Feminist Frequency Radio

On this week's episode of FFR, the gang discusses Searching, a new thriller starring John Cho which takes place entirely on computer screens. As David Kim, a father searching for his missing daughter, John Cho navigates Facebook, Tumblr, creates spreadsheets, makes phone calls using FaceTime, and otherwise employs technology in the ways that many of us do every day as just an ordinary part of our...

In this, the first of three special conversations recorded at the XOXO festival in Portland, Oregon, Anita talks to Natalie Wynn, who, with her channel ContraPoints, has become one of the most celebrated progressive voices on YouTube, thanks to the wonderful videos that result from the combination of Wynn's rigorous intellect, her biting humor, and her sense of theatrical style. In this conversati...

On this week’s FFR, we talk about the new Amazon Prime series Jack Ryan , starring John Krasinski as Tom Clancy’s most famous hero, who finds himself on the trail of--surprise!--a Muslim terrorist! What makes Jack Ryan interesting to discuss is the ways in which the creators of the show have clearly made a conscious effort to address potential criticism of the series as being Islamophobic or other...

This week, we bring you a very special show recorded live at the XOXO festival in Portland! We decided to liven things up by playing a special game in which each of us presents one piece of media we loved when we were younger to the crowd, and asking them to vote: Can we still love this thing, or do we have to dump it? A cult classic NES game, a mostly forgotten 80s TV series, and a much-maligned...

This week, Anita’s away so Ebony and Carolyn get weird with a look back at David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive , a dreamlike odyssey about female fantasy, the commoditization of women in Hollywood, and—well, what IS Mulholland Drive about, really? We go on a winding journey in search of answers. We also discuss Louis CK and the enduring lack of real consequences for so many male abusers, the cultural r...

Each week, we record a bonus segment exclusively for our Drip backers. This week, we decided to make our bonus available to everyone. Here, a chat about the extremely enjoyable new game Guacamelee 2 evolves into a larger discussion about engaging with problematic work, where we draw the line, and navigating the complexities that often arise when striving to be critical of the media we love. To acc...

In this week's episode, your favorite radical hacker collective get into the nitty gritty of 90's tech paranoia via the 1995 films Hackers and Strange Days. Caro can't help but admire SD's attempt to create compelling fable for its time; while Ebony and Anita discuss the gendered violence the film doesn't allow us to look away from. Hackers turned out to be a bit harder to reckon with -- not least...

This week on Feminist Frequency Radio, we’re talking about the hit new rom-com that’s also a watershed moment in cinematic representation, Crazy Rich Asians! We discuss the beauty of Singapore, so rarely seen onscreen in America, the complex issues of class and wealth that the film both does and does not engage with, Awkwafina’s “blaccent,” the way gender roles are tied up in notions of tradition,...

This week, Anita, Ebony and Carolyn are going deep undercover with Spike Lee’s latest film, BlacKkKlansman , based on the true story of Ron Stallworth, a black Colorado Springs police officer who successfully infiltrated the Ku Klux Klan, in a manner of speaking. We talk about how the film engages directly with cinematic history, from white supremacist films like Birth of a Nation to blaxploitatio...

#38: Mission: Impossible - Fallout On this week’s episode, Anita’s off on a top-secret assignment, no doubt saving the world from the evil forces of anti-feminism, so Carolyn and Ebony hold down the fort at FemFreq HQ by diving into the international intrigue of Mission: Impossible - Fallout. Join us as we discuss hero Ethan Hunt’s moral convictions, the not-so-magical way in which the film makes...

This week on FFR, we’re discussing the potent and perceptive cocktail of comedy and drama that is Blindspotting . An insightful, powerful and deeply funny new film about Oakland, Blindspotting explores the impact of police violence, gentrification, and racism through the lens of a lifelong friendship between Collin, who is black, and Miles, who is white. Our conversation covers the film’s concerns...

In this week’s episode, we explore FX’s excellent, multifaceted new drama Pose , which focuses on the lives of trans women and queer people in the ballroom scene of late-80s NYC. Pose confronts the devastation of the AIDS crisis while still showing people with HIV living meaningful lives filled with joy, love, and struggle, and it positions living with honesty and integrity in a hostile world as t...

This week on Feminist Frequency Radio, we discuss Boots Riley’s wild, unforgettable comedy of race, class, labor and capitalism, Sorry to Bother You! It’s a gem of distinctly Oakland storytelling that’s very relevant for the moment in history at which we find ourselves, and we explore the ways in which it sharply blends comedy and critique to create a uniquely piercing work of cultural commentary...

