Push(back) at the Intersections
Push(back) at the Intersections: Women in the Fall Television Forecast
We’ve got five new shows coming up with women on the creative team and I thought, as I wind up my time here, that I’d delve into them to see what we have to look forward to this fall/spring, and to see what kinds of women-led television make the brutal cuts of pilot season.
Two of them... Read more »
Push(back) at the Intersections: But it All Feels So Personal
I think the best way to fight knee-jerk reactions to pop culture discussions, to resist the sense that one is being personally attacked, is to step outside the equation, and to step away from the keyboard to do some thinking. Remember that the writer probably doesn’t know you, isn’t... Read more »
Push(back) at the Intersections: It's Sexytime, So Let's Get It On
There’s an patronising narrative that happens with a lot of disabled characters. They don’t act out of free will, but because they are disabled. They aren’t allowed independence, because they are disabled and clearly incapable of acting on their own. Other characters do things ‘... Read more »
Push(back) at the Intersections: Centering Concerns
This domination of narratives with one narrative, one story, one set of concerns, is an incredibly destructive dynamic in feminism. And it plays out in discussions about pop culture in a major way.
When people in nondominant groups challenge much-beloved popular culture, they encounter a lot of... Read more »
Push(back) at the Intersections: Lady Gaga and Feminism
It’s impossible to escape the appropriative aspects of the Gaga persona, though. The feminist aspects of her work are deeply tangled with the anti-feminist parts. We probably... Read more »
Push(back) at the Intersections: Sick of This: Mental Illness in Pop Culture
One area of pop culture where really problematic and questionable depictions of people come up is that of mental illness. The way that mental illness is depicted, whether it is within the context of a celebrity scandal; the characterization of a person in a film, comic, or television show; a book;... Read more »
Push(back) at the Intersections: 'I Just Don't Like That Many Female Characters'
As I read discussions about pop culture and see responses to female characters, I see a lot of hate for female characters, but not a lot of basis for that hate. Take Tara on True Blood. People say she’s ‘whiny’ and ‘boring.’ These aren’t really criticisms that add in a... Read more »
Push(back) at the Intersections: Veronica Mars and the Straw Feminists
I feel like people watching the show who haven’t really been exposed to feminism were internalizing some feminist messages until they got to the actual feminists, at which point they learned that feminists are bad. What’s more important, the delivery of the message, or naming the... Read more »
Push(back) at the Intersections: You Said What?! About Lady Gaga?!
The silencing of trans people, and trans women in particular, in feminist spaces isn’t just limited to discussions about pop culture, unfortunately. Cis voices are centered over trans voices consistently, and sometimes very dangerously, while trans folks are denied autonomy, identity, and... Read more »
Push(back) at the Intersections: Hello, Appropriation!
Appropriation is often done in the name of a supposedly greater cause. Those in power tell us that we should wait our turn. They are working on extending a helping hand, it’s OK for them to speak for us, because they need to speak for us to help us achieve liberation. Even speaking up about... Read more »
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