Posts Tagged Leslie Knope

By Courtney Baxter • 11 years ago

Weekly Feminist Reader

Hardly excited about the return of Leslie Knope.

“It was a dirty secret that wasn’t discussed.”

Cultural appropriation’s “greatest” hits.

On the racial empathy gap.

The Brewstar-Douglass Projects are coming down.

No pill. No prob?

The value of suffering.

77% of unpaid interns are women.

Girls and the power of the online petition.

The latest flash point in the abortion wars.

A beginner’s guide to the conflict in Syria.

An autobiography of gentrification.

Respectability politics in the workplace.

Can we get a “hell-yeah” for inclusive sex-ed comics?

Diana Nyad is a BAMF.

Stay-at-home-Dad overhype.

“I’m a young woman, and I ain’t done runnin’ ...

Hardly excited about the return of Leslie Knope.

“It was a dirty secret that wasn’t discussed.”

Cultural appropriation’s “greatest” hits.

On the racial empathy gap.

The Brewstar-Douglass Projects are coming ...
By Chloe Angyal • 11 years ago

Leslie Knope’s sexuopolitical dreams are coming true

“Sexuopolitical” is a word I just made up for when you think a political figure is super sexy. This is how certain members of the Feministing crew feel about Barack (though I reckon more of us feel that way about Michelle). It’s how almost all the young women of America in 1961 felt about JFK. It’s how more than a few American men in 2012 feel about Elizabeth Warren. And it’s about how Leslie Knope, who is fictional, feels about Joe Biden.

“Parks and Rec”’s heroine has on multiple occasions mentioned her crush on the man who was just reelected as VP. Her dream man would have the brain of George Clooney and the body of Mr. Biden, and her celebrity ...

“Sexuopolitical” is a word I just made up for when you think a political figure is super sexy. This is how certain members of the Feministing crew feel about Barack (though I reckon more of us feel ...
By Maya Dusenbery • 12 years ago

WTF: NBC to end Parks and Rec, 30 Rock, and Community after next season?


Knope 4 Life.

Say it isn’t so! No, really–tell me I’m wrong. While NBC has said that 30 Rock will have just one more abbreviated final season, the fate of Parks and Rec and Community is still unconfirmed. But with rumors that they too will end after next season, the internet–or at least my section of it–was already abuzz with cries of outrage. Courtney started a petition:

Liz Lemon and Leslie Knope are not only two of the funniest female characters on television, but they are played by two of the most creative and powerful women working in cultural production today. It’s been a joy for smart, complex women all over America to finally have a few laughs ...


Knope 4 Life.

Say it isn’t so! No, really–tell me I’m wrong. While NBC has said that 30 Rock will have just one more abbreviated final season, the fate of Parks and Rec and Community is ...
By Maya Dusenbery • 12 years ago

Has Leslie Knope become a damsel in distress?


Over at The American Prospect, Amanda Marcotte argues that Leslie Knope has fallen from her previous heights of feminist heroism and become a “damsel in distress” in this season of Parks and Rec. I disagree.

Things started to go off the rails with an artificial obstacle thrown in the way of Ben and Leslie’s happy coupling: an arbitrary rule established by their mutual boss disallowing office romances. The only purpose for this plot contrivance was to put Leslie in the role that anti-feminists paint as the fate of all ambitious women—trying to choose between love and work, and unable to have both. The writers expected the audience to believe that Leslie’s romance with Ben would somehow sink her ...


Over at The American Prospect, Amanda Marcotte argues that Leslie Knope has fallen from her previous heights of feminist heroism and become a “damsel in distress” in this season of Parks and Rec. I disagree.

Things ...
By Claire Moshenberg • 13 years ago

Parks and Recreation: Thank You for the Pawnee Goddesses

I used to babysit a house full of smart, awesome girls. They played pirates, staged elaborate kitchen science experiments, and read books by the case-full. For half an hour every evening, we sprawled out on the couch and tuned in to the ongoing exploits of a myriad of makeup lacquered, fresh out of elementary school Disney starlets. Those 30 minutes of 100%-geared-towards-girls-programming were chock full of boy craziness, feuding girl friends, and the trials and tribulations of pop super stardom (this was in Hannah Montana’s heyday). The girls on screen were nothing like the bright, playful girls who I babysat or their friends, full of personality and laundry lists of interests that went way beyond boys and looks. Every night ...

I used to babysit a house full of smart, awesome girls. They played pirates, staged elaborate kitchen science experiments, and read books by the case-full. For half an hour every evening, we sprawled out on the couch ...