We bring to you our recommendations for everything from social media, music and movies to books, bands and TV shows for an intense, intersectional, immersive experience!
Funny Feminist Accounts on Instagram
With dry, eviscerating wit, these funny feminist accounts tackle a plethora of problems. From gaslighting and emotional labor to red flags and irony; whether it’s unmasking toxic relationships in our lives or highlighting women’s experiences, these accounts are a must see for a daily dose of humor and healthy introspection via social media!
1. Not.yr.boyfriend
2. Kingsophiesworld
3. Violetclair
4. Awardsforgoodboys
5. Ghosted1996
6. Betches_sup
7. Tinymoron
Political Feminist Accounts On Instagram
We recommend these accounts for easy explainers, news amalgamations and strong stories for your daily dose of intersectional feminism!
1. Womenintheworld
2. Feminist
3. Hellogiggles
4. Feminisminindia
5. Itsfeminism
6. Iwritefeminism
7. Foreverfeminism
Books
1. Palace Of Illusions By Chitra Banerjee Divakurni: The epic Mahabharat reimagined from Drapuadi’s perspective. With well fleshed out female characters, a fresh take on a classic story that is painstakingly human, heartfelt and imaginatively humorous and heartrending in equal parts.
2. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini: His tour de force is a testament to the triumph of the human spirit. Chronicling the unlikely friendship between two women in the backdrop of Afghanistan’s tryst with the Taliban, the book is poignant, poetic and a perfect read for fiction lovers.
3. Seeing Like A Feminist By Nivedita Menon: A brilliant introductory reader for anyone wishing to learn about feminism. The book touches upon the most important facets with anecdotes and explainers.
4. Gender Trouble By Judith Butler: Butler’s pioneering piece set the basis for gender as performative identity and paved the way for the queer revolution of the 90s.
5. The Vagina Monologues By Eve Ensler: A poignant and hilarious tour of the last frontier, the ultimate forbidden zone, The Vagina Monologues is a celebration of female sexuality in all its complexity and mystery.
TV Shows
1. Orange Is The New Black: Set in an all-women’s prison, the show’s exploration of female issues is up close and personal. The cast is diverse and delves into each woman’s background. Sexual preferences, the rights of trans women and the structures of privilege all come to the fore in this feminist masterpiece of love, loyalty and life behind bars!
2. Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: A happy go lucky show that hides many deep truths within; the show tackles assault, abuse, trauma and more while leaving viewers feeling joyous yet introspective.
3. Brooklyn Nine Nine: A racially diverse cast with incredible female friendships, sexuality representation sans stereotypes and no toxic masculinity; B99 wins all the points for being funny, feminist and feel good, all at the same time!
4. The Good Place: With several strong female leads and unconventional men, The Good Place allows each of its characters to be themselves in all their shades: good, bad or ugly. Incisively funny, witty and a political commentary in the package of a fun sit-com, The Good Place is subversively woke!
5. How To Get Away With Murder: Viola Davis broke barriers in representation by playing a black, bisexual female protagonist who is not a typical “strong female lead.” Rather her character is complex, not always likeable and painted in shades of grey, a forte formerly reserved only for TV’s frontrunning men.
Movies
1. Portrait of a Lady on Fire: It is a film in conversation with itself and with the greater world — a movie made by a female director and a 99% female cast about the need to create authentically representative art that leads the way by doing exactly that.
2. Birds of Prey: Birds of Prey is an action film with 5 female leads and is diverse in terms of both LGBTQIA and people of color (POC) representation. Moving away from the male gaze and bringing fresh feminine perspective to the comic scene on screen, the movie’s largely female cast and crew knock this out of the park.
3. Little Women: The movie gives centre stage to the narratives of its 4 main female characters and has a female director and a largely female led production team. Greta Gerwig succeeds in adapting a classic for the 21st century, reminding us of the power of women’s dreams, different as they may be.
4. Jennifer’s Body: Jennifer’s Body makes a strong point about assault and women’s trauma. It is the women of the movie that make it what it is and for once the men are beside the point.
5. Set It Off : Queen Latifah, Vivica A. Fox, Jada Pinkett Smith, and Kimberly Elise play a group of friends who find themselves at the mercy of intersectional violence, turning to robbing banks as their only way of dealing. F. Gary Gray’s 1996 heist thriller isn’t just essential Black feminist viewing, though, it’s seminal feminist viewing as a whole that captures the stories of working-class women and does so in an incredibly entertaining, compassionate, and empathetic way.
6. Hidden Figures: While the male brains at NASA were hard at work racing against Russia to put a rocket man in space before their Soviet adversary, there were three brilliant African-American women crunching the numbers and doing the math that would actually get him there. Their names were Katherine G. Johnson (Taraji P. Henson), Dorothy Vaughan (Octavia Spencer), and Mary Jackson (Janelle Monáe). And now, thanks to this Oscar-nominated film, these American heroes will never ever be forgotten.
