Inside the Mind of a Teenage Feminist

I made this collage for my Interpersonal Relationships class last year. After extensive testing, I'm 99% sure this is what my brain looks like.

Fbomb, Smart Girls, and Ruby the Feminist

Gosh, I can't even remember what it was like before Fbomb waltzed into my life. If you've been living under a rock (kidding, of course), Fbomb is one of the most well-known (and kick-ass) sites for young feminist writers to vent their frustrations, debate, and ultimately validate each other's women-can-do-anything attitudes. Heck, it feels pretty good to know teen feminists aren't a dying breed!

Anyway, I was making my daily rounds when I came across a link posted for a site called Smart Girls at the Party; I had to check it out.

Lo and behold, Smart Girls at the Party is great! Sure, it feels like it's aimed more at the 6-to-12 demographic than at disgruntled teens surfing the Web at 2:00 in the morning, but thumbing through the videos - all about young girls and their endeavors as engineers, gardeners, something called a "yogini" - I just felt good. The site is all about recognizing girls who "change the world by being themselves," and come on, how could that not make you feel warm and fuzzy inside?

But what really touched me - more than the cutesy site design or learning that Amy Poehler is a feminist(!) - was this video about a seven-and-three-quarters-year-old girl named Ruby.

Not only is Ruby a singer, dancer, actress, skateboarder (and future president, I'm assuming), she is a serious advocate for women's rights and self-proclaimed feminist, wrote a book in kindergarten that asserts if boys can do it, so can I, and has even met the legendary Gloria Steinem.

It sounds kind of stupid, but I envy Ruby - not only for her unfailing optimism and the fact she found convictions at such a young age - but for her innocence. Ruby thinks feminism is the greatest thing in the world, she has the fundamental belief that girls and boys are equal, she's armored against all the idiotic feminist stereotypes out there - and if she's not, she doesn't seem to care about them. I'll admit, sometimes I wonder "what will so-and-so think of me now that they know I'm a feminist?" But seeing this video, I want to be more like Ruby and stop freaking doubting myself.

Watch the video, 'kay? It'll make you feel good.

___________________________

If you decide to join Smart Girls at the Party, look me up! Here's the link to my profile!