She may be a fictitious character, but Donna Pinciotti is one bad dudette.  Whenever the guys are running their mouths, Donna is there to set them straight, and I like to think that her intelligence, outspoken attitude, and empowerment make up for their regular idiocy.  Just this week I saw the episode “Baby Fever,” which features some fantastic Donna moments.

In the episode, Kitty asks Laurie to watch an infant she is babysitting for a friend while she and Red visit the Pinciottis next door for fondue.  Laurie is inept at changing the baby’s diaper, and Donna steps in.  Eric is impressed with her maternal instincts and makes a bigger deal of her diaper-changing abilities than he did when she was published in the school paper.  Donna calls him out on this, but he doesn’t get it, telling her that it gave him warm fuzzies to think of what a great stay-at-home mom she was going to make someday.  Donna has other ideas.

In the end, Donna decides it’s too early to be having this fight with Eric, and they kiss and make up.  However, the fact that Donna thought about the issue, thought about her future, and shared her concerns with her friends (albeit in “the circle,” if you know what I mean) sends a pretty positive message to the teen and young adult audience the show is targeted to.  As reruns continue to air on The CW and TeenNick (formerly The “N”), I take pleasure in the idea that younger generations of women continue to be exposed to feminist role-models like Donna on TV.

Who are some of your other favorite TV feminists?