Trevor Noah is an out and proud feminist. (After all, this is the guy that went on a 3-minute rant about the power of the pussy.) But, as he told “2 Dope Queens” host Phoebe Robinson, it wasn’t always that way.
The “Daily Show” host sat down with Robinson for Glamour. They talked about his upbringing, Trump, and his feminist awakening. Noah credits the latter to Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie (and his mom).
Robinson asked the 33-year-old South African comedian if it was fair of her to call him a feminist. Noah responded that indeed it was, crediting his mother and other female authority figures with building a feminist foundation for him when he was young.
“Without a doubt, that’s because of my mom. My aunt, grandmother. Most of my teachers were female in school. I grew up in a world where authority was female,” said Noah.
However, he didn’t call himself a feminist until later in life ― not because he didn’t believe in political, economic and social equality for all genders, but because he had negative associations with the term feminist.
“I never thought to call myself a feminist because of branding,” said Noah. “I had this skewed idea of feminist: I thought it meant being a woman who hates men. When I read Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s We Should All Be Feminists, I was like, ‘Oh, this is what my mom taught me. This is simple. I don’t understand why everybody is not this.’”
The lesson here? When in doubt, pick up a book ― specifically one written by Adichie.
Head over to Glamour to read the full interview.
