Carrie Fisher continues to be the feminist icon we love and need

It is no surprise that stories of Carrie Fisher’s amazingness continue to surface. And the fact that she took on sexual harassers make her even better.

While Carrie Fisher was alive, she continued to test the boundaries Hollywood put on women. So now, more than ever, we’re turning towards her as a hero in these darker times. Many heard stories about how Carrie would deliver animal parts to men who made unwarranted sexual advances to her friends.

And while that is very much a Carrie Fisher thing to do, it isn’t exactly new. Even in one of her last tweets before she died, Carrie was taking down the idea that Hollywood had of women over a certain age.

Basically, Hollywood wasn’t kind to her as she aged, especially not when she’d become a sex symbol at a young age. When she inevitably got older, Hollywood was rude about it. She just wasn’t exactly quiet about how much she didn’t care about what they thought.

A sexualized 19 year old

First of all, let’s look at her history with Hollywood: Carrie was always overly sexualized, especially by Star Wars. As much as we love Leia, you cannot say it isn’t true. George Lucas refused to let her wear a bra because of ‘space’ and then put her in a metal bikini in Return of the Jedi.

Even though, she is being enslaved by an evil slug, the ‘slave Leia’ costume has been the center of many male fantasies (and she even mentioned she’s seen men wear it to comic cons) that almost diminish the Hutt slayer that we know and love.

But did Carrie let her sexualized nature ruin her? No, in fact she used it to help pin-point the problem with Hollywood. Which truly makes us love her more. She showed that yes, she aged. Yes, she gained weight, but it never changed her and what she believed in.

So instead of being the long lost starlet we remembered as Leia Organa, she let her voice be heard and let Hollywood know that she wasn’t afraid of aging or what they thought of her.

The feminist icon

Carrie was, and continues to be, one of our feminist icons because she wasn’t ever ashamed of who she was. She was open with her drug problem and made it clear that she was bipolar, but that there was nothing wrong with that. Every opportunity she had, Carrie made sure her voice was heard so she could help those around her.

On Twitter, she often followed fans and would send them words of encouragement to help them get through the day. When I had the chance to meet her, she told me that I was beautiful and one day, I’d find a Han Solo so then I could be a Leia too, not just a Carrie.

Everything she said helped people around the world find ways to get through the day. So as we spread these terrible news stories and give the appropriate amount of shame to those who commit these terrible sexual crimes, let us also remember that we can be the Carrie Fisher we always dreamed of.

Next: 10 reasons Carrie Fisher is the hero we all deserved

Stand up for those abused and make sure those do the abusing get the message that this has to end. Carrie Fisher would be proud of you for doing so.