As someone who has always identified as a very vocal feminist, one of my favorite things to do is recommend feminist pieces of media to people who are either curious about the movement or are simply looking for something new to read/listen to/etc... Here are five of my personal feminist favorites ranging from different types of entertainment:

If you like aliens and are nostalgic for the 90's: The X-Files

After hearing people constantly praise The X-Files (particularly because of the reboot) I finally decided to make myself sit down and watch it. It took me about ten minutes into the first episode to decide that I would definitely be gladly spending the rest of my night with special agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully. The paranormal and extraterrestrial story lines are interesting; but what really grabbed me was the power Scully carries with her. Never once is she made to play the incompetent sidekick to "spooky Mulder" and his genius; in fact most characters they come in contact with see her as the only reasonable person there. Also, if the moment when she pulls the gun on the undercover security officer from Ellen’s Air Force Base in “Deep Throat” doesn’t make you love her immediately, I don’t know what to tell you.

If you're interested in the formation of the American punk scene: The Punk Singer

The Punk Singer is a 2013 documentary done by Sini Anderson that allows the world a new perspective on famous riot grrrl and Bikini Kill frontwoman Kathleen Hanna. The audience sees Hanna not only starting her career with Bikini Kill, as well as her performing with her current band The Julie Ruin, but touches on many of the struggles she’s had in her life, such as her worries concerning her marriage to Beastie Boy’s member Adam Horovitz aka Ad-Rock and her dealings with lyme disease, a disease she was unaware she had for years. One of the brightest moment in the film, for me, was seeing a young Kathleen Hanna ask all the girls in the audience to come to the front of the stage; both to interact with them more and protect them from the crowd of men. She made her message to the men in the crowd clear: This is a show by girls, for girls.

If watching The Punk Singer made you want to go check out some new music, and you like your jams scary and sweet: Melanie Martinez

I have my youngest sister to thank for introducing me to Melanie Martinez’s album “Cry Baby." This is an album about female fear, anger, and struggles with the way the world wants to view women as a whole. With lyrics exploring the idea of entering a relationship that you know will hurt you in the end (“Love everything you do / When you call me fucking dumb for the stupid shit I do / I wanna ride my bike with you / Fully undressed, no training wheels left for you / I'll pull them off for you”) and coming after society for the ridiculous beauty standards women are held to (“If you weren't born with it / You can buy a couple ornaments / Just be sure to read the warning, kids / Cause pretty soon you'll be bored of it”) Melanie Martinez makes a strong statement about what being female means to her.

If you like cartoons and crying: Steven Universe

I firmly believe that Rebecca Sugar has created a masterpiece with Steven Universe. Multi-faceted female characters are presented to a global audience which has become too used to a lack of well-rounded female characters. Steven is a young boy who spends most of his time surrounded by women and learning from them (which is not to say that Greg Universe isn’t a great father who has contributed much to the little peach that Steven is). His emotions are never viewed negatively by any character and he is never told to “man up” for crying or told that the things he enjoys aren't "masculine." Concepts of gender fluidity and sexuality are also addressed in Steven Universe: None of the gems, the female presenting characters whom Steven spends most of his time with, have a “set” gender (their bodies are the personification of gemstones with their real essence being inside the gem) and instead prefer to present as female. Steven's gem fusion with his friend Connie, Stevonnie, has been confirmed by the show to be genderless. Concerning sexuality, it is clearly shown that Pearl, one of the Crystal Gems, was in love with Rose Quartz (Steven's mother) and Garnet (small spoiler here: sorry!) is a gem fusion of two gems, Ruby and Sapphire, who are so in love with each other they cannot bear to be apart in two separate bodies and have fused themselves together, a form of bonding for gems, to form Garnet.

If you're bored on Twitter or wondering what ever happened to the girl who played Matilda: Mara Wilson

Mara Wilson may still be best known for being the little girl who played Matilda but she has been a longtime hero of mine. As someone who suffers from OCD it’s incredibly refreshing to see someone else with OCD speak openly about it. She will be publishing her first book with Penguin, (K) for Kid, and she has been a guest voice actress on the podcast Welcome to Night Vale where she plays The Faceless Old Woman Who Secretly Lives in Your Home (which is somehow both not as frightening as you might imagine and more frightening than you might imagine.) She is also a phenomenally funny woman with a great twitter that you can follow here.

I tried to make sure that I touched on different pieces of media here: A 90's show, a documentary, a musician, a cartoon, and an author/advocate because I wanted to show that, no matter what type of media you enjoy, there is something to connect to feminism. People may not agree with the options I have included and I respect that because it is important to be critical of media (especially if it is something you enjoy.) Nothing is perfect, but I do hope these suggestions provide a stepping stone for someone curious about feminism and advocacy to find media that interests them and that they can learn from.