Feminist Bookstore Slams 'Portlandia' And Says Show Can No Longer Film There

NPR ^ | 30 September 2016 | Bill Chappell

[Theoria]

In the TV comedy version of Portland, Ore., the bookstore is called Women and Women First. In real life, it's In Other Words — and the shop is using frank terms to say the Portlandia show is no longer welcome to film there. The feminist store and community center faults the show's depiction of men dressing as women, its treatment of store staff, and its role in gentrification and race relations.

The staff of In Other Words made those claims in a blog post that shares its title with a sign that was placed in its window when the store's relationship with the show soured. The title is straightforward: "F*** Portlandia" (asterisks ours).

The store's staff say that by featuring Portlandia co-star Fred Armisen in a wig and a dress as Candace, one of the owners of Women and Women First, the show "throws trans femmes under the bus by holding up their gender presentation for mockery and ridicule."

On TV, the bookstore is portrayed as a home for strident advocacy and outrage. In their blog post, the staff of In Other Words depict the IFC comedy as "diametrically opposed to our politics and the vision of society we're organizing to realize."

We've asked the folks at IFC for their reaction and will update this post when they respond.

The tone of the store's blog post is markedly different from 2012, when the comedian and Portlandia regular Kumail Nanjiani visited In Other Words and spoke to some of its board members for a short online video.

Asked whether they'd seen the feminist bookstore sketch, one board member (who wasn't identified by name in the video) said, "It's not like a lot of what happens here ... but it's funny."

[BBell]

[T-Bone Texan]

I thought bum cights had cultural importance; like it was a mirror held up to ourselves.