Sargon of Akkad - Carl Benjamin - Submit, Puny Males!
Aired: 2014-09-23
Duration: 11:45


=== He For She Campaign (07:11) ===

[00:00:01]  Bumzile, thank you very much.
[00:00:02]  Your words truly, truly inspiring, an excellent way, an inspired way to kick off our he for she campaign.
[00:00:10]  I just love it when the UN gets involved in gender-based social campaigns.
[00:00:15]  He for she, I must say, is a solidarity movement, a partnership between women and men.
[00:00:21]  Why is it that feminists seem to act like they want to marry society?
[00:00:25]  Everything they do is a request for commitment.
[00:00:29]  Based on a shared commitment to fight against the persisting inequalities faced by women and girls.
[00:00:35]  Name one.
[00:00:36]  And now let's turn to a young woman who at 20 years old had a personal wealth of $32 million.
[00:00:43]  Who has chosen to lend her voice to this very important solidarity movement.
[00:00:48]  She's a leading British actor, an advocate for gender equality in her own right.
[00:00:52]  She's been involved with the promotion of girls' education for several years.
[00:00:56]  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.
[00:01:08]  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.
[00:01:16]  Ladies and gentlemen, please join me in welcoming to this stage our co-host and the UN Women's Global Goodwill Ambassador, Emma Watson.
[00:01:28]  Save us from patriarchy!
[00:01:37]  What is with this music?
[00:01:43]  Your Excellencies, UN Secretary General, President of the General Assembly, Executive Director of UN Women, and distinguished guests.
[00:01:57]  And obstreperous commentators of the internet.
[00:02:01]  Today, we are launching a campaign called He for She.
[00:02:05]  Sounds sexy.
[00:02:07]  I am reaching out to you because we need your help.
[00:02:10]  What can a poor man like me do for a multi-millionaire 20-something?
[00:02:14]  And how can I do that for free?
[00:02:18]  We want to end gender inequality.
[00:02:23]  You'll be telling us how much everyone hates the word feminism next.
[00:02:26]  And to do this, we need everyone involved.
[00:02:31]  I'm rather busy.
[00:02:33]  This is the first campaign of its kind at the UN.
[00:02:36]  We want to try and galvanize as many men and boys as possible to be advocates for change.
[00:02:43]  Wow, that didn't sound sinister at all.
[00:02:46]  And we don't just want to talk about it.
[00:02:48]  We want to try and make sure that it's tangible.
[00:02:51]  If you insist, I'll fire up the old brainwashing machine.
[00:03:00]  I was appointed as Goodwill Ambassador for UN Women six months ago.
[00:03:05]  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.
[00:03:17]  But hashtag kill all men was such a roaring success.
[00:03:21]  How could this be?
[00:03:25]  If there is one thing I know for certain, it is that this has to stop.
[00:03:33]  I'm not sure there's a way of persuading feminists not to hate men.
[00:03:38]  It seems to be a fundamental tenet of their religion.
[00:03:41]  But what do I know?
[00:03:42]  I'm a full supporter of the patriarchy.
[00:03:46]  For the record, feminism, by definition, is the belief that there are indeed ways that secular societies can be persuaded to adopt religions.
[00:03:58]  That men and women should have equal rights and opportunities.
[00:04:03]  Name a right I have that you don't.
[00:04:07]  Miss 20-something multi-millionaire.
[00:04:11]  It is the theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes.
[00:04:18]  Well, that's great because some theories are just plain wrong.
[00:04:22]  You already have political and economic equality under Western laws.
[00:04:28]  There is not a Western country in existence that thinks women should get paid less or not have the right to vote.
[00:04:36]  If your problem is social equality, then what you need to do is stop Western societies from being free countries.
[00:04:47]  I started questioning gender-based assumptions a long time ago.
[00:04:51]  When I was eight, I was confused being called bossy.
[00:04:56]  I strongly suspect it's why you landed the role of Hermione.
[00:05:01]  Because I wanted to direct the plays that we would put on for our parents.
[00:05:06]  But the boys were not.
[00:05:08]  When at 14, I started to be sexualized by certain elements of the media.
[00:05:13]  It's indefensible, but it's not surprising.
[00:05:17]  When at 15, my girlfriends started dropping out of their beloved sports teams because they didn't want to appear muscly.
[00:05:25]  Sorry, are you saying that you need feminism because your friends are straight?
[00:05:30]  When at 18, my male friends were unable to express their feelings.
[00:05:36]  What are you talking about?
[00:05:38]  They can express their feelings just fine.
[00:05:41]  They're just not the feelings that you express.
[00:05:45]  I decided that I was a feminist, and this seemed uncomplicated to me.
[00:05:52]  I think that can be best attributed to your youth and the circles you travel in.
[00:05:58]  But my recent research has shown me that feminism has become an unpopular word.
[00:06:04]  Well, I simply can't explain this one.
[00:06:06]  I'm just going to assume that society at large is deeply misogynistic.
[00:06:13]  Women are choosing not to identify as feminist.
[00:06:18]  And that is the most offensive thing they could do to feminists.
[00:06:23]  It effectively makes them apostates because we feminists always speak for all women.
[00:06:34]  Apparently, I am among the ranks of women whose expressions are seen as too strong.
[00:06:41]  You're up here whining.
[00:06:43]  Too aggressive.
[00:06:45]  And nagging.
[00:06:47]  Isolating.
[00:06:48]  And meddling.
[00:06:50]  And anti-men.
[00:06:52]  At least that bit was honest.
[00:06:54]  Unattractive, even.

