Emma Watson Just Dropped The Mic On International Women's Day
Queen.
Emma Watson is in New York this week celebrating International Women's Day and speaking on behalf of HeForShe, the UN Women's campaign for gender equality.
Astrid Stawiarz / Getty Images
Today also marks the first day of HeForShe Arts Week, a partnership with New York City that aims to use the arts as an opportunity for dialogue and action.
Miguel Rojo / AFP / Getty Images
During a conference at the Public Theater this morning, Watson stressed the important role the arts can play in social change.
"We have to do more than help people see the logic with their minds. It's also about making them feel it in their bones, viscerally, emotionally," Watson said. "This is what changes us. It's what makes us act. You can't unwatch great films, you can't unread incredible books, you can't unsee groundbreaking art. They change you forever."
During the conference, Watson also addressed the unfair standards we place on the idea of "masculinity."
"[There are] rigid definitions and ideas of what a leading man can and can't do, and how he should and shouldn't act," she said. She listed The Pursuit of Happyness, Billy Elliot, The Color Purple, and Brokeback Mountain as films that "challenge the notion that men don't have tear ducts."