Raising your child to be a feminist really isn’t that complicated. Take it from Amber Rose, who said her 9-year-old son defends sex workers and fully understands menstrual periods.
In a recent interview on Emily Ratajkowksi’s podcast High Low, the model opened up about raising her “feminist” eldest son Sebastian Taylor Thomaz, whom she shares with her ex-husband, rapper Wiz Khalifa. (She has another son, 3-year-old Slash Electric Alexander Edwards, with her ex-boyfriend Alexander “AE” Edwards.)
As an OnlyFans creator who used to work at strip clubs, Rose, 39, made it a priority to educate Sebastian on the validity of sex work as a source of income.
“Your son, by the time he’s 5, is going to start Googling you and seeing everything,” she said. So early on in her parenting journey, Rose told Sebastian about OnlyFans and explained how the income she generates on the platform sustains their lifestyle.
“[I told him], ‘When it comes to women, you have to let women do what they need to do to support their families,’” she recalled.
One of her proudest moments as a mom came when she overheard Sebastian defend OnlyFan creators to one of his friends. “‘Bro, you can’t say that,’” her son said, according to Rose. “‘You have to let a woman do what she wants with her body.’ … A tear rolled down my cheek. I was like, ‘That’s my fucking baby.’ I instilled that in him from birth.” We’re not crying — you’re crying!
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As if that weren’t commendable (and adorable) enough, Sebastian totally understands menstruation, too. Rose said she first told him what periods were when he was just a toddler.
“Anytime I use the bathroom [since] my son was 2, 3 years old, he’ll be like, ‘Mommy, do you need a tampon? Do you need a pad, Mommy? I’ll go in a drawer and get it for you,’” she gushed. “I’ve told him about everything.”
As Jezebel astutely noted, this 9-year-old boy knows more about periods than some adult men, which is…terrifying. (Those viral ‘Roe v. Bros’ TikToks gauging men’s understanding of periods and reproductive health still live rent-free in my head.)
Rose isn’t the only celebrity to discuss how she’s raising a feminist son. In 2018, Olivia Wilde opened up about watching her son, Otis Alexander Sudeikis, embody the feminist media he’d consumed.
“One day my son watched his father lifting something really heavy,” the Don’t Worry, Darling director wrote. “He turned to me and said, ‘Mom, Dad is like Wonder Woman.’ In that moment I was really proud [because] as a parent, I’m trying very hard to reject traditional messaging of gender roles.”
“If my son equates his dad’s strength with Wonder Woman,” Wilde continued, “I am given hope; hope that he never develops the artificial mental barriers — so prevalent in our society — that limit what women can and can’t do.”
Parents, take notes. In a world where reproductive justice is under near-constant attack, we desperately need more men with feminist values — and at the very least, men who understand basic biology.
Before you go, check out these mental health apps we swear by:
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