Where to begin with the absolute powerhouse documentary Rebel Dykes? Understandably one of the highest anticipated premieres at this year’s BFI Flare festival, Rebel Dykes is a remastered masterpiece, filled to the brim with archive footage, insightful interviews, and eye-catching animation to set the scene of 1980s post-punk London. A new and improved collaboration from Harri Shanahan and Siân A. Williams, (following on from the film’s initial release in 2016, as a short) it follows some of the most iconic and under-appreciated trailblazers of the era, in terms of their activism, sexual liberation, and explicit visibility. From punk music, to underground S&M nights and queer-led sex toy companies, Rebel Dykes paints a vibrant picture of this infamous group of activists and expressionistic people worth celebrating and remembering, while inviting its audience to learn more about the extents of their sistermatic solidarity and sexual endeavours.
The 1980s were an era of unrest and great turmoil for anyone who identified as “queer” (used here in place of any identification besides heterosexuality) in the UK, and Rebel Dykes acknowledges this from the get-go, presenting this main community of focus as actively fighting against Margeret Thatcher’s severely damaging Section 28 bill that banned anything deemed as “promoting” homosexuality in U.K. institutions. To no one’s surprise, this caused unfathomable damage to queer communities living in Britain at the time and also to no one’s surprise, the lesbians of London were pretty ticked off about it. The aggressive political atmosphere and historical context is an important factor to keep in mind, and makes this perspective all the more striking when it comes to educating future generations about previous discrimination.
“We wanted to be sexual people,” states one of the members, reflecting on their shenanigans and backlash they felt for living as their authentic selves. These women help signify a time where punk, feminism, and queer liberation met in an explosive manner, and Rebel Dykes paints us a picture with personal anecdotes and rare footage. These women who lived by the moonlight, in hopes to avoid homophobic slander from those returning home from their 9-5, made history with their underground DJ nights, cabaret performances and S&M clubs that became threatened by outsider groups who deemed their behaviour as reinforcing the patriarchy and glorifying women in pain as a spectacle. Of course, these naysayers have got the complete wrong end of the stick, as the women involved state they are reclaiming their sexual desire in a safe, experimental environment and living their truth far from the eyes of judgement, or so they thought. Moments such as this scattered throughout the piece act as a cruel reminder that other groups, and unfortunately other women, often played a hand in reducing their visibility and freedom to express themselves in a way that suited them, which is an act of rebellion in itself.
Although it may feel like a lot of ground to cover, there is no sense of being whisked in a certain direction. These women are vivid storytellers, and the organisation of footage is hypnotic, each topic seemingly more enticing than the last. It is wonderful to have such a vast range of topics to cover from so many first-hand experiences, it’s almost impossible to be satisfied with the sheer multitude of information. In other words, it is easy to become greedy — the documentary reflects well the extent of this group’s lives in both public and private spaces and their bold and brash approach to living is electric.
It cannot be overstated what a valuable documentary this is, highlighting such a pivotal era through the experiences of a grossly underrepresented group of people, the women and nonbinary people of the LGBTQIA+ community. Visibility is an ongoing issue for these groups, and the battle is far from over, yet that does not take away from how refreshing it is to see these people being passed the mic. It is hard to think of other documentaries that explore queer women’s issues, interests, and activism so explicitly, and their impact towards encouraging AIDS research and the removal of Section 28 are just a couple of the reasons that we should remember and celebrate these rebels.
