Rowan & Yara Are Feminist Heroes
Teen queens and activism forces Yara Shahidi and Rowan Blanchard are cover stars in the December issue of Teen Vogue. The girls join forces (as guest editors! Lucky *sighs*) to discuss how they navigate how to be a girl in the world today. They tackle issues from everything from representation in Hollywood, activism and of course the recent election. Rowan and Yara are the ideal squad you would want to sing to Beyoncé with as you stare at yourselves in the photo booth on your laptop. They are smart girls who have the most intersectional feminist minds of our generation thanks to social media. They use their tools (social media) to connect with their millions of followers waiting to see their next move. As a lot people who are on social media we can get lost in our voices by people's varied opinions but that doesn't seem to phase girls like Yara and Rowan. Yet they are still human, humans with passion, activism, determination...homework. Yara,16, and Rowan, 15 are one of those angels sent here to help us get through the toughest days for America with their wit and articulate point of views.
They are the best of friends since they met Teen Vogue’s Young Hollywood party in 2014. They respect how they carry themselves as "ethereal" human beings. "Whether you see her speaking to crowds of young future leaders or on television as Riley in Girl Meets World, Rowan emits beams of light and happiness onto other people," Yara(plays Zoey on Black-ish) says of Rowan. They share heartfelt humanitarianism and art. They turn to each other when they are in need to process the fragile state of our world. Rowan and Yara have a typical platonic love that they can talk about social issues to texting each other in gibberish at 1 in the morning about the Beyoncé concert they just saw. I would text them too. "The world seems like a hierarchy where girls are encouraged to see each other as competition rather than people worth getting to know, Yara has taught me that sisterhood is thicker than any of these notions," Rowan says. They love their influence they have in each other for example that Yara is an essential part of Rowan's journey as a girl, as an actress, and as a teenager. (Rowan has a journal that possesses inspirational quotes by Yara: friendship goals.)
Nevertheless, Yara believes in each others' voices have the ability to change things. I couldn't agree with that even more. They don't want to change the world as much as they want people to make an impact each other's lives. They are always taken aback by their influence in their fans lives as well. "I was walking around New York City the other day, and this 11-year-old girl came up to me and said, “Thank you for speaking about feminism.” And I thought, It’s so awesome hearing that word from someone that age. It wasn’t, like, a censored, hush-hush term," Rowan says. The word feminism has gotten a bad reputation of false ideas such as dehumanizing the opposite sex, instead of its main idea of equality. I, like many 11-year-olds and older wouldn't be so interested in feminism if it weren't for Yara and Rowan. Yara wants to encourage the power of representation in women especially women of color. "I met a girl who told me, “I took this extra science class because of you,” and that was one of the best compliments I had ever gotten in my entire existence. It’s up there with the girls who say, “I see myself represented in you,” Yara says. As an actress, Yara saw the lack of people who looked like her. But it’s so much more than “I want to see somebody with my skin tone.”
And, representation in television still lacks in diversity. The lack of diversity is even in what kids buy and movies kids watch since the world was introduced with the first African American Disney princess Tiana in Princess in the Frog. "There could be 10 people who look like me on a show, but they all got killed in the first scene. Or they’re all in jail. Or they’re all the best friend. I want to see somebody who looks like me as the doctor and the criminal and the successful businessperson and the woman barely making a living. I want to see the spectrum." Rowan is part the opposite part of the spectrum. "As a white person, I never had to think about representation because I always saw myself as a Disney princess. The thing about privilege is, oftentimes you don’t even have to think about the inequality when you don’t have to face it." Yara preaches that the only way to see change is to be the change you want to see. Be your own representation. Even if we love to see black Disney characters sometimes it seems like a black character and white characters have to be in separate categories. Sometimes girls feel threatened to want to be in careers that are so dominated by only guys. Rowan is no different. She was asked if she wanted to go into directing movies. However, Rowan declined the idea later realizing movies as being directed only by guys. Yet having more representation of female directors such as Ava DuVernay, the first black African American woman to direct a $100 million motion picture. With A Wrinkle in Time, as DuVernay as the director of the film that Rowan will be a co-star of the film, is inspirational to her to her desire to direct someday.
However, Yara and Rowan recognize to importance of activism. "My need to be an activist came very much from a need to understand history. And how things that happened before have influenced what’s happening now. We covered Rosa Parks for, like, three days in history. But there is so much more than what is in the history books. To me, activism is a need to know, a need to explain, and a need to help." However as anyone second guesses themselves if their passions are worth the energy to work on. "At first I was very scared of the term. I thought, Am I actually doing enough? Then I realized that oftentimes existing is activism in itself. For instance, I think it’s brave for girls to go to college when there is a one-in-four chance that they will be raped. That in itself is activism. I wish all girls and people of color called themselves activists," Rowan continues. Yara was inspired by activism just by being on her Black-ish, as race became an unavoidable conversation. "It gave me this platform to address these topics, and that opened the doors to develop my voice in an intentional way. On a personal level, even though I was always hyperaware of our history, I didn’t put race in a real physical context until I hit my teens. Being mixed—I’m half Iranian and half black—even has its strange amalgamation of problems. The first instance that really rubbed me the wrong way was when somebody called me whitewashed. I couldn’t process what that meant. In theory, I’d heard all the stereotypes. But it was my first time seeing, Oh, wow, people still believe in a black stereotype. What was conflicting was that I was surrounded by successful women and people of color who were—by society’s view—the anomaly. All around me, there were examples of excellence and excelling." This also gives you a reason to be surrounded by more people as an example of the change you want to see.
Yara and Rowan are sill young women trying to figure themselves out in the world. "Like activist DeRay McKesson says, “You’re not born woke”; it’s such a learning process. I started thinking about the feminism I was initially being sold, which was basically that boys and girls should be equal. It may take sometime to figure how what kind of person you need to be and there's nothing wrong with questioning your intentions. These girls question themselves too. " You have to always question your politics: Am I being as inclusive as I possibly can? Is this thing that I said, could it be xenophobic? My worst fear is someone writing, “Rowan Blanchard, queen of feminism!” I’m like no. I am figuring this out just as much as you are. I am constantly trying to check my privilege. I sometimes get worried that my feminism is, like, too American. We can get lost in Taylor Swift fighting Kanye West instead of being like, there are so many Syrian refugees!" So true! If Rowan follows through with her dreams of being a director, Yara might even run our country. Devastating that Hillary Clinton didn't win the election, however, if Yara runs for president we are ready for more #blackgirlmagic in the White House! Lets go 2035!
