The 13-Year-Old Star of 'Girl Meets World' Just Wrote a Must-Read Essay on Feminism

"To only acknowledge feminism from a one sided view when the literal DEFINITION is the equality of the sexes is not feminism at all."

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Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

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Rowan Blanchard, who plays Riley Matthews (daughter of Cory and Topanga) on Boy Meets World sequel Girl Meets World, is only 13 years old but is already so well-informed on feminist issues. (She's definitely way smarter than most men twice, thrice, even four times her age.) A couple months after her UN Women's conference speech about gender inequality, she posted a poignant essay in response to a fan asking her about the term "white feminism." The prompt was: "row, i wanted to ask your opinion on the term 'white feminism' and how common feminism might exclude women of color and non cis/queer women (ex: women are stronger bc they have periods! or men dont have to think about how they dress when in public!)." She responded—on Tumblr, and then in three parts via Instagram (1, 2, 3)—which can be found below:

Hi! This is such an important thing to be discussing. I have made a very big point at making sure my personal feminism includes everyone- and educating myself and discussing these topics have really helped.

Her essay on intersectional feminism shows how women experience inequality on different levels, something we can all learn more about. She also shouts out gender/race issues scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw and fellow feminist teen icon Amandla Stenberg (Rue from The Hunger Games) for calling out cultural appropriation. She concludes with this truth: "To only acknowledge feminism from a one sided view when the literal DEFINITION is the equality of the sexes is not feminism at all. We need to be talking about this more."

Praise hands to Rowan, so eloquent at so young an age. We could all look up to her as a role model. (And look, she's even got Emma Watson on her side):

This is called 'hitting the nail on the head'. @rowblanchard pic.twitter.com/xmqnmJktLf

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