#34: Ant-Man and The Wasp with Special Guest Jamie Loftus This week on FFR, special guest Jamie Loftus joins us to discuss the pop culture news of the week and the latest cinematic appetizer from Marvel, Ant-Man and The Wasp. Jamie is a hilarious comic, Zamboni-lover, and co-host of The Bechdel Cast. Topics under the feminist microscope this week include the ever-eroding distinction between public...

FFR #33: W. Kamau Bell's New Comedy Special and the Very Real Dangers of Online Harassment This week on FFR, the dynamic trio discusses the new Netflix comedy special by self-proclaimed “heterosexual cisgender dad man” W. Kamau Bell, Private School Negro, which gets into matters of white supremacy and whether or not Trump is a racist. (“Yes, he is a racist.”) Then, following two tragic instances o...

#32: It’s Tearjerker Time! Who needs a good cry? Well, we’ve got you covered this week as we discuss two works bristling with poignant and powerful emotion. First up is the new documentary Won’t You Be My Neighbor? about the life and work of Fred Rogers, who brought a philosophy of radical kindness and love to the often crass and materialistic world of children’s television. Then, we react to Hann...

#31 Catching Pancakes With Special Guest Open Mike Eagle On this week’s episode, Anita and Ebony chop it up with hip hop artist Open Mike Eagle, who you may remember from one of Anita’s JoCo Cruise interviews. Topics include Mike’s E3 experience, sexism in games and in sports journalism, how professional wrestling has changed, the uncomfortable horror of TV’s The Handmaid’s Tale, and more! Segment...

In this week's episode, we welcome Anita back to the bridge and set sail on the USS Radical Empathy for a heist adventure for the ages! We dig into the effervescent appeal of Ocean's 8, while sparing a wink for that queer subtext we love. Anita has questions about why Rihanna's character doesn't vape in this year our Lord 2018, but before she gets any resolution on the issue we moved on to the fea...

In this week’s episode, it’s a sci-fi spectacular as Ebony and Caro navigate the asteroid field of a movie that is Solo. We talk everything from Ron Howard’s directing to the squandering of Thandie Newton to the Star Wars series’ gradual shift into a much less interesting approach to storytelling. We reserve particular ire, however, for the film’s treatment of its feisty, politically revolutionary...

In this week’s off-the-rails episode of Feminist Frequency Radio, Ebony finally slides into the captain’s chair and brings on board a temporary first officer for an away mission that might not make it into syndication. Comedian, writer, and amateur chicken wrangler, Julie deGroot joins Ebony for an entertaining ramble through issues as diverse as finding your purpose later in life and finding salv...

In this week’s episode, Ebony realizes 40 minutes in that Producer Phil needs to slap a “saucy language warning” on all of her segments because she has no home training. Anita shares some interesting news about ice cream mafia wars in small town Sweden; and Carolyn’s guiding hand is woefully missed during a disjointed, rambling, ramshackle edition of Pop Culture News. Thankfully, things are a bit...

In this week’s FFR, Anita’s off on another one of her damn fool adventures so it’s up to Ebony and Carolyn to captain our flagship podcast! In a nod to Carolyn’s love of classic cinema, we discuss the classic 1940 “comedy of remarriage,” His Girl Friday, starring Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell. Despite being nearly 80 years old, the film has more interesting gender politics than many contemporary...

On this week’s FFR, it’s a queer media extravaganza as we talk Netflix’s reboot of Queer Eye and the Wachowskis’ seminal 90s lesbian crime film Bound. Queer Eye can certainly be heartwarming and endearing, but we also discuss how it obscures systemic issues and misrepresents potential solutions to matters of oppression and violence against marginalized people. Also, Anita calls out one of their de...

On this week’s FFR, Anita has left Ebony and Carolyn to fend for themselves! In our desperate attempt to put together a coherent podcast in Anita’s absence, we go deep on Avengers: Mandatory Moviegoing Experience (or Infinity War as it’s more commonly known), discussing the film’s various representations of masculinity, the roles women play in its narrative, and its surprising ending. (Take heed:...

In this week’s episode, Anita and Ebony are at Kickstarter HQ in Brooklyn recording the podcast in front of a live studio audience! Best of all, they’re joined by special guest, cultural commentator and hip hop DJ Jay Smooth. Ebony leads the trio through a wide-ranging assortment of questions that find them discussing Breaking Bad, Bradley Cooper, pro wrestling, the music of Rush, and the end of t...