Feminist Frequency Radio
by Kat Spada, Anita Sarkeesian
Feminist Frequency Radio is coming for your media. Each week, Kat Spada invites you to listen in on entertaining and stimulating conversations about films, games, and TV... from the latest blockbusters to classic hidden gems, and more. With special guests bringing their distinctly different feminist perspectives to the mix as they celebrate and critique it all—including media critics, entertainers, academics, and everyone in between—Feminist Frequency Radio is there to help you dig deeper into the things you love. Warning: Feminist Frequency Radio may significantly enhance your media experience.Created by Anita Sarkeesian, Feminist Frequency ran as an organization from 2009–2023, providing video commentaries exploring gender representations, myths, and messages in popular culture media. Now, host Kat Spada continues Feminist Frequency Radio's legacy as an independent podcast, with fun new conversations about entertainment that asks you to be critical of the media you love.
Episodes
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FFR 280: Disclosure Day
Sometimes you have a good time at the movies, even when the movie is bad! Spielberg's latest alien caper fits right in to our conversation about camp. This year we've had new movies that check several of the boxes on our Sontag rubric, from the aesthetic expression of I Love Boosters to the...
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FFR Bonus: You Can See Everything
Manipulation! Cultural creation! Our perspectives on the new documentary (?) from Lance Oppenheim and Nathan Fielder have changed several times since the recording of this episode. Spoilers ahead in our conversation about how this movie works, and Kat's hare-brained theory about it. Discussed in...
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FFR 279: Strictly Ballroom
It was tough to pick which Baz Luhrmann movie to include in our Summer "Camp" season, but ultimately went back to the beginning, with his 1992 filmmaking debut. And right out the gate, his style is already so well-defined. Throwing sequined spaghetti at the walls, he combines classic sports movie...
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FFR 278: What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?
In which Kat mistakenly says "Joan Collins" a bunch of times, instead of Joan Crawford. We knew that our Summer "Camp" series needed to include a hagsploitation film. So we revisited this famously-fraught 1962 psychological thriller starring Crawford and Bette Davis. It's campy, but it's also a...
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FFR Bonus: Showgirls
We're halfway through our season of Summer "Camp," and it was a treat to revisit Paul Verhoeven's controversial camp classic Showgirls. The full episode is a special bonus for upper-level Patreon supporters, but also available as a one-off purchase for non-subscribers. Listen to the full episode...
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FFR 277: But I'm a Cheerleader
In the canon of "camp" cinema, there are so many examples of movies that are queer-coded, so we wanted to make sure we focused on a textually-gay example of the genre. Nothing nails it better than Jamie Babbit's 1999 satire But I'm a Cheerleader. Natasha Lyonne stars in this portrait of a...
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FFR 276: Batman Forever
This season's focus on "camp" cinema had to bring us to Joel Schumacher's 1995 film Batman Forever. From Val Kilmer's rubber nipples to Jim Carrey's unsanctioned buffoonery, there's so much of an aesthetic sensibility that it's a perfect example of superhero camp. AC had never seen this movie...
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FFR 275: Hairspray (2007)
One question we wanted to ask in our Summer "Camp" season was: does a remake add or remove layers of camp? Especially when it's one of John Waters' best-known films that's moved to the mainstream with a musical adaptation turned Hollywood. Does the overall cartoonishness of Tracy Turnblad's world...
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FFR 274: Barbarella
Welcome to our new season: Summer "Camp"! What better film to kick off these episodes with than Roger Vadim's 1968 space romp Barbarella. It's a perfect example of a movie that succeeds in its aesthetic endeavors, but isn't enough of a good sum of its parts to be considered well-made. What we…
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Season Preview: Summer "Camp"
Before we dive into our brand new season all about camp cinema classics, we had to reacquaint ourselves with the aesthetic sensibility at the heart of the style. So, we re-read and discussed Susan Sontag's 1964 essay Notes on "Camp." Of course, we digressed into the 2019 Met Gala, Kat's personal...
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FFR 273: The Wedding Banquet (2025)
A.C. and Kat experienced Andrew Ahn's remake of The Wedding Banquet across somewhat of a generational divide. He finds it relies on a millennial aesthetic portrayal of queer identity, with inauthentic politics. She (who watched it with Gen X family members) thought it was sweeter and more...
