What is Feminist Elizabethan?

Feminist Elizabethan is a blog that explores, analyzes, discusses and reports on pop culture and social issues and how these two topics  intersect. It is the aim of this blog to always examine all of these topics  through an intersectional feminist lens.

What can you find on Feminist Elizabethan?

Feminist Elizabethan has several regular segments including:

The Bechdel, Russo, and Race Test – Films and television shows are tested to see if they meet the criteria for three separate diversity tests. The three diversity tests that are used are the Bechdel, the Vito Russo and the race test. These tests, respectively, require that there is at least one instance where two or more named women talk to each other without mentioning men; that there is at least one LGBTI character who is not solely defined as being LGBTI and who is important to the plot; and that there is at least one instance where two or more non-White actors speak to each other without mentioning White people.

The Weekly Feminist News Mashup – A weekly segment which rounds up any feminist related news that was not published on Feminist  Elizabethan  and that has occurred within the past week.

Stereotypes and Slurs – A brief overview of the definitions, the history and the etymology behind different slurs and stereotypes.

Know Your Celebrity Feminist – A profile series of the various celebrities who have publicly claimed a feminist identity.

Women in History – A look at the various women who have contributed to history.

Feminist Elizabethan also regularly features slam poetry, art, short films, music, fashion, news, memes and resources that are feminist related.

How did Feminist Elizabethan come to be?

Feminist Elizabethan is the brainchild of Noelle Connell. Noelle created Feminist Elizabethan because she loves pop culture and because she was frustrated by the fact that social issues within and outside pop culture are largely ignored. What, strangely enough, finally pushed Noelle over the edge into actually writing about these issues was Sex and the City. More specifically, after watching one too many episodes of Sex and the City for the thousandth time, Noelle finally snapped and thought, “If Carrie Bradshaw can be a successful columnist despite the nonsensical and problematic drivel that pours out of her and viewers still love her and Sex and the City despite all of this, then I don’t see why I can’t write too and have people enjoy what I have to say as well.” (And yes, Noelle does realize that Carrie Bradshaw is a fictional character but watching repeat episodes of Sex and the City for years on end will make a woman snap).

As to why this blog is titled “Feminist Elizabethan,” the movie Elizabeth  with Cate Blanchett made a huge impact on Noelle as a child. When Noelle saw this film, it was the very first time that she ever saw a woman being depicted as being powerful, relatively independent, single and childless. Noelle found that Elizabeth was someone that she could relate to and aspire to be, and she ultimately began Noelle on her long road to feminism so it only felt right that she incorporate her into her blog.

Contact

If you would like to contact Noelle, she can be reached at: theIronLady@feministelizabethan.com