Right now, there are lots gritty, dark TV shows that depict of what life as a woman in a misogynist society is really like. Which means it’s easier than ever to watch grim fictional accounts of abuse, assault and injustice, if just living through it every day wasn’t enough for you. In fact, these four feminist shows are so harrowing and real that after you binge watch them, you’ll need to watch the 2001 Reese Witherspoon romantic comedy Legally Blonde just to calm down.
Orange Is The New Black
OITNB offers an intersectional look at life in a women’s prison, interspersed with heartbreaking flashbacks that are sure to make you cry. Switch on Legally Blonde to cheer yourself up after finishing a season, and you’ll be crying again – but happy tears when Elle Woods delivers her graduation speech at the end. Can you believe she overcame her wealth and privilege to become more privileged and probably more wealthy but also…respected?! Wipe your brain clean!
The Handmaid’s Tale
The government-mandated subjugation of women in this dystopian series is so eerily relevant in 2018 that it will make you want to escape to 2001, a simpler time, when Lisa Loeb ruled the airwaves and feminism was about a rich white woman proving that she too has a brain! Escape to this precious time by watching Legally Blonde and soon the only bend and snap you should be thinking about is the flirting technique, not the Red Center’s approach to torture!
Jessica Jones
The Netflix show’s titular character is haunted by memories of sexual trauma, so Jessica Jones might not provide the escapism that you expect from a Marvel property. Luckily, nothing says escapism like Legally Blonde’s opening montage of sorority life set to Hoku’s “Perfect Day”.
The Deuce
The Deuce provides a sympathetic, nuanced look at the lives of sex workers in the 1970s. After you binge watch the gritty HBO show, cheer yourself up with a sympathetic, nuanced look at sorority sisters of the early 2000s. Falling asleep immediately after watching women suffer at the hands of violent, unhinged men? I object!
Today’s prestige television is rife with graphic depictions of the harrowing experiences women like you face on a daily basis. So after you binge a full season of the latest rape revenge porn, go ahead and detox with a nice Reese Witherspoon flick after. But oh my god not Big Little Lies or you’ll have to start all over again. Happy watching!