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FFR 272: Crooklyn
It was an absolute joy to spend time in the world of Spike Lee's 1994 bildungsroman Crooklyn. Co-written by Lee and his siblings Joie and Cinqué, the film follows nine-year-old Troy navigating herself, her neighborhood, and her extended family in 1973. We're refreshed to see Lee's rich visual...
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FFR 271: 98th Oscar Nominees
Kat and A.C. go through the films that will be fêted at this Sunday's Academy Awards. We feel a big shift in our relationship to Oscar movies, and aren't sure how much of that is the disintegration of the entertainment industry, and how much is just growing up. Plus, we play a new game all about...
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FFR 270: Real Women Have Curves
Our "Focus on the Family" season is back after an unexpected hiatus! [Once again: sorry for the interruption; a member of our team had an ongoing family medical situation, but we're happy to be with you again.] It was a big nostalgia kick for Kat to revisit Patricia Cardoso's 2002 Sundance…
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FFR 269: The Kids Are All Right
For the first episode of our "Focus on the Family" season, we're taking it back to 2010—a time before Prop 8 when a Sundance movie could really make a big impact on the widespread film landscape. Lisa Cholodenko's The Kids Are All Right is a great example of a specific early 21st-century…
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FFR Season Preview: Focus on the Family
FFR is going to be back soon with a new season focusing on the family... just in time for the holidays! Listen to our mini preview ep where we'll explain the theme in more detail, and give a little teaser of the special bonus segment each episode will include. From festival favorites to reality…
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FFR Bonus: Emilia Pérez
"Bingo." As the epic conclusion to our season of Musical Mayhem, we watched Jacques Audiard's 2024 extravaganza Emilia Pérez. Did we hate it? Kinda! Did we love it? Kinda! We also have a teaser of next season on Feminist Frequency Radio, coming soon. This full episode is a special bonus for...
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FFR 268: THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA
It's Andrew Lloyd Webber week in our Musical Mayhem season, and to turn the volume all the way up, we've selected Joel Schumacher's most renowned superhero flick, The Phantom of the Opera. And for those of you who couldn't care less about musicals, but have been along for the ride with us on this...
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FFR 267: THE WIZ
Watching the 1968 film adaptation of the Broadway musical The Wiz, we can't help but feel that director Sidney Lumet and screenwriter Joel Schumacher deeply underserved their stars, craftspeople, and source material. It's impossible not to be captivated by the performances, especially as the…
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FFR 266: FUNNY GIRL
We couldn't do a whole season about movie musicals without watching a Barbra vehicle. There are so many elements of 1968's Funny Girl that elevate the form, from William Wyler's direction taking a stage show to the screen, and Streisand's performance as her character Fanny Brice evolves from...
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FFR Bonus: DEAR EVAN HANSEN
Halfway through our season of Musical Mayhem, we decided to dive deep into the shallow waters of 2021's Dear Evan Hansen. After covering Glee last week, we felt like we had no other choice. This full-length episode is a special bonus for Patreon supporters at the "Fearless Feminist" level and...
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FFR 265: GLEE
Never has the micro-generational divide between Kat and A.C. been sharper than in their relationships to Glee, arguably the most influential musical series ever on television. It's hard not to get glib in our discussion of the "issues" the show attempted to tackle over the course of its six...
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FFR 264: ALL THAT JAZZ
Is this the first "perfect" movie we've covered on this podcast? This was Kat's first time watching Bob Fosse's 1979 self-referential musical drama All That Jazz, one of A.C.'s absolute favorites. There's something compelling about the way Joe Gideon, Fosse's stand-in for himself, is far from…
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FFR 263: GUYS AND DOLLS
For the first full episode of our new "Musical Mayhem" season, we watched the 1955 film Guys and Dolls. The gender expectations and relationship dynamics between the central two couples in this movie feel like they'd be right at home in today's modern "trad wife" resurgence as certain segments of...
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FFR 262.5: MUSICAL MAYHEM Season Preview
Kat and A.C. are back from an extended hiatus in the Heavyside Layer to bring you an all-new season of Feminist Frequency Radio! This time, we're being critical about the media we love while tapping our toes: the screen musical. Join us for a preview episode where we discuss the season ahead and...
