Top 5 Friday | Why Sense8 Is A Feminist's Dream Show

Hailed as a progressive's dream, Sense8 revolves around eight strangers various corners of the globe, who after a violent vision suddenly find themselves mentally and emotionally linked. The show explores a wealth of ideas surrounding culture, identity, racism, sexism, sexuality and ultimately what makes us human, all alongside an engrossing sci-fi-esque plotline (brought to you by the team that created The Matrix).

If you, like me, are continually finding yourselves frustrated with the lack of representation and decent female-centric stories in your current TV fixes this show could be for you. Here's why...

1. A transgender actress playing a transgender woman:

I feel like this shouldn't be an absolute no-brainer in 2015 seeing as Laverne Cox is quite possibly one of the biggest stars in Hollywood right now, but seeing as we have Elle Fanning and Eddie Redmayne both playing transgender roles even though they are cis-gendered actors, this feels like a big breakthrough (If you need any reason why this issue is so frustrating The Mary Sue have a fantastic article on Redmayne's casting).

Not only is the character, Nomi, played by trans-actress Jamie Clayton she is also one of the show's core protagonists. Her story is heavily focused on within the first few episodes and she continues to play one of the most vital characters in the series.

2. Female characters in male-dominated fields: 

Whether it's Nomi's role computer hacker, Kala's career as a university educated doctor, Sun's former role as a CFO (and underground kickboxing champion) and even (arguably) Riley in the DJ world, all of the women in Sense8 operate in fairly male-dominated industries. What great about their jobs is that it's never the focus. There's no question as to why women have ended up in the roles they have because other than their skill and intelligence.

3. Men are allowed to be sensitive, woman are allowed to kick butts

Not only are the women in the show allowed to be shown as heroes, but ideas around masculinity and emotion are also explored. Lito, the in-the-closet Latino action movie actor, is a perfect example on this, but all of the male roles within the show are given equal emotional breadth. As important as it is to show strong women, true equally allows men to portray their emotions without any irony.

4. Intersectional representation:

Diversity! So much diversity! Four of Sense8's protagonists are people of colour, with two of them women of colour - and this is only the lead cast (I could write an entire blog post on how awesome the secondary characters are too).

The poc ratio so good compared to other TV shows and the show explores different cultures and customs in a very non-judgmental way. With the added advantage of being shot in Nairobi, Soeul and Mumbai, we get to see the world through the eyes of the core cast without the need for cultural appropriation and very little stereotyping.

5. A broad definition of what makes a 'strong' female character:

I've written about my aggravation with the portrayal of strong women in the media as female warriors before, but Sense8 has given me a little hope that it is possible to write women who aren't solely war machines. Riley's character is great example here. She is wracked with PTSD and spends most of the show living in fear of the past. Does this make her any less of a character than Sun (pretty much the group's hit-woman in times of need)? Nope. Her inner determination is what makes her a strong character. Sun is also unconfined to the warrior woman stereotype. Though she fights with her fists, she also has a quiet and foreboding intelligence about her.