
She made sure to identify and appeal to her target audience (O'Hair, Dan et al., 87). Assuming that her audience might wonder the candor of her speech and personal experiences, she made fun of herself to lighten the situation and change the tone briefly to something a little more positive. She also made sure to highlight her ardent involvement by stating “You might be thinking, “Who is this Harry Potter girl, and what is she doing speaking at the UN?” And, it is a really good question. I’ve been asking myself the same thing. All I know is that I care about this problem, and I want to make it better. And, having seen what I’ve seen, and given the chance, I feel it is my responsibility to say something.” Here, Watson’s joke may not have been seen appropriate based on the topic of her speech, but it was built on truth which ultimately strengthened her presence in the conference. She also used credible materials (O'Hair, Dan et al., 136) to strengthen her argument. By referencing a woman of power (Hillary Clinton), Watson was able to draw connections between the pressing issue outlining the fact that this has been going on forever and happens worldwide. She thoroughly tackled the idea of Masculinity versus Femininity by bringing up some of her own experiences and by providing statistics that helped aid in the overall power of her message. 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. We don’t often talk about men being imprisoned by gender stereotypes, but I can see that they are, and that when they are free, things will change for women as a natural consequence. (Watson, 2014) In this quote, she addressed masculinity versus femininity (O’Hair, Dan et al., 95) and tackled the idea that gender equality is an issue faced by both men and women. When most people hear the