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FFR 262: Chasing Chasing Amy featuring Sav Rodgers
A.C. and Kat are joined by director Sav Rodgers to discuss his documentary feature debut, Chasing Chasing Amy, and the complicated legacy of its subject matter, Kevin Smith's 1997 film Chasing Amy. Sav shares about the arduous process of becoming the central story in his own doc, and examining…
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FFR 261: Wicked: Part One
A.C. and Kat are back from their first semester at Shiz University for winter break, and we just had to talk about Jon M. Chu's blockbuster Broadway adaptation of Wicked: Part One. Starring Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande in the story before the story we all know from The Wizard of Oz, this is a...
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FFR Bonus: Rapid-Fire Recaps + Gelée
Kat's fighting a vicious cold, and only had enough raspy voice left to record a bonus mini episode with AC this week. We caught up on all of the random movies and TV Kat watched while traveling or coughing on the couch, from Hit Man and Trap to Love Again and Hot Frosty. AC shared what movies he...
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FFR 260: Buffy the Vampire Slayer featuring Margaret Wappler
Luke Perry biographer Margaret Wappler joined us for a conversation about her hybrid memoir profiling the '90s heartthrob, and the impact Perry had on viewers from 90210 to Riverdale. We dug into Fran Rubel Kuzui's 1992 film Buffy the Vampire Slayer, starring Perry alongside Kristy Swanson and...
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FFR 259: The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas featuring Tara Giancaspro
Writer and musician Tara Giancaspro joins Kat and A.C. for a rootin' tootin' rip-roarin' review of Colin Higgins' 1982 movie musical The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. We get lost in the fun and charm of the music, dancing, and wigs! We delight in the beauty of Dolly Parton and Burt Reynolds!…
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FFR 258: The Substance featuring Anita Sarkeesian
Anita Sarkeesian returns to the podcast this week to discuss Coralie Fargeat's buzzy body horror film The Substance, starring Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley. Anita gives the movie 5 out of 5 stars, but she, Kat, and A.C. all find something uniquely different to love about it. After an…
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FFR 257: The Children's Hour featuring Alonso Duralde
Film critic and podcast host Alonso Duralde previously joined us for a discussion about 1950s Hollywood, and it was such a treat to have him return to the show. He recently published the film history compendium Hollywood Pride: A Celebration of LGBTQ+ Representation and Perseverance in Film, so...
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FFR 256: Broadcast News featuring Emma Specter
We were so excited to welcome author and journalist Emma Specter to the show, that we asked them if we could talk about their favorite movie. Join us as we traverse journalism onscreen in James L. Brooks' 1987 film Broadcast News, starring Holly Hunter, William Hurt, and Albert Brooks. We also…
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FFR 255: Twisters
Kat and A.C. are starving for a blockbuster to make them feel something, as if the movies are actually, finally back. So, they saw Lee Isaac Chung’s Twisters, and unfortunately—they’re still hungry. Listen in as they hypothesize about what Glenn Powell’s character was doing in the years before…
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FFR 254: Furiosa
Kat and A.C. ~*witnessed*~ the fifth installment in George Miller’s apocalypse epic, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga and… we found it completely unnecessary. We know that movies about women are not by default inherently feminist (Anita tweeted about this specifically related to Fury Road back in 2015)…
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FFR 253: Seconds
Who’s in the mood for a little June Gloom? We finally watched John Frankenheimer’s 1966 film Seconds, starring Rock Hudson, in a feature segment we’re calling “Retro Featurism.” Kat and A.C. wonder what its Frankenstein-esque plotline in which viewers could find gay or trans messaging, says about...
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FFR 252: The Fall Guy
In this week’s episode, Kat holds court on the movie that seemed uniquely designed just for her (which she ultimately found fairly disappointing): The Fall Guy. Directed by longtime stunt performer David Leitch and starring Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt, A.C. and Kat predominantly found the movie…...
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FFR 251: Monkey Man
Join Kat and A.C. for a discussion of Monkey Man, the directorial debut of star Dev Patel. We talk about action movie tropes, what happens when actors get to make their first feature behind the camera, and the “internet boyfriend”-ification of British boys in the 2010s. Plus, the return of our...
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FFR 250: Challengers
Join Kat and A.C. for a discussion of one of their most hotly anticipated movies of 2024, Luca Guadagnino’s Challengers starring Zendaya, Josh O’Connor, and Mike Faist. The FFR hosts were mixed on their reactions, but both saw opportunities where it could have ascended to greater heights than it...
