These Netflix Titles Are Feminist Masterpieces

It is National Women's History Month, and as such, I think it's only right and reasonable that in between killing it as work and hanging out with the women you are inspired by (colloquially known as "your friends"), you watch as many feminist masterpieces on Netflix as possible. The streaming service is absolutely chock-full with great titles, but it's the feminist titles — be they overtly feminist, subtly feminist, or retooling convention to become more feminist — that you should really be tuning in to watch. You may be surprised as what you can actually watch the ticks off the feminist boxes. There's plenty to watch in the ways of film and television that take an active role in exploring issues of sex, marriage, career, motherhood, sexuality, gender identity, socio-economics, and so much more if you take the time to look on Netflix.

That said, if you're short on time but are craving a feminist watch the will leave you feeling empowered, here's a short but handy list of titles you should consider ASAP. There's a nice cross-section here when it comes to genre (oddly, action films aren't showing up for feminism) and if you're looking for something easy to watch (hello, Parks & Recreation) or you're in the moody for something a bit more thought provoking (what's good, Queen of Earth?), there's something here for everyone. Speaking of which, it doesn't matter how you identify; these movies and TV will bring everyone together.

1. Bob's Burgers

The show may be named after a man, but the women of Bob's Burgers — Linda, Tina, and Louise Belcher — give as good as the get when it comes to remaining true to themselves in all their weird, wonderful, imperfect glory.

2. Blue Is The Warmest Color

This French drama is a raw and honest portrait of the love shared between two young women, one who is strong in her sense of sexual identity and the other who is just discovering it.

3. Parks & Recreation

Often, Leslie Knope is cited as a feminist icon for our modern times. Additionally, Parks & Rec gave us the independent, intelligent, sexually-empowered, career-minded, uniquely wonderful triumvirate of women with Ann Perkins, April Ludgate, and Donna Meagle. Boom.

4. Mustang

This Turkish film has been likened to The Virgin Suicides for the way in examines female repression within a family. The fact that Mustang is set in our modern times makes this film even more shocking and necessary to watch.

5. Orange Is The New Black

Orange Is The New Black is unafraid to show the harsh side of life for an incarcerated woman, but the ways in which OITNB is a blueprint for intersectional feminism for modern woman is makes this show next-level.

6. 10 Things I Hate About You

Because Kat Stratford is a '90s feminist icon.

7. 3 Women

A psychological thriller about how women idolize and relate to one another, 3 Women is an essential film, more so for its subtle feminist themes.

8. Tangerine

You'll be charmed and rooting for empowered Los Angeles sex workers Mya and Sin-Dee as they attempt to find their bliss and sort through their lives as trans women.

9. Working Girl

One of the many '80s comedies to go the feminist route and explore how women thrive in male-dominated work spaces, Working Girl is a serious treat.

10. Charmed

Being a witch was weirdly a big thing in the '90s but the lives, romances, and battles of the Halliwell sisters made Charmed a great, feminist show.

11. Magic Mike

While the sequel is more overtly feminist when it comes to discussing female sexuality, desires, and their gaze, Magic Mike is a damn fine exploration of the way women watch and yearn for men.

12. An Unmarried Woman

The late '70s romantic drama is, for its time, a forward-thinking feminist masterpiece about the art of an older woman starting her life over romantically, professionally, and personally.

13. Buffy The Vampire Slayer

Buffy can kick ass, take names, and be a damn strong woman. For this and so many other perfect reasons, Buffy the Vampire Slayer is a feminist masterpiece.

14. The Craft

The witch sisterhood never looked so damn cool.

15. Pariah

Director Dee Rees' coming-of-age story is a necessary modern exploration of black female queerness. Heartbreaking and tough, Pariah will leave you speechless.

16. Grace And Frankie

The lives of women over 50 rarely get the spotlight and rarely are these aging women positioned as protagonists. Moreover, there's not as many older women on TV that are allowed to be as sex-positive, crude, intelligent, selfish, complex, and as tenderly drawn as Grace and Frankie.

17. One Day At A Time

The return of Rita Moreno to our TV screens was the cherry on top of the rebooted TV series, which intersects the issues around being a veteran, living with multiple generations of women, and being a single mother.

18. Queen Of Earth

Female friendship gets put under the microscope in this slow-burning psychological drama.

19. Call The Midwife

The British drama about four young midwives working in East London mixes race, class, and feminism intricately into its seemingly light and precocious portrait of life while pregnant in the 1950s.

20. Gilmore Girls

How is Gilmore Girls a feminist masterpiece? They practically wrote the book on feminism, people.

21. It Follows

Jay is the modern horror heroine you been hoping would come along in the amazing and layered It Follows.

Who wants their next Netflix marathon with a healthy dose of feminism?