A group of women sit in the waiting room of the American Birth Control League Clinic, New York, 1921

Pro-Sex Feminists of the 1920s

In the early decades of the twentieth century, political and social activists saw separating sex from marriage and reproduction as an issue of freedom.
Director Julie Dash poses for the movie "Daughters of the Dust," circa 1991

Feminist Film Theory: An Introductory Reading List

Evolving from the analysis of representations of women in film, feminist film theory asks questions about identity, sexuality, and the politics of spectatorship.
From the poster for Black Girl by Ousmane Sembène, 1966

Ousmane Sembène: Feminism in African Francophone Cinema

Known as “the grandfather of African cinema,” Sembène created powerful female characters who challenged Western notions of gender and sexuality.
Lee Krasner: Living Colour exhibition at Barbican Art Gallery on May 29, 2019 in London, England.

Feminist Art History: An Introductory Reading List

Beginning with texts written in the 1970s, this reading list shows how the major questions, critiques, and debates developed in the field of feminist art history.
The Mirabal sisters

Remembering the Mirabal Sisters

International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women honors three sisters who were murdered by the Trujillo dictatorship in the Dominican Republic.
A still from "Both Sides Now" by Kandy Fong

The Feminist Art Roots of Fan-Made Videos

Though vidding is now generally a part of online culture, it originated in the grassroots editing efforts of female television fans.
An ad for a Riot Grrrl Convention in 1992

Start a Riot (and a Zine), Grrrl

With roots in the small press and fanzine communities, the girl zine movement relied on pen, paper, and copy machines to fight structural oppression.
From the cover of New Women's Times

The Combahee River Collective Statement: Annotated

The Black feminist collective's 1977 statement has been a bedrock document for academics, organizers and theorists for 45 years.
Housewife Annie Driver of Hunstanton, Norfolk, scrubbing the floor, 1956

NOW and the Displaced Homemaker

In the 1970s, NOW began to ask hard questions about the women who were no longer "homemakers", displaced from the only role they were thought to need.
Dolores Huerta

The Foundations of Chicana Feminism

The Chicana feminist movement was initially met with resistance from within, and racism from without.