Emma Watson Is Taking A Year Off From Her Career. The Reason Is Laudable!

Tuesday, March 29 2016, 07:49:48

Priya Motiani

Blogger

Emma Watson Is Taking A Year Off From Her Career. The Reason Is Laudable!

JWB Post

February 24, 2016

We have a new reason to adore the feminist icon and #HeForShe UN campaign ambassador, Emma Watson. She’s taking a year off from her blooming acting career so as to learn more about feminism and gender equality.

Isn’t that a whole new level of awesomeness? Here’s what she said about this choice of hers on her interview with American author Bell Hooks.

“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.”

Bell Hooks, who, herself is a feminist icon and social activist, replied, “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. You’re really sincerely struggling with what is needed to create a world without patriarchal domination.”

Emma: “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. 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.”

It is this dialogue between these two empowering women that interests us the most.

Emma concludes by saying “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. 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.”