Over the weekend the actress and Goodwill Ambassador for Women to the United Nations, Emma Watson, delivered a powerful speech on the efforts to bring gender equality to the world. She spoke eloquently of the privileges she has known as a British woman and of her embrace of feminism as an individual. She spoke of the unfortunate impression that feminism is akin to ‘man-hating,’ and the damage that this impression has created for the cause of equality around the globe.

She announced the creation of a new program called He For She, which aims to galvanize as many men and boys to be advocates for change as possible. And Watson took the opportunity to make a formal invitation on behalf of feminism to men. “How can we affect change in the world when only half of it is invited or feels welcome to participate in the conversation?”

In her speech, Watson spoke at times about the word feminism and the response it evokes, and in doing so reminded me of one given by Joss Whedon last year, which focused on the word “feminism” itself. But where Whedon spoke from the perspective of a writer talking about words and what they signifiy, Ms. Watson spoke of the word as an idea which carries the future well-being of our species.

“If you hate the word,” Watson tells her audience, “it is not the word that is important. It is the idea and the ambition behind it.”

Her speech is powerful and you should watch it.

Unfortunately, a young woman advocating equality does not pass idly on the internet, and right on cue we are all reminded why this work is so necessary. The speech has made Emma Watson the target of a new directed misogynistic attack, with 4Chan users announcing a website titled “Emma You Are Next.”

The site features only a countdown clock and an image of Emma Watson wiping a tear from her eye accompanied by the text “Never forget, the biggest to come thus far” (screen-grab here). The implication seems to be that when the countdown reaches zero, the site will release nude photos of the actress in similar fashion to those released last month of Jennifer Lawrence and a number of other celebrities.

Whether the site and its creators have anything to release on that date or are just pulling a prank for publicity at this stage seems beside the point. Be it the seemingly indiscriminate theft of private property or the direct targeting and harassment of an individual feminist critic, speaking out on behalf of equality requires a steel-resolve from the women who take to the stage or appear on our screens to do it. Lucky for the world, there are many women who maintain such resolve, celebrities and internet personalities among them, but more importantly countless women around the world working everyday for the cause of feminism.

Those advocates, like Ms. Watson, like all women, deserves respect, and such advocacy is a cause for celebration, not misogyny and attack.