Why I liked Minx better than Barbie

One is subtle and one is shouty

Created and written by Ellen Rapoport, the series Minx explores the intersection of feminism and patriarchy in the 1970’s. The show centers around the character of Joyce Prigger (Ophelia Lovibond), who has ambitions of publishing her feminist magazine “The Matriarchy Awakens”. Due to its radical feminist agenda though, no one wants to publish it.

Out of desperation, Joyce teams up with porno magazine publisher Doug Renetti (Jake Johnson), who with unique vision takes The Matriarchy Awakens and rebrands it as “Minx”. This new creation becomes a mix of feminist articles on topics such as contraception and marital rape alongside full-spread centerfolds of well-endowed male models.

The comedy series subtly touches on many serious topics, such as female roles in the workplace, the pay gap, female sexual empowerment, consent, fidelity, race, social status, and privilege.

My favorite quote of the series comes early in the very first episode when Doug realizes that some of the female centerfolds from his other publication had read a copy of the Matriarchy Awakens and couldn’t stop talking about the articles. Doug suggests to Joyce that the Matriarchy Awakens might be able to find an audience and be a commercial success, but not without a major revamp. Doug offers a small piece of wisdom to Joyce with the line “You got to hide the medicine. It’s like when you give a pill to a dog you dip it in peanut butter first. So my question is, what’s your…