Photo Credit: Rowan’s Instagram
Rowan did in an interview with Interview Magazine and talked about why she’s so outspoken on her social media about Feminism. No girl/child should have to have that happen to them. Make sure you check out the rest of this awesome interview by going here: http://www.interviewmagazine.com/culture/rowan-blanchard
INTERVIEW: Bill Murray is the Buddha. But you’ve become a touching and comforting voice to a lot of people. Was there some sort of event that compelled you to start talking about intersectionality and feminism on your Tumblr and Twitter?
BLANCHARD: I would always acknowledge—personally, not publicly—the things that were going on, things that were happening in the world. But I still didn’t make the connection that those things happen to me. I remember I was at a movie with my friend, and we were both in skirts—this was two and a half or three years ago—we were waiting outside the movies for my dad to pick us up, and this grown man came over and was like, “You guys need a ride anywhere?” I was 12 years old and my friend was 15. And I just remember sitting there feeling my heart sink into my stomach. It was such a surreal moment. Because I always see that happening in front of me; I always see girls getting catcalled. But up until that point, I hadn’t experienced it. And it was like I was out-of-body for a second. I had seen that in movies, on TV, on the news. But when it happens to you, it’s like, “Oh, crap, this is real; people look at me this way. And people look at other girls this way.” I went home that night and didn’t tell anybody. I didn’t tell my parents because I was ashamed that it was what I was wearing. I was like, “Gosh, I shouldn’t wear a skirt next time. What am I doing?” My sister was 10 at the time, and I remember lying in bed and thinking, “I don’t want that to ever happen to her.” Then, once it happens to you, you see it everywhere. When you’re watching your favorite TV show, you see a joke that maybe would have gone over your head a month ago. You can’t escape it. There’s really nothing you can do except endure it and try and speak out about it. So that’s what I tried to do. Because it started consuming me. And, when girls would come up to me and be like, “I watch your show,” I would think, “Has this ever happened to this girl? Of course it’s happened to this girl, because it happens every day.” And it just started overwhelming me. So I started putting things on Twitter, Tumblr, and Instagram, because I realize that I have a following, and most of the people who watch our show, I would say, are girls. And I didn’t want them ever going through that. I just started doing it because I couldn’t bear it anymore.
INTERVIEW: When you began engaging on the topic, you did it really eloquently. Did you have a mission to articulate it to people in a way that they would feel a connection to what you were saying—as opposed to the sort of noise that you were receiving when you were watching stuff like that on the news?
BLANCHARD: Yeah. I know that the things that have impacted me most are not news articles written by older people that I would have no relation to; the things that impact me most are things written by people closer to my age. People like Tavi. And I wanted to write things in a way where somebody my age could read it and feel like they are holding somebody’s hand and be with somebody.
INTERVIEW: You don’t seem to be weighed down at all by your massive following, whereas others can start to seem corporate and branded. You seem very much yourself online, engaged and personal. How are you able to do that?
BLANCHARD: I think it’s because when I’m writing, I’m in my bedroom, and it doesn’t really feel like there’s anybody else there. So I’m not totally aware of the other people that are potentially going to be reading this. Whenever I read a book … I just finished The Catcher in the Rye, and that book had such a deep impact on me, because it felt like it was just Holden and me. I didn’t feel like any other person had read that book. It felt like my secret. Writing that I identify with feels like it’s just me and the writer. So I hope that whoever is reading what I do feels like that.