This might turn into a rant, but it’s Keira Knightley.
As an advocate for women’s rights, I appreciate that Keira uses her voice to speak out against gender discrimination either in the film industry or society in general. However, there is a fine line between a respectful and unprejudiced Feminist and a pain-in-the-ass SJW ( Social Justice Warrior ). Guess which category Keira lands on?
Let’s start off with the essay ‘The Weaker Sex’, which she written and published in 2018, detailing about her experiences with childbirth and motherhood. She isn’t a professional writer in any way, but her unapologetic tone of writing in challenging the demanding and unrealistic expectations of women is highly-admirable. Well, that is until she started to bring up The Duchess of Cambridge, aka Kate Middleton into the discussion.
You see, Keira gave birth the day before Princess Charlotte, Kate’s daughter, was born on 2nd May 2015. I think we can all recall the day that Kate stepped out of the Lindo Wing with make-up and high heels on, and donning a pretty dress while carrying her daughter for the world to catch a glimpse of. Apparently, Keira was offended by that and have this to say;
“Hide. Hide our pain, our bodies splitting, our breasts leaking, our hormones raging. Look beautiful. Look stylish, don’t show your battleground, Kate. Seven hours after your fight with life and death, seven hours after your body breaks open, and bloody, screaming life comes out. Don’t show. Don’t tell. Stand there with your girl and be shot by a pack of male photographers.”
Look, I absolutely get what Keira is trying to imply here. However, did it ever crossed her mind that Kate wanted to dress up after hours of giving birth, or was physically and mentally capable in doing so? Birthing experiences varies with each women, and not to mention that Kate isn’t simply another ‘high-profile woman’. Her essay received mixed opinions, and rightly so. Instead of criticising and dragging a woman through the mud, why not respect her decisions? Feminism allows women the liberty to make their own choices without being judged upon - and it seems that Keira have forgotten about that.
Now here comes the best part. After months of the article being published, Keira was appointed an OBE ( Order of the British Empire ) in the Queen’s Birthday Honours for her dedication to Drama and Charity. Considering that this institution which in her mind, ‘pressurises’ Kate to be a poor influence on women and girls, you may think that she would have rejected this award to be firm in her opinions. But nope! She was dressed finely in her custom-designed Chanel suit, headed to Buckingham Palace and received the award by The Prince of Wales, Kate’s father-in-law. Quite a hypocrite, don’t you think?
That’s not all though.
It has also been reported that Keira doesn’t allow her daughter to watch Disney Princess films like Cinderella and The Little Mermaid. Yes, those films don’t portray women in the best of light, but we have to remember that they’re from a different era. When there are women and girls around the world being denied the basic rights to education and sexual and reproductive health care, the deed of banning children films that don’t represent the ‘modern working women’ just seems far-fetched and wrongly focused on. It’s like telling me that ‘all girls like pink’ should be tackled more crucially than ‘girls are being forced into child marriage’.
All in all, Keira is the representation of everything that’s wrong with Hollywood’s Feminism. All talk, no action.
Image source Google
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