Articles
Why Women Talking Sidelines Trans InclusivitySarah Polley's 2022 film "Women Talking" won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay and travelled the festival circuit with rare unanimous praise.…
How slime culture turns disgust towards girls into entertainmentSlime is bright, sticky, noisy and hard to look at without imagining what it might resemble. Across YouTube, TikTok, television, toy aisles and school…
The gendered labor of fandom and the cost of female obsessionFor decades, the cultural script around fandom has been depressingly predictable. A woman expresses enthusiasm for a celebrity, a band, a television show, or a…
How Girls Who Eat is challenging diet culture and food shameThe Instagram account Girls Who Eat began in 2016 as a deliberate provocation. Its founder, a New York-based writer, started the page after growing tired of…
How Dahmer Turns a Serial Killer Into a Cultural SpectacleNetflix’s Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story presents itself as a serious examination of murder, racism, homophobia, and institutional failure. Yet its…
The problem with voice as a metaphor for female authorshipIn writing workshops, “finding your voice” sounds like generous advice. It appears to promise confidence, originality and freedom from imitation. For women…
Mean Girls 2024 fumbles the chance to examine modern girlhoodThe new Mean Girls musical landed in Australian cinemas this year with a marketing blitz that assumes audiences already feel warm nostalgia for the 2004…
Thelma & Louise And The Freedom Of RefusalRidley Scott’s Thelma & Louise is frequently filed under tragic road movies: two women flee, break the law and drive over a cliff. That reading treats the…
When Festivals Make Two-Spirit Lives InvisibleCultural festivals often present themselves as spaces of belonging. Their posters celebrate diversity, their stages bring communities together, and their…
De-Influencing And Feminist ConsumptionA “must-have” product can now arrive in our feeds before we have decided whether we need it. Influencers turn recommendation into entertainment, while…