It probably takes a lot for Emma Watson to be starstruck, but that’s how the iconic Little Women and Harry Potter actor says she felt when she spoke to Texas A&M professor and author Valerie Hudson.
The two recently hopped on a call to discuss Hudson’s book, Sex and World Peace, which Watson received a copy of from Gloria Steinem and which she highlighted on her Instagram for International Women’s Day. They ended up having a sprawling conversation on everything from the power of being happily single to Watson’s work with the United Nations Women HeForShe campaign to why men just don’t listen to women enough.
Teen Vogue published their conversation, below.
Emma Watson: This is so cool. I’m starstruck!
Valerie Hudson: I sort of feel the same way. One of my daughters is currently reading the Harry Potter series, so every time she finishes a book, we get to see the movie, and of course, you know, you are their heroine.
EW: Ah, I love that. You are such a badass. Your book, it exploded my brain — I think that’s the most accurate way that I can put it! What prompted you to write it?
VH: When I went to graduate school in international affairs, you could have taken my entire coursework and never known there were women on Earth. It was that woman-less.… The idea that national security could have something to do with women would have seemed ludicrous, absolutely ludicrous. And I was a product of that. And it really wasn’t until my eyes began to open, I began to ask questions. I began to read things that had hints.
One of the things you discover very quickly is that if you say, ‘I think national security has something to do with women’, people say, ‘Oh, you know, come back when you’ve got some data; don’t tell us these stories.’ It’s too dismissible without data. That’s why we took the data route.
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