This delightful documentary celebrates the feminist culture of the 1980s and 90s that transformed life for countless
British women
Joint directors Siân A Williams and Harri Shanahan’s documentary is a smart, sprightly celebration of some of the punky, crusty, sex- and porn-positive outliers in the then-emergent lesbian scene centred mostly in
London during the 1980s and 90s. In many ways the raddest of the radical feminists, many of the film’s interviewees either founded – or at least hung out at – London’s infamous SM and fetish club Chain Reaction, one of the few femme-centric and male-exclusionary club nights in the country at that time. (They did welcome trans
Women.)
But Rebel Dykes throws out Catherine wheel-style sparks in all sorts of directions, touching on the culturally diverse squat culture in the
UK capital back then, the subcultures around punk and fanzines and gay bookshops, the fight against the homophobic Section 28 legislation, Aids, and rise of gay and lesbian political activism. It’s all there and more, including an absolutely cracking anecdote told by historian Lisa Power about Sir Ian McKellen and a dental dam.