Emma Watson and Beyonce's Impact
Although Watson’s HeForShe movement was a good first step and attempt to work towards gender equality, aspects of Watson’s speech and indirect messages for the movement are problematic. While it is true that Watson was one of the first to publicly recognize that gender equality was men's issue too because they were negatively impacted by gender stereotypes, there was an issue with the way the speech was delivered. Watson makes it seem as if her formal invitation for men to join the feminist cause is the first to happen--that no other feminists before have actually included men into the fight. Watson implies that the reason men have not joined the movement is because women and feminists have been largely "unwelcoming." [1] There is this subtle denial that it is because men have the privilege and benefit from the oppression of women and that is the reason why so many men have not joined the movement. Watson mainly focuses her call on men to invite them to join the movement, which is also in the name as ‘HeForShe’ is to be the he for a she, and have their voices heard. She makes the issue of ending sexism important because of how it negatively impacts men, and that women are almost an "afterthought." [1] However, some have recognized that Watson focusing on men’s gender issues may be a strategic move by her and the UN Women to make the movement more ‘palatable’ for mainstream media.
But what exactly does ‘palatable’ mean? It belongs to a conceptual framework known as ‘The Unpalatable-palatable’, and refers to a continuum of tolerability afforded by celebrity feminists. [2] In other words, a palatable message or movement is one that is tolerated by mainstream media and the one that will overshadow an unpalatable message or movement. This brings up a question: what does the mainstream media deem palatable? In short--anything from a celebrity who is deemed acceptable as they are not outliers and fit into the Western ideals of beauty. Additionally, their message is non-threatening as well. [2]
Understanding this definition, it now makes sense why Watson’s HeForShe movement gained so much media coverage and encouragement--it was from an ‘acceptable’ celebrity and was ‘non-threatening’. Non-threatening because the focus was, again, on men, and their gender oppression, which cannot compare much to the ways women suffer. Watson’s display of feminism was palatable because she laregely depoliticized it and placed men in the center of it. [1] And in doing so, Watson was certainly successful in popularizing the HeForShe movement.
But the HeForShe movement speech is not Watson’s only flaw as a celebrity feminist. In an interview with Elle UK magazine, Watson says: “Feminism is not here to dictate to you. It’s not prescriptive, it’s not dogmatic. All we are here to do is give you a choice. If you want to run for president, you can. If you don’t, that’s wonderful too.” [1] While Watson is right in saying that feminism is not dogmatic, and that feminism is a ‘fluid’ term that has allowed different understandings over time, Watson makes a dangerous statement by saying that it is ‘not prescriptive’. For feminism as a movement to be successful, it must be prescriptive. It is not enough to just recognize the problems in a society, where feminists recognize the double standards, sexism, mysogeny, and gender oppression. There must be actual solutions or prescriptions to fix these problems. By making this statement, Watson has essentially silenced feminists from offering solutions and suggestions to fix these feminist issues. [1] That is the problem with a feminist, or a celebrity feminist, that has so much influence and impact on the world. Things they say, like how Watson says feminism should not be prescriptive, are heard around the world by other feminists who learn from them, and follow their advice. If not, celebrities like Watson who say things like this give a false expectation of feminists. So when something unexpected happens, like feminists trying to give suggestions and offering ‘prescriptions’, society deems them unacceptable and a more ‘unpalatable’ feminist because now they are more threatening and not adhering to the more ‘comfortable’ version of feminism that they are used to.
Many more things can be picked and critiqued about Watson’s feminism, but the bigger picture is more important: Watson encourages and espouses a more polite form of feminism [1]. It is more polite because again, it is depoliticized, and afraid to offend or threaten. Watson’s feminist identity is opposite that of a ‘feminist killjoy’, a familiar image with the mainstream media of someone who is offensive and causes unhappiness. But British-Australian scholar Sarah Ahmed says that in a sense, feminists do have to be a ‘killjoy’, because they do have to disrupt the happy ‘fantasy’ that is found in certain structures and among groups of people. [1] These structures and people are living in a fantasy because they think the gender oppression that always benefits men will not be called out or challenged. And because of the hidden fear of being called a feminist 'killjoy', Watson and other celebrities like her who espouse a non-prescriptive, depoliticized form of feminism prevent these structures and systemic forms of gender oppression from being challenged.
Just like how there have been people who have debated whether or not Watson is a ‘true’ feminist because of how much she alters feminism, people have also debated on whether or not Beyonce is actually a feminist. This may be surprising because as mentioned in the previous section, Beyonce made a bold move by dancing in front of the word that was previously avoided by most popular celebrities (while Cyrus and some others called themselves a feminist before Beyonce, they were not well liked by the majority of the public as mentioned with Cyrus or even well known). And even though Beyonce had an excerpt of feminist speaker Chimamanda's speech right in the middle of her own song, people have debated on whether or not this was for publicity and attention. This is a common recurring question for most celebrity feminists too--especially if they are ‘palatable’ celebrities. [2] These palatable celebrities fit into the normal Western standards of beauty and are deemed acceptable by society, just like Beyonce who has always had a decent reputation since she is non threatening and is a role model as a talented, strong black woman. Her adoption of the feminist label was seen as empowering, and trended for a long while after her performance at the VMAs, like it was mentioned in the previous section. But some wonder whether or not this was primarily the reason Beyonce chose to claim the label--as a marketing strategy for more publicity. [3]
However, while this issue can be debated on, the biggest concern with Beyonce’s feminism is that it, like Watson’s, encourages an altered form of feminism--a neoliberal form.
