(Credits: Netflix)

Wednesday Addams has always been a feminist. Long before Netflix, long before memes of her deadpan glare filled TikTok. She was raised that way. The girl who dissected frogs in science class without flinching, the one who wielded a crossbow better than the boys, the one who never played by anyone’s rules but her own.

What Netflix did with Wednesday was put all of that front and centre for a new generation and remind us that she is not just a gothic teen mood board. This young lady is a feminist blueprint.

Preparation is key, and Wednesday does not just survive mayhem, she trains for it. She fences, she plays cello, she writes with sharp precision, and she studies crime scenes like she is running her own FBI unit. Nothing about her power is an accident. She has made herself capable.

Hence, when monsters show up at Nevermore, Wednesday does not freeze. She fights with calculation and wins. The idea that a girl doesn’t need saving because she has already built herself into her own saviour – Wednesday is a living testimony of that.

Then there is how she treats people. What’s one of the most likeable things about Wednesday? That she does not rank men above anyone else. If anything, she is harsher on them. Xavier’s moody “you don’t get my art” routine? She cuts it down without mercy. Tyler’s charm? She calls it out for what it is: manipulation.

Wednesday does not waste time stroking egos. That alone makes her radical in a genre where female characters are too often softened to make male leads shine brighter. Wednesday not only refuses to be a sidekick in someone else’s story. She flips the script and forces the boys to keep up with her.

She is also the anti-pick-me. She is not waiting to be chosen. Neither does she compete with other girls to stand out. No validation, male or otherwise. If someone likes her, fine. If not, she couldn’t care less. That indifference is powerful because it is so rare and makes her truly magnetic. This is something both men and women can learn from her: not to wait for anybody’s validation. Do what you believe in.

But her feminism isn’t built on being detached from everyone. Wednesday makes it clear that, despite her ghoulish demeanour, the titular hero has a soft spot, and so far, it belongs to Enid. It quickly becomes one of the more moving moments of the series as Enid, bright and warm, is everything Wednesday pretends to dismiss. Yet she protects her fiercely and even lets her walls down a little. That choice matters. Wednesday doesn’t open up for romance; she opens up for female friendship. That is as feminist as it gets. You choose solidarity with another girl instead of bending for male approval.

She also owns her intelligence without apology. Wednesday doesn’t dumb herself down to be approachable. She does not hesitate to challenge teachers, police, or even principals. She is direct and sometimes brutal, but never unsure.

Wednesday is unhinged, and that’s the real feminist lesson. You don’t need to be palatable to be powerful. You do not need to smile through discomfort or play nice to be respected. You can be weird, abrasive, “too much”, and still own the narrative.

And that is why Wednesday Addams works as an icon. Not because Netflix turned her into one, but because they let her be exactly what she’s always been. She does not need a banner or a speech to prove her politics. She doesn’t need to ask for respect. She simply takes it, and that’s what makes her timeless.