Overview
He For She is a feminist campaign launched by the UN supported by Emma Watson. After giving a speech on the campaign and feminism, she faced a backlash from users on 4chan.
Background
On August 18th, 2014, actress Emma Watson sent out a tweet which included the hastag #heforshe. Within a month the tweet was retweeted over 27,000 times and the hashtag[4] was tweeted out over 160,000 times.
On September 20th, Watson gave a speech[1] at the UN, in her capacity as the Goodwill ambassador for UN Women, to announce the launching of the He For She campaign. She explained the campaign, saying:
“I want men to take up this mantle. So their daughters, sisters and mothers can be free from prejudice but also so that their sons have permission to be vulnerable and human too – reclaim those parts of themselves they abandoned and in doing so be a more true and complete version of themselves.”
On September 21st, YouTuber normaljean2[2] uploaded a video of Watson’s speech, within 48 hours the video gained over 2.5 million views.
Notable Developments
4chan
On September 22nd, a 4chan user created a website called “EmmaYouAreNext”[6] which features a picture of Watson and a countdown clock,[5] which seems to imply Watson will be the next celebrity to have her nude photos leaked by 4chan when the countdown ends.
Users also introduced[9] the hashtag #RIPEmmaWatson[10] to create a Watson death hoax. Within a week the hashtag was tweeted out over 500 times.
On September 23rd, The New Statesman[11] published an open letter to Watson titled “Dear Emma Watson, it’s great that you’ve come out as a feminist. Here’s what to expect,” which explains:
“All I can say Emma, is: fuck them. It makes me furious that these men, these boys, are attempting to grind you down, in the same way that similar men have tirelessly attempted to grind down the emergence of our gender as a viable political threat for generations now. Fuck them. I know that you will not let them stop you, just as we other feminists will not let it stop us.”
Search Interest
External References
[1]He For She – Emma Watson Speech
[2]YouTube – normaljean2
[3]Twitter – Emma Watson
[5]Business Insider – 4chan Hackers Are Threatening To Post Naked Photographs Of Emma Watson
[6]EmmaYouAreNext – emmayouarenext
[7]Jezebel – 4Chan User Threatens to Post Emma Watson Nudes For Being a Feminist
[8]The Guardian – Feminists rally round Emma Watson after 4chan nude photo leak threats
[9]The Washington Post – 4Chan users threatening to expose supposed Emma Watson private photos after she gives feminist speech
[10]Topsy – RIPEmmaWatson
[11]New Statesman – Dear Emma Watson, it’s great that you’ve come out as a feminist. Here’s what to expect