=== Words With Weight (04:48) ===

[00:06:57]  Hey, I didn't say that.
[00:06:58]  But incessant nagging, whining, and meddling isn't very attractive.
[00:07:03]  Why has the word become such an uncomfortable one?
[00:07:08]  Yet, that might have happened.
[00:07:10]  A lot of people switch off when you say nigger.
[00:07:13]  Because some words are associated with quite extraordinary amounts of bigotry.
[00:07:17]  And using them is usually a sign that a very awkward and counterproductive conversation is about to happen.
[00:07:25]  I am from Britain.
[00:07:27]  I did tell you I was going to get upset if you were going to start talking about first world countries.
[00:07:33]  And I think it is right that I am paid the same as my male counterparts.
[00:07:39]  I think it is right that I should be able to make decisions about my own body.
[00:07:45]  I think it is right that women be involved on my behalf in the policies and the decisions that will affect my life.
[00:08:04]  I had no idea you were such a nationalist.
[00:08:08]  I think it is right that socially I am afforded the same respect as men.
[00:08:14]  Then you're going to have to come down a few notches because most men don't socially get the same respect as you.
[00:08:22]  But sadly, I can say that there is no one country in the world where all women can expect to receive these rights.
[00:08:34]  You just said Britain has these rights for women.
[00:08:37]  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?
[00:08:46]  No country in the world can yet say that they have achieved gender equality.
[00:08:52]  Yes, they can, but you're talking about gender parity.
[00:08:58]  You're talking about equality of outcome rather than equality of opportunity.
[00:09:03]  You are either anti-free choice or anti-free market.
[00:09:08]  Choose.
[00:09:10]  These rights I consider to be human rights, but I am one of the lucky ones.
[00:09:18]  My life is a sheer privilege because my parents didn't love me less because I was born a daughter.
[00:09:26]  Which is not uncommon in Britain.
[00:09:29]  My school did not limit me because I was a girl.
[00:09:35]  My mentors didn't assume that I would go less far because I might give birth to a child one day.
[00:09:43]  These influencers were the gender equality ambassadors that made me who I am today.
[00:09:50]  They may not know it, but they are the inadvertent feminists who are changing the world today.
[00:09:57]  And they probably just thought they were egalitarians.
[00:10:01]  We need more of those.
[00:10:04]  And if you still hate the word, it is not the word that is important.
[00:10:11]  It's the idea and the ambition behind it.
[00:10:15]  Nobody cares about the word.
[00:10:17]  They care about the bigoted actions of feminism that render the female supremacy movement that it is unacceptable in a free and equal society.
[00:10:27]  Because not all women have received the same rights that I have.
[00:10:32]  In fact, statistically, very few have been.
[00:10:38]  Yep, fair enough.
[00:10:39]  There are definitely women in the third world who need feminism.
[00:10:42]  My question is: why is anything being asked of me, a first world man who is in no way responsible for any of this?
[00:10:52]  In 1997, Hillary Clinton made a famous speech in Beijing about women's rights.
[00:10:59]  Sadly, many of the things that she wanted to change are still true today.
[00:11:06]  Are you aware that Beijing is in China?
[00:11:09]  But what stood out for me the most was that less than 30% of the audience were male.
[00:11:19]  How can we affect change in the world when only half of it is invited or feel welcome to participate in the conversation?
[00:11:30]  Men, I would like to take this opportunity to extend your formal invitation.
[00:11:39]  To which I respectfully decline.
[00:11:41]  I will not be part of a bigoted female supremacist cult.