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Sept. 23, 2014 - Sargon of Akkad - Carl Benjamin
11:45
Submit, Puny Males!
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Bumzile, thank you very much.
Your words truly, truly inspiring, an excellent way, an inspired way to kick off our he for she campaign.
I just love it when the UN gets involved in gender-based social campaigns.
He for she, I must say, is a solidarity movement, a partnership between women and men.
Why is it that feminists seem to act like they want to marry society?
Everything they do is a request for commitment.
Based on a shared commitment to fight against the persisting inequalities faced by women and girls.
Name one.
And now let's turn to a young woman who at 20 years old had a personal wealth of $32 million.
Who has chosen to lend her voice to this very important solidarity movement.
She's a leading British actor, an advocate for gender equality in her own right.
She's been involved with the promotion of girls' education for several years.
As part of her humanitarian efforts, she's visited Bangladesh, Zambia, recently returned, as we just heard from Uruguay on her first mission with UN women.
If she's going to start talking about the plight of first world women after visiting third world women, I'm going to be rather upset.
Ladies and gentlemen, please join me in welcoming to this stage our co-host and the UN Women's Global Goodwill Ambassador, Emma Watson.
Save us from patriarchy!
What is with this music?
Your Excellencies, UN Secretary General, President of the General Assembly, Executive Director of UN Women, and distinguished guests.
And obstreperous commentators of the internet.
Today, we are launching a campaign called He for She.
Sounds sexy.
I am reaching out to you because we need your help.
What can a poor man like me do for a multi-millionaire 20-something?
And how can I do that for free?
We want to end gender inequality.
You'll be telling us how much everyone hates the word feminism next.
And to do this, we need everyone involved.
I'm rather busy.
This is the first campaign of its kind at the UN.
We want to try and galvanize as many men and boys as possible to be advocates for change.
Wow, that didn't sound sinister at all.
And we don't just want to talk about it.
We want to try and make sure that it's tangible.
If you insist, I'll fire up the old brainwashing machine.
I was appointed as Goodwill Ambassador for UN Women six months ago.
And the more I've spoken about feminism, the more I have realized that fighting for women's rights has too often become synonymous with man-hating.
But hashtag kill all men was such a roaring success.
How could this be?
If there is one thing I know for certain, it is that this has to stop.
I'm not sure there's a way of persuading feminists not to hate men.
It seems to be a fundamental tenet of their religion.
But what do I know?
I'm a full supporter of the patriarchy.
For the record, feminism, by definition, is the belief that there are indeed ways that secular societies can be persuaded to adopt religions.
That men and women should have equal rights and opportunities.
Name a right I have that you don't.
Miss 20-something multi-millionaire.
It is the theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes.
Well, that's great because some theories are just plain wrong.
You already have political and economic equality under Western laws.
There is not a Western country in existence that thinks women should get paid less or not have the right to vote.
If your problem is social equality, then what you need to do is stop Western societies from being free countries.
I started questioning gender-based assumptions a long time ago.
When I was eight, I was confused being called bossy.
I strongly suspect it's why you landed the role of Hermione.
Because I wanted to direct the plays that we would put on for our parents.
But the boys were not.
When at 14, I started to be sexualized by certain elements of the media.
It's indefensible, but it's not surprising.
When at 15, my girlfriends started dropping out of their beloved sports teams because they didn't want to appear muscly.
Sorry, are you saying that you need feminism because your friends are straight?
When at 18, my male friends were unable to express their feelings.
What are you talking about?
They can express their feelings just fine.
They're just not the feelings that you express.
I decided that I was a feminist, and this seemed uncomplicated to me.
I think that can be best attributed to your youth and the circles you travel in.
But my recent research has shown me that feminism has become an unpopular word.
Well, I simply can't explain this one.
I'm just going to assume that society at large is deeply misogynistic.
Women are choosing not to identify as feminist.
And that is the most offensive thing they could do to feminists.
It effectively makes them apostates because we feminists always speak for all women.
Apparently, I am among the ranks of women whose expressions are seen as too strong.
You're up here whining.
Too aggressive.
And nagging.
Isolating.
And meddling.
And anti-men.
At least that bit was honest.
Unattractive, even.
Hey, I didn't say that.
But incessant nagging, whining, and meddling isn't very attractive.
Why has the word become such an uncomfortable one?
Yet, that might have happened.
A lot of people switch off when you say nigger.
Because some words are associated with quite extraordinary amounts of bigotry.
And using them is usually a sign that a very awkward and counterproductive conversation is about to happen.
I am from Britain.
I did tell you I was going to get upset if you were going to start talking about first world countries.
And I think it is right that I am paid the same as my male counterparts.
I think it is right that I should be able to make decisions about my own body.
I think it is right that women be involved on my behalf in the policies and the decisions that will affect my life.
I had no idea you were such a nationalist.
I think it is right that socially I am afforded the same respect as men.
Then you're going to have to come down a few notches because most men don't socially get the same respect as you.
But sadly, I can say that there is no one country in the world where all women can expect to receive these rights.
You just said Britain has these rights for women.
Are you suggesting there's some sort of slave class of women that isn't paid the same, can't vote, and everyone spits on in the street?
No country in the world can yet say that they have achieved gender equality.
Yes, they can, but you're talking about gender parity.
You're talking about equality of outcome rather than equality of opportunity.
You are either anti-free choice or anti-free market.
Choose.
These rights I consider to be human rights, but I am one of the lucky ones.
My life is a sheer privilege because my parents didn't love me less because I was born a daughter.
Which is not uncommon in Britain.
My school did not limit me because I was a girl.
My mentors didn't assume that I would go less far because I might give birth to a child one day.
These influencers were the gender equality ambassadors that made me who I am today.
They may not know it, but they are the inadvertent feminists who are changing the world today.
And they probably just thought they were egalitarians.
We need more of those.
And if you still hate the word, it is not the word that is important.
It's the idea and the ambition behind it.
Nobody cares about the word.
They care about the bigoted actions of feminism that render the female supremacy movement that it is unacceptable in a free and equal society.
Because not all women have received the same rights that I have.
In fact, statistically, very few have been.
Yep, fair enough.
There are definitely women in the third world who need feminism.
My question is: why is anything being asked of me, a first world man who is in no way responsible for any of this?
In 1997, Hillary Clinton made a famous speech in Beijing about women's rights.
Sadly, many of the things that she wanted to change are still true today.
Are you aware that Beijing is in China?
But what stood out for me the most was that less than 30% of the audience were male.
How can we affect change in the world when only half of it is invited or feel welcome to participate in the conversation?
Men, I would like to take this opportunity to extend your formal invitation.
To which I respectfully decline.
I will not be part of a bigoted female supremacist cult.
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