Girl Meets World, a spinoff of the hit ’90s sitcom Boy Meets World, is all about the idea of being an open, progressive parent, so it’s likely Rowan Blanchard’s onscreen mom and dad would be proud of her decision to denounce labeling her sexuality.
The 14-year old Disney Channel star took to Twitter recently to talk about some very personal issues, saying that she’s only liked boys for most of her life but now, she doesn’t want to stick labels on herself in favor of just “existing”.
“In my life — only ever liked boys. However I personally don’t wanna label myself as straight, gay or whateva so I am not gonna give myself labels to stick with — just existing ;)” Rowan wrote. “Yes, open to liking any gender in future is why I identify as queer.”
Blanchard has made headlines in the past on her educated and well-thought out responses to fan questions on social media, particularly her views on “white feminism”, a viewpoint that might exclude women of color.
“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…’White feminism’ forgets all about intersectional feminism. 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,” the Girl Meets World star wrote.
Blanchard wrote an essay for Rookie recently which is getting quite a bit of attention, as well. The actress has been praised across several social media platforms for her writing and for being a role model for young girls.
I have been worshipping @rookiemag for a few years now, and I got to write a piece for them on… https://t.co/lKEX4ukDsB
— Rowan Blanchard (@rowblanchard) January 15, 2016
Blanchard also recently took on Taylor Swift, who is widely praised in the media for the way she treats other women, saying that she doesn’t think having a “girl squad” teaches females positive lessons about how to interact with one another.
“Of course female friendship is a beautiful thing. It’s insanely powerful. Sisterhood is something so valid and important when you are growing up that I literally think the essence of it should be taught in schools. But the ‘squads’ we see in the media are very polarizing. Feminism and friendship are supposed to be inclusive, and most of these ‘squads’ are strictly exclusive.”
