Emma Watson just revealed she has a girl crush on bell hooks. Oh and she's taking time away from acting to learn more about feminism.
Feminist icon bell hooks recently interviewed Watson for Paper Magazine's "Girl Crush" series, where she spoke to Watson about her role as a U.N. ambassador for the #HeForShe campaign and her recent feminist coming-of-age.
Watson told hooks she'll be taking a year off from acting to focus on a few things, one of which is to learn more about gender equality:
I'm taking a year away from acting to focus on two things, really. My own personal development is one... My own personal task is to read a book a week, and also to read a book a month as part of my book club. I'm doing a huge amount of reading and study just on my own. I almost thought about going and doing a year of gender studies, then I realized that I was learning so much by being on the ground and just speaking with people and doing my reading. That I was learning so much on my own. I actually wanted to keep on the path that I'm on. I'm reading a lot this year, and I want to do a lot of listening.
In the "world of celebrity activism," hooks said she was impressed to hear Watson take a genuine interest in learning more about the feminist movement. "A lot of times we know that in the world of celebrity activism, celebrities jump into a cause, but rarely are they telling us, 'I'm studying, learning, I'm taking it slow, talking to people.' It's so exciting that you're doing that," hooks told Watson. "You're really sincerely struggling with what is needed to create a world without patriarchal domination."
“For me the biggest liberation has been that so much of the self-critiquing is gone.”
- Emma Watson on what feminism has done for her
When hooks asked Watson what the young actress finds most liberating about feminism, Watson responded with a personal anecdote. "I'm on my journey with this and it might change, but I can tell you that... for me the biggest liberation has been that so much of the self-critiquing is gone," she said. "Engaging with feminism, there is this kind of bubble now that goes off in my head where these really negative thoughts about myself hit where I'm able to combat them in a very rational and quick way. I can see it now in a way that's different."
Watson added that she hopes all women can gain the same source of self-love she's found through feminism. "I guess if I could give women anything through feminism... it would just be, to be able to move away, to move through all of that. I see so many women struggling with issues of self-esteem," Watson said. "They know and they hear it and they read it in magazines and books all the time that self-love is really important, but it's really hard to actually do."
Head over to Paper Magazine to read the rest of hooks' and Watson's awesome conversation.
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