Vaginas. Pretty weird, right? They excrete things, they sprout things, sometimes they make embarrassing noises during sex and the owner has to pretend it didn’t happen, or at least pretend they didn’t hear it. I know, the weirdest. They’ve also been the subjects of intense artistic fascination—especially from male observers—basically since art was invented….
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A boy’s face contorts itself into a twist of anger. The left strap of his dungarees slips down over his shoulder. The dappled afternoon light skims across the path behind him. He clenches a toy grenade in his fist. A couple clutch each other on the streets. It looks cold out and they wear the…
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Feminism is often associated with evident boldness; with head-scarfed women, rolling up their sleeves to boast shapely forearms; a “We Can Do it!” speech bubble floating courageously above their heads. The figure of Joan Didion—slender to the point of frailty, a slightly anxious expression on her face—runs counter to this intrepid image. Instead, it is…
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The year is 1991: combat boots stomp along the sidewalk, the smell of freshly-Xeroxed punk zines permeates the air, and Kathleen Hanna rules supreme. You may be Le Tigre’s biggest fan; you may have Hanna’s face plastered all over your wall and may be able to recite the words to ‘Suck My Left One’ backwards….
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I have a confession to make: I love the movie You’ve Got Mail. Normally I wouldn’t tell you this, normally I would sidestep the subject or pronounce indignantly, ‘pffftromcoms, they just perpetuate the hegemonic patriarchal ideal,’ and swiftly flip my hair over my shoulder, storm off, slump down in a corner and hide my face…
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Look out across the ocean and you’ll see a planet hovering above the horizon line. Its swirling clouds and green-brown rivulets of land closely resemble our own. In fact, this planet is our own, a parallel Earth. The night the discovery of “Earth 2” is announced and 17-year-old Rhoda Williams (Brit Marling) has been partying…
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Regency era England is often regarded as a world of fluttery Jane Austen-types, high tea and button-down sexuality. However, the fascinating and largely unknown figure of Anne Lister, and her extensively juicy diaries, pry open a very different account of the times. Watching the recent BBC telemovie based on Lister’s life, The Secret Diaries of…
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Watching The Future seems to be a similar experience to that of watching a friend’s student theatre or modern dance performance. You squirm awkwardly in your seat, wanting to think something nice about it, then they bound over enthusiastically to you at the end and the only words you can manage are, “that was, um,…
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You’ll Be Sorry When I’m Dead is quite an ominous title for someone to choose for a memoir. However, when you’ve been on the receiving end of death threats and frequent tirades from angry right-wingers, you can afford to sound a little intimidating sometimes. In this collection of reminiscent essays, journalist, screenwriter and general public…
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A 300 pound transvestite is violently caressed by a giant lobster. A troupe of merry acid freaks parade about a cardboard city in the backwaters of Baltimore. A demented gang captures an aging movie star and they then force her to perform in their trashy films. A teenage rebel discovers the joy of drinking his…
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Filmmaker Tristan Patterson didn’t intend to make a ‘skate’ film. That is, until he met Josh ‘Screech’ Sandoval. They crossed paths at a party in the desolate surrounds of an abandoned airfield in South California, in the midst of America’s economic meltdown. Aging punk rockers shrieked from the driveway, various burnouts and wastrels roamed about…
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