Category: Entertainment

Things are getting hotter in Kansas City with VAMP KC

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By Nicole Mitchell
Photos by Travis Young

Kansas City’s newest LGBTQIA+-owned burlesque group VAMP KC welcomes you to its all-inclusive classes and performances.

Penelope Mais Oui isn’t from Kansas City, but since moving here from Colorado Springs, she’s been creating noise in the burlesque and LGBTQIA+ scenes. Before moving to the city, Penelope produced a series of classic and classic-inspired burlesque shoes at a locally-owned Colorado Springs art theatre.

“I spent the pandemic not working on a stage,” Penelope says about moving to KC. “When I decided to dip my toes into the burlesque waters again…,” which was first as part of a local troupe, “I found there was a space, a desire, even a need in Kansas City for classic-style burlesque.” By using her previous experience, Penelope knew just what Kansas City was missing. “I already had a vision of what that could look like,” she says.

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What is the point of the Bechdel test? It might not be the feminist media measurement we need.

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By Molly Stein-Seroussi
Art by Maddy Best

A note: In this piece, the terms “women/woman” and “female characters/representation” are intended to describe anyone who identifies with feminine identities and stories, regardless of whether they identify as female.

I work in film production at a company run by women. Representation of women in media is something we think about deeply and often. We just released a film that doesn’t pass the Bechdel test, but even so, this film was made to call out patriarchal structures that harm women. 

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Olivia Rodrigo Makes Music for the Teenage Girl in All of Us.

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By Bella Rainey

In 2021, Olivia Rodrigo stunned the world with “Sour” —a short but sweet record that journies through heartbreak and girlhood. It balanced immaturity and maturity in a way many thought would be impossible to top. 

Spoiler alert: She topped it. 

“GUTS” is one of the best sophomore pop albums I have had the pleasure of listening to, analyzing, and dissecting—and I’m still thinking about it six months after it debuted on September 8, 2023.

The album leans into hints of pop-punk we got in “Sour,” but it stays true to Olivia’s ballad-y roots. She focuses on topics such as hooking up with an ex, jealousy, and the difficult (but exciting) transition from teenage girl to young woman. It’s a lot to cover in just 39 minutes, so let’s hop in. 

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Kansas City Lesbian and Feminist Stories are the Focal Point of Kemper Museum’s Current Annual Atrium Project

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By: Nicole Mitchell

Emerging and mid-career Hispanic and Latinx artists in Kansas City get the opportunity to highlight societal themes through the exploration of subject and scale with the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art’s annual Atrium Project. On display through July 28, the Kemper’s eighth annual Atrium Project exhibition, So the roots be known, offers a lens into the intersection of feminism and Exhibition Artist Sarah Zapata’s personal experience with her lesbian identity.

In her practice, Zapata navigates identity, community, lineages, counterculture, and histories of resistance through intentional usage of color, iconography, and textile techniques—such as acrylic yarn and natural fibers.

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How MUNA helped me find the inner fangirl I never knew existed

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By Ayanna Smith 
Art by Beks

Do you remember the date One Direction started their hiatus? Or the last time the five of them were seen together? 

Me either. But for thousands (millions actually feels more accurate) they could tell you those exact dates and more obscure facts without a moment of hesitation. And I’ll tell you a secret. I’ve never understood it. At least, I didn’t understand it until I found myself under the spell of a queer pop band.

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