3 times Gilmore Girls was the WB’s second most feminist show

A traditional listicle

1. Paris and Rory go shopping for books

“Paris, where’s my copy of Gender Trouble?” “Oh hi, Rory. I hid it in the travel section so no one else could grab it.”

cf: Rory reading Simone deBeauvoir, Rory reading Backlash, Rory reading Deenie

2. Rory decorates her college dorm room

Her picks: a Planned Parenthood poster and a handsome, sandy-haired boy.

3. 16- year old Lorelai escapes a coerced engagement (and the patriarchy) to raise her child with a bunch of other women

Richard and Emily Gilmore: likability notwithstanding, Lorelai’s parents represent the inescapable influence of an uptight, patriarchy-obsessed bourgeoisie ruling class on modern women. (Remember that weird period in season 6 where Rory quits Yale, joins the DAR, dresses like her grandma and generally kind of floats around being Logan’s girlfriend?)

If Lorelai’s decision to reject her traditional upbringing so she can raise her child in an inn full of women doesn’t smack of a radical lesbian separatist utopia, I don’t know what does.