Why Jennifer Lawrence, Emma Watson and Beyoncé Are Not the Feminists We Need

I care about making the liberties that men enjoy so freely fully accessible to women, and if men or celebrities claiming feminism for themselves has become the spoon full of sugar to make that medicine go down, so be it.

But it irks me that we more easily embrace feminism and feminist messages when delivered in the right package – one that generally includes youth, a particular kind of beauty, fame and/or self-deprecating humour. It frustrates me that the very idea of women enjoying the same inalienable rights as men is so unappealing that we require – even demand – that the person asking for these rights must embody the standards we’re supposedly trying to challenge. That we require brand ambassadors and celebrity endorsements to make the world a more equitable place is infuriating.

Around this time last year, as part of an effort to rebrand feminism – a notion that comes up in far too many discussions, as though there might be a magical combination of words and images that will make gender equality more palatable to the masses – Elle UK invited three British ad agencies to develop campaigns to promote feminist messages. I recognized the motivation behind the campaign but I resented the idea that with a better marketing message, the world might get right with feminism. I don’t truck in magical thinking.

Celebrities, of course, are often used as part of all vague “rebranding feminist” efforts, and in the last year or so, many famous young women – Jennifer Lawrence, Lena Dunham, Miley Cyrus – have openly claimed feminism. This shouldn’t be news, but it is, because all too often famous women – Katy Perry,Shailene Woodley, Kelly Clarkson – denounce feminism because they believe in humanism or they love men or other such reasons that make little sense.

A couple weeks ago, United Nations goodwill ambassador Emma Watson (best known as Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter movies) delivered a passionate speech before the UN that was, for the most part, very well received. Watson announced her “He For She” campaign meant to unite men and women in the feminist movement and help women achieve equality throughout the world. Clearly, the speech and the campaign were both well intentioned: video of her speech went viral and hers was the face that launched a thousandessays and articles about “Emma Watson’s feminism”. The feminist movement found a new brand, even though Emma Watson wasn’t saying anything feminists haven’t already said for more than 40 years.

Watson isn’t the only face of rebranded and reclaimed feminism. This has been the year when many of us, myself included, have been giddy over Beyoncé boldly declaring herself a feminist. At the MTV Video Music Awards, Beyoncé stood in front of the word FEMINIST and it felt like a moment. Here was a young, powerful, black woman openly claiming her feminism. Who wouldn’t want to be a feminist, too, with Beyoncé as a face of feminism? Unfortunately, Beyoncé will represent the only face of feminism for too many people who will incorrectly assume feminism begins and ends with her. She is one woman – an amazing woman, to be sure – but she is a gateway to feminism, not the movement itself.

Taylor Swift is also openly embracing feminism. In an August interview with the Guardian, Swift said:

As a teenager, I didn’t understand that saying you’re a feminist is just saying that you hope women and men will have equal rights and equal opportunities. What it seemed to me, the way it was phrased in culture, society, was that you hate men. And now, I think a lot of girls have had a feminist awakening because they understand what the word means.

This is the real problem feminism faces. Too many people are willfully ignorant about what the word means and what the movement aims to achieve. But when a pretty young woman has something to say about feminism, all of a sudden, that broad ignorance disappears or is set aside because, at last, we have a more tolerable voice proclaiming the very messages feminism has been trying to impart for so damn long.

We had yet another famous feminist icon to follow, though it seems we haven’t yet decided where we want to be led.

There is nothing wrong with celebrities (or men) claiming feminism and talking about feminism. I support anything that broadens the message of gender equality and tempers the stigma of the feminist label. We run into trouble, though, when we celebrate celebrity feminism while avoiding the actual work of feminism.

So long as we continue to stare into the glittery light of the latest celebrity feminist, we avoid looking at the very real inequities that women throughout the world continue to face. We avoid having the difficult conversations about the pay gap and the all-too-often sexist music we listen to and the movies we watch that tell women’s stories horribly (if at all) and the limited reproductive freedom women are allowed to exercise and the pervasive sexual harassment and violence too many women face. We avoid having the conversations about the hard work changing this culture will require.

Feminism is, I hope, a way to a better future for everyone who inhabits this world. Feminism should not be something that needs a seductive marketing campaign. The idea of women moving through the world as freely as men should sell itself.