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FFR 249 Bonus: Strange Way of Life
This week, we’re releasing the first bonus episode of the season on the main feed so that everyone can get a teaser of the new format of extra content typically reserved exclusively for our supporters on Patreon! In this bonus episode, we’re discussing Pedro Almodóvar’s short film Strange Way of...
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FFR 249: The People's Joker
And we’re back! For the first episode of our first season as an independent podcast following the sunset of the Feminist Frequency nonprofit organization, we thought we’d discuss one of the most exciting new independent films we’ve seen: Vera Drew’s The People’s Joker. Join Feminist Frequency…
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FFR Season Preview: Anyone But You
FFR Season Preview: Anyone But You with new co-host A.C. Lamberty Feminist Frequency Radio is coming back for its first new season as an independent podcast following the sunset of the FF organization after an incredible 15 years. Kat Spada is thrilled to be re-joined by new co-host A.C.…
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FFR 247: Moonstruck featuring Anita Sarkeesian
We’re wrapping up this season of FFR just as we started it, with Anita Sarkeesian returning for an episode where she and host Kat Spada talk about a classic movie they both love and could watch over and over. But while this season’s first episode featured Patrick Swayze in Dirty Dancing, this…
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Fortnightly FREQouts #10 - Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé
Feminist Frequency Radio presents another “Fortnightly FREQout” mini-episode. In this short-but-sweet installment, Kat is cutting right to the point: BEYONCÉ! Find Kat: twitter.com/kat_ex_machina Find Feminist Frequency: Join our Patreon Our Website Subscribe to FFR on Apple Podcasts Twitter...
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FFR 246: Gremlins featuring Oscar Montoya
Feminist Frequency Radio is celebrating the holidays with the creepy Christmas classic, 1984’s Gremlins. Joining Kat is this episode’s special guest: actor, comedian, and dancer Oscar Montoya. Links Mentioned: Gremlins 2 sketch from Key & Peele: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x01l_jMhjVM La Más...
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Fortnightly FREQouts #9 - Next Goal Wins
On this Fortnightly FREQout mini-episode, Kat is reflecting on what good can come from Thanksgiving with a documentary recommendation and support for United Farm Workers, as well as an overview of some media she saw over the holiday break, including Taika Waititi’s Next Goal Wins. Links…
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FFR 245: Scott Pilgrim Takes Off featuring Ethan Harper
Kat is joined by cartoon and comics-style illustrator Ethan Harper to discuss the new animated series Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, based on both the original graphic novels written and drawn by O’Malley beginning in 2004 and the live-action film adaptation from 2010 directed by Edgar Wright. Spoilers...
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Fortnightly FREQouts #8 - The Curse
It’s time for another Fortnightly FREQout, where Feminist Frequency Radio host Kat Spada brings you brief reviews and industry news from the past few weeks. Today, she’s talking about the end of the SAG-AFTRA strike (including a final day trip to the picket line), the closure of online feminist...
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FFR 244: normporn featuring Karen Tongson and A.C. Lamberty
Kat’s “Machos: Fully Loaded” guest co-host, A. C. Lamberty, returns to Feminist Frequency Radio for a special interview with returning guest Karen Tongson to discuss her brand-new book normporn: queer viewers and the tv that soothes us. Links Mentioned: Get your own copy of normporn:...
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Fortnightly FREQouts #7 - The Babadook
It’s Halloween, and we’re continuing our journey through scary movies about motherhood after spending last week with Rosemary's Baby. In this week's Fortnightly FREQout mini episode, Kat gets personal talking about grief, fear, and monsters in Jennifer Kent's 2014 film The Babadook. Content…
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About this show
Feminist Frequency Radio is coming for your media. Each week, Kat Spada invites you to listen in on entertaining and stimulating conversations about films, games, and TV... from the latest blockbusters to classic hidden gems, and more. With special guests bringing their distinctly different feminist perspectives to the mix as they celebrate and critique it all—including media critics, entertainers, academics, and everyone in between—Feminist Frequency Radio is there to help you dig deeper into the things you love. Warning: Feminist Frequency Radio may significantly enhance your media experience.Created by Anita Sarkeesian, Feminist Frequency ran as an organization from 2009–2023, providing video commentaries exploring gender representations, myths, and messages in popular culture media. Now, host Kat Spada continues Feminist Frequency Radio's legacy as an independent podcast, with fun new conversations about entertainment that asks you to be critical of the media you love.
Hosted by
Kat Spada, Anita Sarkeesian