FemResThe Living Review
07Current issueThe right to be unlikeable

Why must she be likeable?

Beginning with Unlikeable Female Characters, we revisit women who are angry, desirous, and unwilling to comply. Who sets the terms of likability—and when does rebellion reproduce someone else’s oppression?

Cover story
Unlikeable Female Characters: The Women Pop Culture Wants You to Hate

In this issue

30 items

Books10

01

Books · May 2023

Unlikeable Female Characters: The Women Pop Culture Wants You to Hate

Anna Bogutskaya

Anna Bogutskaya’s cultural criticism opens a feminist inquiry into likability, female antiheroes, audience judgment, and the unequal right to be complicated.

02

Books · Oct 2017

Down Girl: The Logic of Misogyny

Kate Manne

A groundbreaking philosophical analysis that redefines misogyny not as hatred of women, but as a system designed to police and punish women who challenge patriarchal norms. Manne provides a rigorous framework for understanding how misogyny functions as the enforcement branch of patriarchy.

03

Books · Aug 2014

Bad Feminist

Roxane Gay

A collection of essays that explores the complexities of contemporary feminism with humor and honesty, acknowledging that feminists can be contradictory and imperfect.

04

Books · Jan 2024

Mean Girl Feminism: On the Performative Power of Whiteness

Mean Girl Feminism: How White Feminists Gaslight, Gatekeep, and GirlbossKim Hong Nguyen

A sharp deconstruction of contemporary white feminism, revealing how the performance of 'sass' and 'girl squads' serves to consolidate privilege rather than dismantle oppression.

05

Books · Jan 1979

The Madwoman in the Attic: The Woman Writer and the Nineteenth-Century Literary Imagination

Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar

Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar's 1979 classic feminist literary criticism work deeply analyzes how nineteenth-century women writers found their voices within patriarchal literary traditions, establishing a foundation for feminist literary criticism.

06

Books · Jan 1979

The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories

Angela Carter

A groundbreaking work of feminist fairy tale reconstruction that subverts classic fairy tales to create new female narratives, exploring the complex relationships between gender power, desire, and female subjectivity.

07

Books · Jan 1966

Wide Sargasso Sea

Jean Rhys

Nearly 200 years after Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre was published, it has quite rightly earned the status of a classic feminist novel. If Jane Eyre is a classic, then Jean Rhys's Wide Sargasso Sea - the 1966 novel that gives life to the abandoned woman in Brontë's story - is a masterpiece. By re-examining the character of Bertha Rochester and imagining her life before the events of the original novel, Rhys gives agency and dignity to literature's archetypal 'madwoman in the attic'.

08

Books · Jul 2016

Convenience Store Woman

コンビニ人間Sayaka Murata

Convenience Store Woman is an Akutagawa Prize-winning novel by Japanese author Sayaka Murata. The protagonist, Keiko Furukura, is a 36-year-old woman who has worked at the same convenience store for 18 years and has no interest in society's expectations for women - marriage, children, a 'real' career. With dark humor, the novel sharply questions society's definition of 'normal' and its oppression of women who don't conform.

09

Books · Jan 2022

In Defense of Witches: The Legacy of the Witch Hunts and Why Women Are Still on Trial

Mona Chollet

A powerful feminist analysis connecting historical witch hunts to contemporary attacks on women's autonomy. Chollet examines how the persecution of 'witches' - independent women, childless women, and aging women - established patterns of misogyny that continue to shape how society treats women who defy traditional roles.

10

Books · Feb 2020

Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning

Cathy Park Hong

A poetically written and sharply critical exploration of the unspoken pain, anger, and alienation hidden behind the myth of the 'model minority.' Cathy Park Hong dismantles the racial and social hierarchies of American society through the lens of her own experiences as an Asian American woman.

Films8

01

Films · Sep 2009

Jennifer's Body

Karyn Kusama

High school cheerleader Jennifer becomes possessed by a demon after being sacrificed by a male band seeking fame, then begins hunting the town's men. This initially misunderstood horror-comedy gained critical reappraisal during the MeToo era, recognized as a feminist horror film ahead of its time that explores toxic masculinity, complex female friendship, and gender violence under patriarchy.