The neoliberal feminism is the form of feminism that recognizes the injustices and inequality in society, and says that the solution to these problems is to work on the self. It says that a woman must be more confident in herself, must love herself more, and must empower herself so that she can succeed. [4] In doing so, her individual success in improving herself along with millions of other women’s success in improving themselves will result in fixing or solving the injustice and inequality in society. Ultimately, a neoliberal form of feminism takes the focus off of collective action, and puts more emphasis on individual success and empowerment. Not only was Beyonce’s VMA performance overly sexual, where older feminists pointed out the contradiction of the singer claiming her feminist allegiance but "bowing down to patriarchal norms of female sexuality," but her empowering performance and even the content of the song she was performing displayed a neoliberal feminist message. [1]
Lilian Calles Barger also defines this idea of liberal feminism in her article 'Backlash: From Nine to Five to The Devil Wears Prada'. She writes: “There is no patriarchy to overcome and no political battle to wage. The battle is recreating the self with individual choice. Instead of female solidarity, one sees narcissistic individualism.” [5] This is exactly what is happening with Beyonce’s message and form of feminism. There is less emphasis and importance on solving political and systemic issues of gender opression, and there is more focus on the self, and individualism, which inevitably reduces potential for that female solidarity or collective force that the feminist movement needs.
Google trend of the search of the word 'feminist' at 37 points before Beyonce's VMA performance.
Google trend of the search of the word 'feminist' after Beyonce's VMA performance, increased to 71 points (more than double). This is an example of a benefit of celebrity feminism (increasing curiosity and awareness of the topic), but Beyonce's performance that was seen by all these people searching the word promotes a neoliberal feminism that people now are associating with the word 'feminist'.
The song ‘Flawless’ essentially tells her fans that they are flawless and perfect even when they may not look or feel the best, and to have confidence in themselves and not care what others, especially men, think. While it does include the excerpt of Chimamanda's speech that includes how women are told to be ambitious and successful, but not too much, and the double standards in society towards men and women, the rest of the song has focuses on individual empowerment and feeling confident in yourself. All of this resonates with a neoliberal feminist message: that the most important battle and fight is individual self discovery and confidence. Keeping this focus of the song in mind, it is understandable why Beyonce singing this song and standing in front of the word ‘feminist’ is problematic. Thousands of young girls may be learning about the word feminist for the first time and equating it’s definition to the message in Beyonce’s song. So while is true that an actual definition of feminism is given (in the excerpt of Chimamanda's speech), the definition does not align with the rest of the song and message. Women and men should be socially and politically equal, but the rest of the song is all about women needing to be confident and unapologetic for their success (which is not a wrong message, but it encourages that neoliberal feminist agenda).
Therefore, the overall combination of Beyonce’s song that focuses on the individual ambition and success of a woman and performing it in front of a sign that says ‘FEMINIST’, Beyonce has played a huge role in ‘rebranding’ feminism into a more neoliberal feminism. [4] This is particularly dangerous because now, individual success is seen as a goal for the feminist movement, where as long as women are working hard and reaching these higher positions in society seperately, it is a ‘win’ for all women and the feminist movement. [6] Collective action is no longer encouraged, which is the very force that is vital for the feminist movement to progress and achieve feminist goals. Collective action and women working together rather than solely focusing on their own success and empowerment is what is needed for laws and actual policies regarding structures with gender oppression to change. Beyonce has (knowingly or unknowingly) encouraged this new form of feminism that raises the feminist goal of individual empowerment and confidence to a much higher pedestal than it needs to be compared to more lasting goals, like actually working together to solve issues of systemic gender inequalities.
1. April Amanda Cadell, “From center to margin: Feminism in an era of mainstream co-optation” (M.A thesis, ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, The University of Alabama 2015) https://www.proquest.com/docview/1764970609/6166CBCFC4C44A0PQ/10?accountid=14541
2. Sarah Casey and Juliet Watson, “The Unpalatable-Palatable: Celebrity Feminism in Australian Mainstream Media,” Outskirts (November 2017), https://www.proquest.com/docview/2007441864/F3BA403114FA4C91PQ/7?accountid=14541
4. Amy Zimmerman, “The Perils of Glitzy Celebrity Feminism Having a Moment: Somewhere between the VMAs and Emma Watson's HeForShe, the term 'feminism' got a makeover--it's been Beyoncé-ified, rendered empowering and beautiful, trendy and hyper-relevant”, The Newsweek, October 15, 2014, https://www.proquest.com/docview/1649045869/CACDD168C0DA412BPQ/17?accountid=14541
5. Akane Kanai, “Between the perfect and the problematic: everyday femininities, popular feminism, and the negotiation of intersectionality,” Cultural Studies, January 2020, https://web-p-ebscohost-com.mutex.gmu.edu/ehost/detail/detail?vid=0&sid=da0bf741-abcb-4790-8ec0-2e9abdcf2eb9%40redis&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#AN=140850550&db=sih
5. Lilian Calles Barger, “Backlash: From Nine to Five to The Devil Wears Prada,” Women's Studies, March 31, 2011, https://web-p-ebscohost-com.mutex.gmu.edu/ehost/detail/detail?vid=0&sid=da0bf741-abcb-4790-8ec0-2e9abdcf2eb9%40redis&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#AN=140850550&db=sih
6. Caitlyn E. Lawson, “Platform feminism: Celebrity Culture and Activisim in the Digital Age,” (PhD diss., University of Michigan. ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, 2018, https://web-p-ebscohost-com.mutex.gmu.edu/ehost/detail/detail?vid=0&sid=da0bf741-abcb-4790-8ec0-2e9abdcf2eb9%40)