The stares were so obvious that it’s hard to believe no one nearby seemed to notice how uncomfortable the scene was.
In September 2014, Emma Watson arrived at the United Nations headquarters to introduce HeForShe, a campaign that aimed to involve men in the conversation about gender equality as well.
She was 24 years old and about to give one of the most memorable speeches of her career. She spoke about stereotypes, how women are judged differently from a very young age, and why feminism shouldn’t be understood as a fight between men and women.
But before she took the microphone, the scene was already pretty uncomfortable. As Emma walked through the venue, several men around her seemed to follow her with their eyes in a way that made the image keep circulating on social media many years later.
And that’s exactly where the irony lies: she was going to ask that women be taken seriously for what they think, do, and say, while some seemed much more focused on how she looked as she walked by.
Emma hadn’t even started her speech yet, and somehow, part of the problem was already sitting in the front row.