Put one woman who has made her mark on the fight for reproductive rights and another who is quickly becoming a voice for her generation in the same room and you get some serious feminist magic.
As part of its "Girl Crush" series, PAPER Magazine brought Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards and "Girl Meets World" star Rowan Blanchard together for a discussion on feminism, social media and more.
When asked what she thinks Planned Parenthood can provide for people her age, Blanchard, who called Richards one of her "role models," mentioned the health care provider's social media accounts and online presence. Through these, Planned Parenthood provides a space for young people (especially women) to openly discuss and ask questions about their sexual health. As Blanchard pointed out, many young women are shamed for simply mentioning sex and their bodies.
"People seriously shame them for it. Girls are getting their first periods, and immediately it's an embarrassing thing that you just want to hide, rather than being a normal thing that you talk about," Blanchard said. "And now that you guys have such a big social media influence, I think that has definitely affected that. Because people have access to the Internet, especially teens."
Richards agreed that social media has had an impact, especially on the way women tell their stories now that "no one ever would have told in [her] generation."
"Whether it was their own sexual health stories, their own things that have concerned them, the issues they've dealt with as a woman," she said. "It can be a really democratizing force."
The two feminists also touched on subjects like sexual assault and consent and the importance of normalizing such conversations, especially among young people. Blanchard mentioned other empowering members of her generation positively influencing today's young girls by also being vocal about such subjects.
When I started talking about them on social media, I noticed that with teenage girls [and insecurity], it comes from a deep place of shame about their bodies, and everything that they're taught from a very young age. I think the new wave of women on social media who are allowing themselves to just be themselves is opening doors for a lot of young girls who wouldn't otherwise have that kind of affirmation to be allowed to be themselves, which is cool.
Aside from Blanchard, this "new wave" includes young feminists like Amandla Stenberg, Tavi Gevinson and Zendaya who all have embraced the fight for gender equality and have huge followings online (we're talking millions of followers). With each tweet, Tumblr post, Instagram caption and interview, these feminists are proving that age is simply a number and that you're never too young to join the conversation.
Read the conversation between Richards and Blanchard in full at PAPER Magazine.
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