02

Films · Oct 1950

All About Eve

Joseph L. Mankiewicz

Behind Broadway's glittering stage, a legendary actress and an ambitious young woman engage in a complex battle over age, power, and women's survival space. This classic black-and-white film explores workplace gender dynamics and generational conflict in patriarchal society through sharp dialogue and profound character development.

03

Films · Aug 2018

The Favourite

Yorgos Lanthimos

Set in 18th-century British court, the power game between Queen Anne and two women - Sarah Churchill and Abigail Hill. This dark comedy explores complex themes of female power, gender politics, female friendship and competition through gorgeous visual style and sharp satire, challenging traditional gender role expectations.

04

Films · Dec 2020

Promising Young Woman

Emerald Fennell

A bold and provocative thriller that confronts rape culture through the story of Cassie, a woman seeking justice for her best friend's assault. This Academy Award-winning film challenges audiences to examine complicity, consent, and the systems that protect predators.

05

Films · May 1991

Thelma & Louise

Ridley Scott

Two ordinary women - housewife Thelma and diner waitress Louise - embark on a weekend trip that turns into a fugitive journey after killing in self-defense. During their cross-country road trip, they experience a transformation from fear to liberation, ultimately choosing freedom over surrender.

06

Films · Dec 1966

Daisies

SedmikráskyVěra Chytilová

Věra Chytilová’s surrealist Czech New Wave masterpiece follows two teenage girls, both named Marie, who embark on a series of anarchic pranks and destructive games in a world going 'bad.' Through avant-garde experimentation and radical humor, the film critiques patriarchy, consumerism, and political stagnation.

07

Films · May 2014

The Babadook

Jennifer Kent

A widowed single mother Amelia and her young son confront the mysterious terror creature Babadook in their home. This Australian psychological horror film breaks traditional gender stereotypes in horror cinema, exploring profound themes of loss, grief, maternal stress, and women's inner darkness from a mother's perspective.

08

Films · Jan 2020

Zola

Janicza Bravo

Based on A'Ziah King's viral Twitter story, follows part-time stripper Zola who is convinced by her new friend to go on a road trip to Tampa to earn money dancing, only to get trapped in a sex work situation. This black comedy explores the complex realities of sex work, racial dynamics, female agency, and narrative truth in the social media age through Zola's perspective.

Videos3

Podcasts2

Articles3

Papers4

01

Papers · Oct 1975

Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema

Laura Mulvey

In this seminal essay, Laura Mulvey introduces psychoanalytic theory to film criticism, coining the concept of the 'Male Gaze' to reveal how classical Hollywood cinema constructs images of women around male visual pleasure.

02

Papers · Jan 1990

Mammies, Matriarchs, and Other Controlling Images

Patricia Hill Collins

This chapter from Collins’ seminal book *Black Feminist Thought* analyzes the controlling images of Black womanhood in U.S. culture - such as the mammy, matriarch, welfare queen, and jezebel - and how these stereotypes function to justify intersecting systems of race, gender, and class oppression. Collins argues that these images are ideological tools used to regulate Black women’s labor, sexuality, and social roles.

03

Papers · Jan 1975

The Laugh of the Medusa

Le Rire de la MéduseHélène Cixous

This groundbreaking 1975 essay introduces the concept of 'écriture féminine' (feminine writing), calling for women to reclaim their bodies and desires through writing. Cixous reinterprets the myth of Medusa, transforming her from a monstrous figure into a symbol of feminine power and creativity, challenging patriarchal language systems and advocating for the revolutionary potential of women's writing.

04

Papers · May 2020

A Very Basic View of Feminism: Feminist Girls and Meanings of (Celebrity) Feminism

A very basic view of feminism: feminist girls and meanings of (celebrity) feminismSue Jackson

This paper explores young women's understanding of feminism, particularly their perspectives on celebrity feminism. The research finds that while celebrity feminism is often criticized as superficial and lacking intersectional perspectives, it plays an important role as a 'gateway' or 'starting point' for attracting and guiding young girls to engage with and deepen their understanding of feminism.