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‘Girl Meets World’ Actress Rowan Blanchard Talks About Getting Catcalled As A Pre-Teen

By Niki Cruz
Published on: 09:59 PST, Mar 31, 2016

Girl Meets World actress Rowan Blanchard is known for her outspoken nature at the tender age of 14. Now, Blanchard is opening up about a time when she was catcalled when she was 12 years old.

In an interview with Interview magazine, Blanchard reminisces about being out and about with her friend when she was suddenly catcalled.

“I remember I was at a movie with my friend, and we were both in skirts. 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.”

Of the moment, Blanchard said, “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.”

She said that instead of telling her parents, she blamed herself for wearing a skirt out and about. Eventually, she realized that it wasn’t her fault, and in response to it, she now helps girls and urges them to speak up if something similar happens.

In order to support other girls, she started to post about feminism on Twitter and Tumblr.

It’s not surprising to hear that she’s using her social media accounts as a platform to speak out to her demo audience, or for anyone that wants to look. Rowan snagged headlines when she decided to discuss her sexuality. At the time, she came out as gender fluid, which means one can be attracted to both genders. For her age, it was a surprising revelation, especially from a star that’s under Disney’s thumb.

At the time, she said that while she’s only been attracted to guys, she’s not confining her sexuality to one thing. While many people praised Blanchard for being so open with her sexuality, some fans weren’t happy about the vague idea of one’s sexuality.

Here’s the tweet that continued the conversation about what gender fluidity means:

“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.”

That said, Rowan Blanchard was well aware that she was being criticized due to her stance, and the Girl Meets World actress admitted that she was shocked. In an interview with Wonderland magazine, Blanchard said,

“I’m okay with it now, but I still realize that I was allowing people to comment on something that’s very personal. The first day I tweeted about it, it was definitely scary to see people commenting about things that literally have nothing to do with them.”

Despite being very active on Twitter, Rowan says that she is aware that the drawback is having to deal with everyone’s opinion. She also mentioned how social media allows for other girls to attack each other.

“The downside to social media is it’s another place for girls to be made fun of and another way for girls to be degraded; the upside is that it’s also a way for girls — especially girls of color, for example — to speak out and to take back some control.”

Rowan Blanchard is most known for her role as Cory and Topanga’s daughter Riley Matthews on the spin-off show Girl Meets World.

What do you think of Rowan Blanchard’s evolved views?

[Photo by Rob Kim / Getty Images]

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