Taylor Swift: 'Emma Watson's feminism speech was just what young women needed to hear'

Taylor Swift has become the latest young star to join the Emma Watson feminism fan club after showering praise on the Harry Potter star following her sexual equality speech at the United Nations earlier this month (Sep14).

The actress rallied feminists all over the world with her stirring commentary on women's rights and equal pay, and her celebrity fans were quick to applaud her for her well-presented argument.

Now, Swift has joined them, telling Canadian talk show Tout Le Monde En Parle, "I wish when I was 12 years old, I'd been able to watch a video of my favourite actress explaining in such an intellectual, beautiful, poignant way the definition of feminism.

"I would have understood it and earlier on in my life would have proudly claimed that I was a feminist, because I would have understood what the word means. So many girls out there say, 'I'm not a feminist', because they think it means something angry, or disgruntled, or complaining, or they picture rioting and picketing. It is not that at all. It simply means you believe women and men should have equal rights and opportunities."

And the Love Story singer offered up her own argument in the battle of the sexes, stating, "Females are kind of pinned up against each other. For example, you'll never see online 'Vote for who has the better butt: this actor or this actor'... It's always this female singer or this female singer. It's every day (for me)...

"In order for us to have gender equality, we have to stop making it a girl fight, and we have to stop being so interested in seeing girls try and tear each other down. It has to be more about cheering each other on as women.

"I cheer on anybody who is living their life on their own terms, wearing what they want to wear and representing what they want to represent."