Author: Carolyn Elerding

Carolyn Elerding, PhD, is a feminist author and freelance editor. Find her on Twitter @celerding and Mastodon @celerding@toot.io.

‘Yellowjackets’: A Tale of Cannibalism and … Feminism?

Another season of the award-winning Showtime series Yellowjackets compares female empowerment then and now, contrasting girls of the 1990s with the women they are today.

There’s a lot going on in this brilliantly suspenseful show, including some spectacular deconstructions of stereotypes—good and bad—but what really stands out to me are the questions it asks about competition. For this viewer who came of age in the ‘90s—benefiting from a lot of self-empowerment messaging but not much feminism, let alone intersectional feminism—Yellowjackets really hits.

Gloria Feldt

How to ‘Intention’ a Feminist World: Ringing in the New Year with Leadership Icon Gloria Feldt

For years, Gloria Feldt has focused on women’s leadership—and as we flip the calendar to 2022, her resolve is stronger than ever. I decided to find out more about her insights into women and power.

“One of the hardest things is to shift our focus from battling negative power reactively to embracing our positive power to implement change proactively and set our own agenda in a disciplined way.”

Women's and LGBT choir

Together in Song: Women’s and LGBT Choruses Safely Thrive Amidst the Pandemic

Women’s and LGBT choruses have used communal singing to network in support of social causes. The COVID-19 pandemic continues to pose major challenges for arts and culture involving the prohibition of large, in-person gatherings. However, these choruses are not just surviving, but thriving—thanks to their savvy use of digital networks and webs of long-standing relationships.

After Boulder and Atlanta_ A Feminist Reflection On Mass Shootings

A Feminist Reflection On Mass Shootings: How to Turn Sorrow and Rage Into Change

“Tears well up when I think about returning to my King Soopers to shop for groceries, but I plan to—for personal and political reasons. … Perhaps what will most heal our communities is social change, so that the deaths in Atlanta, Orlando, Parkland, Las Vegas and so many other places, as well as here in Boulder, will not have been entirely in vain.”

#MeToon: How Courageous Feminists United to Reshape the Animation Community

Fundamentally, the catalyst driving #MeToon was the group of courageous women who empowered one another to speak out.

#MeToon has not only advanced strategies for resisting the prevalence of sexual harassment in Hollywood, but also demonstrated how allies such as trade unions can actively promote social equality. Together, women and their allies drew a line—in bold—and the animation industry seems to be getting the picture.