Girl Meets Season 4

3. Girl Meets Feminist Matthews

When she walked over to history class she saw that everyone was looking at their phones, even though they're not allowed to be out during school hours unless it's an emergency, it was policy and one that almost everyone ignored throughout the year. She wished at that moment that it was more enforced than just a hearsay rule. Riley walked back out and waited for her father to show up before pulling him aside.

"I have a feeling this is going to change my lesson plan," he said when he saw the look on her face.

"The senior boys are ranking the girls, they're catcalling the ones on the top of the list, they're making assumptions based on looks, and the girls who are smart are being looked at as if they're a piece of meat and not a wonderfully smart person who would change the world," she said slowing down. "I don't like it."

"Life lesson it is," her father said before walking into the room. He saw what Riley had seen when she first walked in, a classroom full of students all on their phones talking about the list. He noticed some of the guys looking at the girls and motioning towards their phones, the only one who seemed unfazed by it all was Lucas who was staring at Riley like she hung the moon. The thought of that boy having such deep feelings for his daughter scared him but he knew that he couldn't do anything about it.

Zay was the last one to walk into the room stopping in front of Riley and Maya, "Congrats to the both of you for making the hottie list," he said but Riley only turned and glared at him. "What's wrong sugar."

"You're what's wrong, you and all of the boys who think it's okay to rank girls like we're cattle," she said standing up. "We're human beings Zay, how would you feel if the girls all got together and put you all on this list even though you're more than looks?"

"Okay class time everyone," Cory said as he watched his daughter's expression get all fired up. "The Suffragette Movement, of the late nineteenth century in England, the early twentieth century in America, the women's liberation movement, and the current feminist movements all have one thing in common, does anyone want to tell me why?"

"Each movement was a moment in time where women had to fight for their rights in a world that had once been dominated by patriarchy," Smackle said smiling at Riley.

"Patriarchy," Cory said looking at all of the girls in the room. "A system in which men would inherit everything from their family, and it would only pass down through the males in the family. A system where women were singled out to be inferior to their male counterparts, while men were educated in the highest institutions, women were taught how to entertain and run a household. Where women are essentially sold off to their husbands, as their families would offer a dowry to the husband for the marriage. These are things that women fought for during the late 1800's and into the twentieth century, even today women are fighting against the social stigma in which men are superior in every way and women should have the babies."

He looked around the room to the faces of his students wondering why they were alright with what was happening. "Women can have the highest education in this country, but across the world they're being sold off to their husbands. This is a lesson that everyone has to learn because we take for granted so much of what we have, but women are still fighting every day to have the simple right to be able to have a decision over their bodies, to be able to be paid the same salary for the same work men do. Patriarchy maybe over but sometimes the lasting effects over that kind of control can still be felt."

"Is there anything that we can do?" Lucas said in the back of the room. Riley looked at her boyfriend knowing that he was taking a stand for what his girlfriend believed in.

"We can ignore the seniors," Riley said. "We can forget about this stupid list, we can fight for everyone to be considered equal."

"Forgetting is an option, but sometimes forgetting just makes the problem resurface in the future," Smackle said. "We need to fight against it for the rest of our lives, because I want to be a scientist and if I don't get paid the same as men it would just make me angry."

"Equality is something that we all fight for, and it's not just a gender issue, it is also a race issue," Cory said looking out at his students. "You may find this list amusing, but how would you feel if this list was made as a way for the government to track you? Or if they used it as a registry to see if you were a threat to the people around you. These things aren't something we should take lightly, because in the end if someone takes your freedom away from you what would you be left with?"

The bell rang but everyone sat there looking at one another, no one knew what to say so they all walked out of the room silently. Riley stood at her locker watching her friends all look around, she knew that the list was all that anyone could talk about. It annoyed her more than anything because she didn't know what to do.

"Riley," Zay said walking up to her. "I'm sorry, for you know."

"I know Zay, and you have to remember that things like that list will only hurt those who aren't a part of it," she said hugging him.

"Let's get to lunch," she said walking over to the other four friends in their group. Lucas gave her a small smile, while everyone else just looked around. "How about we fight the list with a list of our own?"

"What do you mean Riles?" Maya said finally looking at her.

"Maya were you happy that you were on the list?" Riley asked knowing that there was a reason why her best friend hadn't looked her in the eye until now.

"Kinda, I mean it's made by the popular guys of the senior class and sometimes it's just nice to be noticed."

"Do you remember in middle school when Billy Ross was bullying Farkle," Riley said putting her arm around Maya. "And how we wrote our insecurities on our foreheads because it showed Billy that we were all struggling with something. I still have problems with being insecure but I'm working on it every day. This list brings up some of those problem."

"Riley I think you just gave me an idea," Farkle said smiling at them. "What if we do that again, what if we write these things on ourselves to show the seniors that they can't single out anyone."

"Farkle that's a great idea, but it's something that only the girls should write, the guys should only write their support," Lucas said looking around.

"I saw this video on youtube where a girl stood outside in the open and asked people to write what they thought of her on her body," Riley said remembering the video. "We should do that with all of the girls in school, write out all of the positives to show everyone that they're as beautiful as everyone else."

They kept talking about it throughout their lunch period, and even when they went to study at Topanga's afterschool. Riley went out to get markers so that they would be able to have them ready the next day. She wanted this not because it made her insecure but because she knew that in a school as big as hers the fact that they only picked a hundred girls out of everyone made her realize that some girls would think that they're not good enough. After a while those kinds of insecurities can have dangerous repercussions.

The next day she went to Topanga's early, knowing that some of the girls from school loved to get a morning drink from there and slowly started telling them her plan. One by one each girl took a marker, they wrote affirmations on their friends, on themselves, and on strangers that they had never talked to. When she got to school she saw Lucas and smiled, his arm said proud boyfriend to a strong powerful woman. She noticed a lot of the girls walking around with words written on their arms, beautiful, strong, smart, powerful, Riley couldn't help but be proud of the girls in her school. As word spread throughout the day, more and more girls became covered in words from their friends and their classmates. She also noticed that the senior guys were becoming nervous around them.

When she walked into her father's class her dad had written proud father, on his hand and smiled at her.

"Thank you, daddy," she said as she walked in.

"Thank you, Riley," he smiled "You're going to change the world you know that right."

"I hope so," she said.

"You remind me so much of your mother when she was your age, she would always fight for what she believed in."

"Well I did get the best parts of both of you."

"Yes you did."