At fourteen years old, Girl Meets World star Rowan Blanchard has more wisdom than most of us have by the time we’re 30. She’s used her platform to speak up about catcalling, LGBTQ representation, and female friendships in poignant and elegant ways. In a recent interview with The Cut, she wowed us again, this time shedding some light on the importance of intersectional feminism.
“My first definition of feminism was so small: Men and women should be equal,” she explained. “And maybe that’s how you have to learn it, so that it can be more accessible.”
But, as Blanchard points out, it’s a little more nuanced than that, and not digging deeper is doing a further disservice to the voices that are often left out of these conversations.
“Then I started discovering Audre Lorde and Angela Davis and all of these intricacies of feminism that were not being presented to me by these white feminist ‘icons.’” she continues. “It was only then that I realised how deep it is and how it’s more about undoing these walls that we have built around marginalised people — it’s not just about women and men. It’s the fact that the walls for me are different than the walls for Amandla [Stenberg].”
Because of this discovery, Blanchard’s definition of feminism has broadened. It’s not just working towards equality between men and women, but also “undoing patriarchal structures against marginalised people.” She stresses that when we talk about women, we must include women of colour, as well as those who are LGBTQ and disabled.
This is such an excellent and important message for Blanchard to spread, but she refuses to believe she has all the answers. “To say that I know everything about feminism would be the biggest lie!” she concludes. “It’s such a learning process and so much of it is listening.”
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