March is Women’s History Month, and there is no better time to watch some outstanding films made by women directors. Directors like Agnès Varda, Julie Dash, or Chantal Ackerman might not be household names, but they have made an indelible imprint on hundreds of films and filmmakers that came after them. From the feminist psychedelia of Daises to the anti-colonialist, coming-of-age drama Chocolat, these are eleven films directed by women internationally you might not have heard of but would not want to miss.
Read moreBecoming Michelle Obama
Michelle Obama’s attempts to be relatable and to portray herself as apolitical throughout her memoir is a purposeful way to obscure her privilege and promote a conservative, capitalist ideology: that women can be successful through strength of character rather than uprooting the systemic realities that actually affect them. If any lesson is to be had from Becoming, it is that women should not be distracted by celebrity power politics, but instead, they should return to a program of radical liberation and not conciliate to capitalism and imperialism.
Read moreRebel Girl: The Riot Grrrl Movement and Generation X Feminism
The Riot Grrrl movement developed in the 1980s and 1990s as a reaction to male-dominated subcultures and the second-wave feminism of the Boomer era. Drawing upon empowered female leaders from the punk and hip hop scenes, the women of Riot Grrrl sought to create their own forms of female empowerment and sexual freedom.
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