AAAAAAAAAAAGGGHHHH! The world’s going to end! A self-proclaimed “feminist” is sexualizing herself! How can she even be a feminist then??!! Run away, children, from this runaway child! Shield your eyes! And by the way, feminists are bad people who are going to destroy the world and castrate all men! Unfollow this disobedient lady! Buy tickets to her movies and defiantly eat popcorn loudly in the theater to help *__BOYCOTT THIS GIRL!!!!__*

…seriously?

What are we, five? Sure seems like it, if this is how we respond.

Oh, in case you didn’t know, Emma Watson (most well known as the actor for Hermione Granger in Harry Potter and Belle in Disney’s newly revamped Beauty and the Beast) recently posed for a Vanity Fair cover shoot with a very revealing outfit. (View at your own discretion, I guess.) There was some pretty amazing backlash to this photo that I couldn’t believe, especially given how many equally racy celebrity photos there are.

The backlash basically revolved around the fact that Watson is a self-proclaimed feminist and yet simultaneously expressed her sexuality, the idea being that she was being hypocritical because feminists are always condemning society for sexualizing and objectifying women. My response to this? She was and still is a feminist, and she is not being hypocritical. And please just hear me out on this issue before you click away.

First off, let me clear this up: a feminist is someone who believes that women should have equal opportunities and the same rights as men. They do not believe that women are better than men, nor that they should be treated better than men. They just want women to be treated fairly. And I know, you could argue otherwise, but the vast majority of feminists (and dictionaries, by the way) use this definition or something similar to define themselves. Yes, there are probably some outliers who want to kill all men but still claim to be feminists. But we aren’t talking about these people–we are talking about normal people who just believe in equal rights.

You might be saying right now, “Well, Emma Watson calls herself a feminist, but how can you prove that she is one?” Besides the fact that she was named as the UN Women Goodwill Ambassador, it’s because that one photo is about choice. If she chooses to display herself in that manner, then power to her! Being able to give women that choice is what feminism is all about. It’s about not forcing women to be seen as sexual objects but if they want to take that risk then that’s their choice.

If there’s one good thing that you can take away from this, it is that FEMINISM IS NOT BAD. It is about equality and choice and all the good freedoms in the world. So next time check your definition of feminism before you call a feminist a hypocrite.

“Emma Watson 2013” by Georges Biard is lisenced under CC BY-SA 3.0