The Girl Meets World star Rowan Blanchard, who plays Cory and Topanga’s daughter Riley Matthews on the B oy Meets World reboot, says that she isn’t straight or gay. The 14-year-old actress says she identifies as “queer” because she doesn’t want to give herself “labels.”
The Daily Mail reports that the Girl Meets Worl d star took to Twitter to discuss her sexuality after fans pressed her on the matter. Rowan Blanchard, 14, says that she has “only ever liked boys,” but says that she is open to dating any gender in the future. She says that she doesn’t want to put a label on herself so she sticks with the identification of “queer,” which she says means she is “just existing” without labels or expectations for herself regarding sexuality.
“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. [sic]”
Aye! ??? pic.twitter.com/NXOZv5Jlzy
— Rowan Blanchard (@rowblanchard) January 16, 2016
However, after making the post, her fans pressed the issue further with one stating, “Unless you are saying you are open to liking any other gender in the future then please specify.” Rowan responded to the Twitter user by saying that she is open to liking any gender in the future, hence why she identifies as queer.
@phippstea yes open to liking any gender in future is why I identify as queer
— Rowan Blanchard (@rowblanchard) January 16, 2016
Rowan says she was “proud” of herself for being honest about her “non-label,” but then everyone attacked her. However, she doesn’t seem to fazed by the ordeal and her fans are telling her to keep her head up and identify sexually however she wants.
@lovingrowboat like I thought I was being brave and was proud of myself and then everyone attacks me… Cool
— Rowan Blanchard (@rowblanchard) January 17, 2016
Though Blanchard is only 14-years-old, this isn’t the first time she has stirred controversy. In fact, she wrote an essay when she was just 13-years-old on feminism calling for equality between the sexes claiming that young women should focus more on science, technology, engineering, and math instead of being liked by peers. Blanchard notes that the issue was tackled on an episode of Girl Meets World and she hopes that teens will realize the importance of an education to reach their goals.
“Around this age, studies show that girls lose interest in the STEM subjects, science, technology, engineering and math. Unfortunately, those studies show that one of the reasons we back away is that girls in my age group would rather be liked than be leaders. I am extremely hopeful that by communicating how wrong this idea is, our audience will realize that taking advantage of a complete education is the obvious thing to do in order to reach their full potential.”
The young feminist also pointed to sexism as a problem for young women attempting to get an education and better themselves in their careers. Blanchard says that women are subjected to sexism on a daily basis and it is unacceptable and changes must be made to address the issues.
“How can you expect girls to aspire to anything when 75% of us from the ages of eleven to twenty-one year olds say daily sexism impacts our future goals and selfconfidence? That’s three out of four on a daily basis. I think this is unacceptable and should be unacceptable to both genders.”
Rowan’s full feminist essay can be viewed here . With Girl Meets World tackling the issue of sexism in the show, do you think they will also take on the issue of sexuality on the show? Many fans are hopeful with Rowan coming out as “queer” that the show will bring more diversity to the characters regarding their sexual orientation.
What do you think of the young actress and her outspoken comments on sexuality, feminism, and marriage equality?
[Photo by Colin Young-Wolff/AP Photo]