The Bold Type is all about women uplifting each other in a professional work environment.
Let me paint a picture for you: Kat, Sutton, and Jane are three twenty-something-year-olds that work for the hottest women’s magazine — Cosmopolitan! Just kidding. In the show, they work for a magazine called Scarlet (modeled after Cosmo), and these lovely ladies must navigate their lives in a bustling New York City while working for this iconic magazine. They juggle friendship, relationships, work, and sex, but here’s what makes the show so special…
1. Women are owning their sexuality
– These women are not afraid to have sex and they don’t care who knows it. There is a double standard between men and women when it comes to having sex, so it’s refreshing to see women have as much sex as they want without being slut-shamed. On that note, they also discuss how Jane has never orgasmed before — a lot of women haven’t, in fact, and it’s a relevant issue that needs to be talked about. The Bold Type walks us through this character’s journey to achieving her long-awaited orgasm, and I think many women who watch this can relate.
– On another note, with women owning their sexuality — this show features a Muslim woman named Adeena that is a lesbian. We oftentimes forget that these women exist because they are underrepresented in the media. The Bold Type using this example of a powerful, female, lesbian woman is breaking so many barriers and young women like her finally have a woman they can relate to. Not only that, but this character is an amazing artist and is a symbolic icon of female empowerment on the show.
2. They discuss sensitive topics with delicacy and compassion
–The Bold Type’s storyline about sexual assault is so important and they handle the topic with care. They focus on the weight that survivors carry with them. To discuss this sensitive topic, a survivor carries Lady Justice’s scales after a judge rules that the man who took advantage of her was innocent. This metaphor speaks a thousand words. What makes this storyline even more special is the fact that this specific episode was modeled after a survivor’s experience at Columbia. Jane has to interview this survivor, and like the show’s production team, she was careful in the way she presented the story to the magazine and did it in a respectful manner.
3. The editor and chief of Scarlet is a badass!
– Jacqueline Carlyle is going to be your next favorite feminist icon. This lady has done it all and she is so conscientious about the way women are presented in her magazine. She is there for her staff but also leads them with charisma and poise. She’s a mentor, is someone that Kat, Sutton, Jane, and the rest of the Scarlet team look up to, and is a person that anyone would want to have as a boss. Oftentimes female bosses can come across as condescending and even bitchy, but Jacqueline is all about uplifting women and using her power to help get the women of Scarlet to where they want to be.
I hope this encourages you to watch The Bold Type and invest time in the relationships with powerful women in your life.