Related Recs

🔥

the actual “male gaze” and “compulsory heterosexuality”

not slept on because nobody’s using the terms but slept on because most people don’t know where the terms are from or their actual definition… they both are VERY GOOD pieces of writing, the terms’ actual meanings are incredibly useful to have words for, and it makes me sad seeing the terms so commonly misused that most people wouldn’t know the actual definition of either. (and ofc i‘ll note that older literature is imperfect and the work building off of these are important to read too but these pieces are specifically where the terms originate) visual pleasure and narrative cinema (1975) by laura mulvey while a lot of people misuse it as meaning internalized misogyny, male gaze originates from this piece by laura mulvey and describes the ways in which men create, cast, and consume media (mostly film but you can apply to most art) in a manner that largely objectifies and sexualizes female characters / subjects. it’s a little dense in some parts but i especially recommend this one to anyone who enjoys media critique, especially film (ahem, letterboxd users reading this, please go read this one!!!) & compulsory heterosexuality and lesbian existence (1980) by adrienne rich compulsory heterosexuality is a term coined by adrienne rich in 1980 and refers to how in our patriarchal society, it’s been socially constructed that all women are presumed to be straight and are thus socialized to pursue a heteronormative life (the resulting conscriptions are at the detriment of all women, regardless of sexuality + it fuels homophobia by painting queerness as unnatural). it’s contemporarily misused to to describe the heteronormative / homophobic pressure to like men that lesbians might feel. in a moment in which a loooot of young women attracted to men are entertaining the toxic “marry a rich man don’t work!” ideology, i think it’s so important that we acknowledge how the issue of heteronormative patriarchal expectations is damaging to all women when it comes to navigating / envisioning our lives! (those of you who have heard the term misused, are driven crazy by the tradwife tikok trend, or have heard about the “4b movement” in the news might find this piece particularly interesting)

@marxinista

Nov 12, 2024

🫒

Cool articles by or about women (except one)

Interviews: Writer and translator poupeh missaghi on challenging received narratives from The Creative Independent Archivist and editor Laird Borrelli-Persson on bringing depth to the superficial from The Creative Independent Psychology: Why bad doodles can reveal more about you than good drawings from Psyche Make it awkward! from Aeon Philosophy: Is beauty natural? from Aeon Against humility from Aeon History: The forgotten fossil hunter who transformed Britain’s Jurassic Coast from National Geographic Queen Nzinga: One of Africa’s fearless leaders from Grunge Biography: Victoria Woodhull from National Women’s History Museum

@starvinginthefigtree

Nov 10, 2024

🤓

feminist doublethink

not technically peer-reviewed but bitch it fucking reads like an academic text - the footnotes alone are CRAZY

@madchen

Oct 15, 2024

Top Recs from @marxinista

🤓

being a nerd about stuff

being traditionally cool is really quite boring and iterative, and it’s actually very cool and sexy to geek out about something you like or share bits of knowledge on a topic you’re passionate about

@marxinista

Aug 17, 2024

5

⏰

not being on tiktok

i had it for a little over a year until i was like wow this is actually terrible! i genuinely think it has negatively impacted society by ruining people’s attention spans, having a horrific algorithm, and most of all by the most mind-numbing or outright harmful trends - fake words that people now use IRL (“unalive”), trad wife tiktok, shein hauls, body-focused fitness vids that encourage fatphobia and unhealthy habits, shallow political/feminist theory and queer discourse, “alpha male” podcaster tiktok, encouraging overconsumption in general, trends ruining local spots or niche things… the list goes on

@marxinista

Aug 17, 2024

33

🌈

electronics in fun colors

a million times cooler than the lackluster “sleek” tech color palette used today

@marxinista

Feb 22, 2025

3