‘Game of Thrones’ Star Maisie Williams: People Are Either Feminist or Sexist
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The misunderstood “feminist” label has caused controversy for decades, and people continue to distance themselves from this apparently very scary word. Finally, Game of Thrones actress Maisie Williams, the 18-year-old who plays the headstrong Arya Stark in the HBO drama, has come up with an easy solution for determining whether someone is … you know.
“I got asked in one of my first interviews: ‘Is Arya a feminist?’ I didn’t even know what a feminist was,” Williams told Entertainment Weekly. "And then someone explained it to me.“
As the reporter noted, the British actress was quite young at the time. The show premiered two days after she turned 13.
"And I remember thinking, 'Isn’t that just like everyone?’ And then I realized everyone is not a feminist, unfortunately," Williams continued. "But I also feel like we should stop calling feminists 'feminists’ and just start calling people who aren’t feminist 'sexist’ — and then everyone else is just a human. You are either a normal person or a sexist."
Well, that was easy.
Williams went on to speak about the way people are quick to pile on when anyone makes a mistake or does something with which others don’t agree. For instance, some viewers have protested the violence directed against women on her show. She countered that men and animals also are treated badly.
"I think it’s upsetting that so many people have found it upsetting,” Williams said. “But I find a lot of things upsetting to watch. I get upset when animals get slaughtered. And lots of people are like, 'But this is worse than that’ — and I never understood that. I think everybody’s allowed to be upset about what they’re upset by. And once people are angry about something, you start worrying about saying the right thing instead of just saying what you mean. It’s very easy to have an opinion. Everyone’s got one. But it’s very difficult to speak up about difficult subjects when people are angry with you. People say: 'Why don’t you speak up?’ [and I’m thinking], 'Because you all got pitchforks and you’re ready to kill us!’ It’s scary if you say something wrong."
The fear is sometimes enough to keep her silent.
"Maybe I just have to get a backbone,” she mused. “I’m going to say this in this interview, but I wouldn’t say it with anyone else: I sometimes really worry about speaking up about feminist subjects out of fear of being bashed by women on social media. And there’s something not right there. Yeah, sometimes it’s men too. But there are women who are just nasty. I’m trying to do the best I can. I got a voice. I believe in equality and I know I have more power than the average person to reach people."
Williams did notably speak out about feminism in a December 2014 profile in The Guardian, where she referred to Emma Watson’s UN speech about gender equality as being a kind of "first-world feminism.”
“A lot of what Emma Watson spoke about, I just think, 'That doesn’t bother me,’” Williams told the newspaper. “I know things aren’t perfect for women in the U.K. and in America, but there are women in the rest of the world who have it far worse.”
Watson would surely agree with that.
