‘Girl Meets World’ Star Rowan Blanchard Schools the Internet on Feminism
Actress Rowan Blachard address’ fan comments on “white feminism.” (Photo: Instagram)
13-year-old Girl Meets World star Rowan Blanchard has yet to attain her high school diploma — but she just schooled the internet about white feminism and intersectional feminism. On her personal Tumblr, a reader asked her for her opinion on the term “white feminism,” and “how common feminism might exclude women of color and non cis/queer women (ex: women are stronger [sic] bc they have periods! or men don’t [sic] have to think about how they dress when in public!).” Blanchard, who is part of the UN Women’s #HeForShe team (along with Emma Watson), responded not only eloquently and articulately, but also with a breadth of understanding and knowledge that most adults still struggle with. She mentions 16-year-old actress Amandla Stenberg, who has spoken out about cultural appropriation and once accused Kylie Jenner of appropriating cornrows. “Black features are beautiful. Black women are not,” Stenberg wrote on Instagram, noting that black women are shamed for the features they are born with, while white women like Kim Kardashian are celebrated for their voluptuous figures.
“‘White feminism’ forgets all about intersectional feminism,” Blanchard writes in her Tumblr post, later shared on Instagram. “The way a black woman experiences sexism and inequality is different from the way a white woman experiences sexism and inequality. Likewise with trans-women and Hispanic women.” Blanchard cites Kimberlé Crenshaw, a race and gender issues professor at UCLA, who introduced the theory of intersectionalism to feminism in the 1980s. She quoted Crenshaw: “The view that women experience oppression in varying configurations and in varying degrees of intensity. Cultural patterns of oppression are not only interrelated, but are bound together and influenced by the intersectional systems of society. Examples of this include race, gender, class, ability, and ethnicity.”
Click here to read the full essay.
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