“Where you lead, I will follow.”
Via CW / artspecialday.com
Watching Gilmore Girls is the reason I'm as much of a feminist as I am today. I don't think the show necessarily set out to be a landmark on the feminist landscape, but I do think it had a lasting impact on the young woman I'm still growing up to be.
My family moved around a little bit while I was growing up. We moved from Virginia to Georgia when I was in early elementary school; we moved from Georgia to Florida in the middle of my eighth grade. I can't answer the "where are you from?"/"what's your hometown?" sorts of questions, because I don't have one. I was just a gentle, nerdy, extremely petite girl who loved reading Nancy Drew instead of playing outside.
I got incredibly lost on my first day of school in Florida, which made transitioning into this new phase of life all the more delightful. It was also the day I met one of my best friends, Melissa. She invited me to sit with her group of friends at lunch, something I was very grateful for.
Around that time, we started watching Gilmore Girls. Melissa and I, and her auxiliary friends whom I never really got to know that well, would sing the theme song in the hallways between class, and analyze episodes the day after they aired. This is probably one of the first times I can recall discussing pop culture with friends on a supremely personal level. Watching this particular show at that particular age partially rewired my brain, but in a good way.
Since most shows on TV don't always mold you into the person you later become in life, thankfully Gilmore Girls was my gentle introduction into what being a feminist could be like. But this realization snuck up on me.
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