7. Moana: It takes a strong, ambitious female to not just be included but welcomed into the single-moniker club occupied by the likes of Beyoncé, Madonna, and Elsa, and this Polynesian voyager princess in search of a demigod who will restore the heart he stole from a goddess is oh so worthy of her membership. A near-perfect Disney film with a solid Lin-Manuel Miranda soundtrack, it’s a fairy tale, yes, but the happily ever after here has nothing to do with a prince and everything to do with self-discovery.
8. Wild: Reese Witherspoon has a resume full of feminist-fronted films. Take Elle Woods in Legally Blonde, Tracy Enid Flick in Election, and her most recent award-worthy performance on The Morning Show as Bradley Jackson. But when she stripped off the makeup and laced up the hiking boots to embody Cheryl Strayed, the real-life novice who made an 1,100-mile trek up the Pacific Crest Trail solo, the actress really roared as woman.
Bands
1. Riot Grrl Bands: Bikini Kill, Bratmobile, Heavens to Betsy, Excuse 17, Huggy Bear, Skinned Teen, Emily's Sassy Lime and Sleater-Kinney, as well as queercore groups like Team Dresch and The Third Sex.
· Riot grrrl is an underground feminist punk movement that began in the early 1990s in Washington state (particularly Olympia) and the greater Pacific Northwest. It also had origins in Washington, D.C., and spread to at least 26 countries. It is a subcultural movement that combines feminist consciousness and punk style and politics. It is often associated with third-wave feminism, which is sometimes seen as having grown out of the Riot Grrrl movement. It has also been described as a musical genre that came out of indie rock, with the punk scene serving as an inspiration for a musical movement in which women could express themselves in the same way men had been doing for the past several years.
· Riot grrrl bands often address issues such as rape, domestic abuse, sexuality, racism, patriarchy, classism, anarchism and female empowerment. Primary bands associated with the movement include Bikini Kill, Bratmobile, Heavens to Betsy, Excuse 17, Huggy Bear, Skinned Teen, Emily's Sassy Lime and Sleater-Kinney, as well as queercore groups like Team Dresch and The Third Sex. In addition to a music scene and genre, riot grrrl is a subculture involving a DIY ethic, zines, art, political action, and activism. The riot grrrl movement quickly spread well beyond its musical roots to create vibrant "zine" and Internet-based movement, complete with local meetings and grassroots organizing to end ageism, homophobia, weightism, racism, sexism and, especially, physical and emotional violence against women.
2. Le Tigre: Le Tigre are known for their left-wing socio-political lyrics that often dealt with issues of feminism and the LGBT community. They mix punk's directness and politics with playful samples, eclectic pop, and lo-fi electronics.
3. G.L.O.S.S. (Girls Living Outside of Society's Sh*t): This gender and sexual orientation fluid band comprised of transgendered, femme and queer artists attack conventional American on all fronts. Every lyric reigns with great exclamation and each strum of the guitar and bang on the drum creates a headbanging pulse that calls out those who stand in their way.
4. Tacocat: Their colourful appearance and sound combines the riot grrrl attitude with Harajuku plasticity. Their album, NVM, that came out last year and shares the intimacy of young adult relationships, the party scene, and even the female anatomy.
Songs
1. The Man-The Killers: This surprisingly self-inflective piece sees The Killers evaluate their own toxic masculinity. The video breaks down the truth behind traditional notions of “being the man.”
2. Typical Girls” - The Slits: British rock band The Slits were way too cool when they offered their feminist bangers to the male-dominated punk world. The song narrates ultra-lame things that typical girls are expected to do, before asking, “Who invented the typical girl?/ Who’s bringing out the new improved model?/ And there’s another marketing ploy/ Typical girl gets the typical boy.”
3. “Quiet” – MILCK: MILCK saw viral fame after her feminist battle cry at the Women’s March on Washington acquired millions of views in a short time. After an emotional start to the song, “Put on your face/ Know your place/ Shut up and smile/ I could do that” MILCK breaks out into the sweeping chorus, garnering strength with “I can’t keep quiet, oh/ A one woman riot.”
4. “Girls Like Girls” - Hayley Kiyoko: Kiyoko has been pushing for lesbian representation for the entirety of her career, and “Girls Like Girls” is the perfect intersectional jam, as she notes that she’s not afraid of tearing down walls in the lyrics. “I've been crossing all the lines, all the lines/ Kissed your girls and made you cry, boys.”
5. “Independent Woman” - Destiny’s Child: “Charlie, how your Angels get down like that?” All the honeys who are making money have to admit this song is a timeless feminist hit. Destiny’s Child had a common theme of buying their own things for themselves, and not needing to wait on a man to come around to do the same things (hello, “Bills Bills Bills”).
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