The December issue of Glamour is devoted to their women of the year, and Gwen Stefani is the cover girl. There are other women of the year, including Zendaya, Simone Biles, Ashley Graham and… Bono, as man of the year. This post is just about Zendaya’s little profile as one of the women of the year, and I have to admit, I’ve really grown to like and adore Zendaya this year in particular. I think she’s shown a lot of grace in dealing with the constant barrage of racist and sexist crap that’s thrown her way simply because she’s a young woman of color in the public eye. I remember admiring the way she disengaged and then ignored comedienne Julie Klausner went Klausner full-tilt crazy on her on Twitter. I also think Zendaya handled the Vonns situation well a few months back. Besides using her celebrity to discuss race and sexism, Zendaya’s career is also growing – she was cast in the new Spider-Man and she has lots of side-projects too. Here are some highlights from her Woman of the Year profile:
Her parents pulled her out of her fifth grade class because she stood by & watched another kid get bullied: “They pulled me out of the classroom, and I got a little bit cussed out. I was like, ‘This is B.S. I didn’t do anything.’ But the point was, when you see something happening, you don’t just stand there. Knowing something is wrong and not doing anything is basically like doing it.”
The dreadlock moment: When Fashion Police’s Giuliana Rancic criticized Zendaya’s locs at the 2015 Oscars, the star posted that she’d chosen the look “to remind people of color that our hair is good enough.” She admits she’d initially felt like lashing back. “But then I was like, ‘You know what? Delete that. I’m going to write something that’s actually powerful.’”
Using her platform: “[Acting] has been my passion. But as I’ve started to understand the power and influence I have, I’ve realized it’s really this avenue for me to do bigger, more meaningful things. For me to help somebody.”
Speaking out about every day racism: In September she took to Snapchat to suggest that racism had led a California supermarket clerk to treat her and a friend badly. The incident made waves, as she’d planned. “It’s a discussion,” she says. “It’s like, ‘Yo, I can’t believe this happened to me. Does this happen to you guys? We should do something about it.’ ” Her fans follow that lead. “I get picked on because I’m black! And because of you I stand up for myself,” a fan tweeted her in August. That’s the reaction Zendaya strives for. “You have to learn to appreciate yourself and the power you hold,” she says. “Whatever is inside of you—your soul, your power—find it. See it. Respect it. Protect it. And use it.”
I guess I understand the lesson of her parents pulling her out of the class and telling her she shouldn’t be a bystander to bullying, but… surely a conversation would have been the better way to handle that? Fifth grade is what… 11 or 12 years old? Most kids that age are encouraged to simply do nothing, or they’ll do nothing on instinct, for self-preservation. It’s a necessary conversation to have though – what to do if you’re bullied, what to do if you witness bullying, what to say if you see someone being racist or sexist or awful. It feels like an episode of What Would You Do?
Actress, activist and voice for girls @Zendaya: https://t.co/BSy7oTkoXF #GlamourWOTY #shattertheceiling pic.twitter.com/haAR6pAjeM
— Glamour (@glamourmag) November 1, 2016
Photos courtesy of WENN, Glamour.
She is a great young woman, she is, but woman of the year? Apart from Disney has she acted in anything bigger? I know she has the Spiderman gig, but that’s still not out.
Thought she was cool until Harvey started prancing her around in recent years. He’s a gross hollywood producer who has his history with “america’s sweethears”.
She sounds like a great young woman. Her experience in the grocery store reminded me of this story by the incredible Joy de Gruy. It’s a three-minute clip worth watching.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTvU7uUgjUI
Ugh I love her. She appears to walk the talk and that’s very much needed in this world. Especially by someone I the public eye. No, you don’t have to as a person in the public eye be socially responsible, but it’s damn amazing when they are.
Some people call her a stunt queen, but all she’s done so far is bring attention to and raise awareness about very important social issues that affect so many people beyond just her. If that makes her a stunt queen, then let’s allow her to stunt away.
Yep I really think she’s good to the bone so to speak lol.
That last quote in the magazine page is so powerful I’m printing right now to hang on my wall.
I somewhat admire that because it isn’t very “real”? Maybe American culture is very different but while I’ve read about American parents raising their children to be all these great things, I’ve never experienced any of the same in Europe. People here raise their children to get a job and that’s it. I have never heard anybody say “I raise my child to be kind” or anything like that. I have acted like that, stood up in those situations and always been looked at as if I were an alien. Usually, the norms seems to be to keep your head down.
I disagree. Parents pulling their children out of class for not standing up to bullyin is somehing that happens here. And parents raise their kids to be kind and amazing, but they also keep it realistic. We don’t have that “you too can be president” rhetoric. If you work hard you can be a doctor or a lawyer and have a good life, but you won’t be president.
@ Locke Lamora
+1
Kudos to her parents for taking her out of class – they absolutely did the right thing. The anti-bullying program at my kids’ school teaches kids from a very young age to be “upstanders,” which is the term for people who aren’t directly involved in a bullying incident but who step in to stop it. They are taught this from kindergarten. My youngest child is a 5th grader – she is absolutely old enough to intervene in a bullying incident. All of my kids know they are expected to do so.
I taught mine to do the same, from a very young age. They know what it feels like to be picked on and singled out. They can recognize when it’s happening to others. That means they can step in to help. I taught and teach my kids to be powerful. Not afraid. Compassionate and empathetic. They are less likely to be the target of a bully, and when they are they’ve let it roll right off. They can recognize the bully in themselves when they’ve made bad choices and then stop and fix it. And they aren’t shy (though it took practice) to step in and defuse bullying when they see it happening to others. Fifth grade is a little old to start learning these lessons, actually. But it’s never too late.
I just love her, she’s awesome.
I am a little confused…are her parents teachers? Why would they be at her school to witness that she was standing by, and pulling her out. Or likely, she is tutored on a set, and it is a different situation.
I really like her. She comes across as intelligent, strong and very mature. Definitely wish beyond her years. Any my goodness, she is just absolutely gorgeous.
Actually, they are (or used to be, I understand they retired). It is possible that they worked at the same school she attended.
I don’t think the stand her parents took was too drastic. She turned out just fine.
The surest way for evil to win is for good people to stand by and do nothing. They taught her well. It obviously made a lasting and positive impression.
I am about to eviscerate my 21-year old neice for not registering to vote in time and trying to figure out the best way to handle that.
#toughlove
I love looking at her. What a beauty. Even better, what a beauty on the inside.
I like her a lot. Pretty pink dress!
this is proabably going to be taken as divicise and generalizing but here goes.
generally in households with a black parent who is “woke” on social issues…. at a certain point as a child you are about to get “a talking to” …… stern and sometimes blunt…. we don’t tend to like to repeat repeat repeat and come back to a narrative only to see that the child has grown up and retained a little asshole in them…. just saying I had an incident as well with my “woke” mom… and one with my step son. We nipped it in the bud.
If she can sing/act, I think she’d be an interesting choice for the live action Snow White. Something about her face and how she carries herself makes me think ‘kind Disney princess’.