Anytime celebrities embrace feminism, my heart does a little happy dance. Considering supporting equality seems like second nature, you may think this shouldn't be noteworthy. But unfortunately, there are plenty of famous people who still badmouth the phrase and distance themselves from the "feminist" label. That's why Hollywood's younger generation of activists — Amandla Stenberg, Rowan Blanchard, and Tavi Gevinson — gives me such high hopes. They're all about embracing the F-word. Same goes for Ariana Grande, who's been adamant about fighting misogyny. Seriously, Grande sets an awesome example. This is why I was especially excited to see her latest Instagram — a photo of her Aunt Judy and the legendary Gloria Steneim. Along with the black-and-white photo, Grande wrote, "queens of my heart."
This means that in a roundabout way Grande is connected to Steinem. I must say, that's impressive. Steinem is a huge part of the feminist community and has been an icon for decades. After seeing this photo, I immediately Googled Grande's aunt. Sadly, I found out that Judy Grande passed away in 2008 after a 7-year battle with breast cancer. But over the course of her life, Judy set an awesome example for women. She was a Pulitzer Prize nominee in 1980 and one of the first female presidents of the National Press Club. That's pretty rad, huh?
Last summer, the Washington Post interviewed one of Judy's former colleagues, Kay Vose, who said,
At the time, the Press Club was very male-dominated, and Judy felt very strongly that women should have leadership positions. She was outspoken, but never in a way that was off-putting.
It sounds like Ariana totally takes after her aunt when it comes to speaking out about issues that matter. In fact, this throwback photo isn't the first time the 22-year-old gave her aunt a shoutout. When Grande posted a memorable essay on Instagram about not belonging to anyone, she wrote,
I come from a long bloodline of female activists, my aunt Judy was the first Italian American female president of the national press club in Washington DC. I think she would have been proud of me for speaking up about something that has been bothering me personally for so long.
I'd guess that Ariana is right — Judy would have been proud. It's awesome that the Scream Queens actor speaks up about double standards in an industry where, as she puts it, "women are referred to as a man's past, present or future property/possession."
Personally, I'm hoping she follows in her aunt's footsteps and teams up with Steinem to take on the patriarchy in an epic way. Or, you know, I'd settle for a Steinem cameo in Ari's next music video. Could you imagine how amazing that would be?
In the meantime, let's take a moment to relive one of Grande's best feminist comebacks — that time she shut down sexist stereotypes during a radio interview.
See what I mean? Cue the applause, please.
Image: Giphy
