Rebel Dykes

“There is no Queer liberation without Kink!” Rebel Dykes is the kick-ass story of refusal and angst that we have all been waiting for. Before riot grrls in the USA, there were the rebel dykes in the UK. This documentary follows a group of combat-boot-wearing punk queer women from their initial meeting at Greenham Common Peace Camp and through their friendships in 1980s London, ground zero of punk rock. These working-class women created safe spaces for trans-inclusive, kink-aware, multiracial feminism as they cruised the underground S/M scene by night and took up AIDS activism and the fight against anti-LGBTQΙ+ legislation by day. A heady mash-up of animation, archive footage, and personal interviews tells the story of a radical scene: squatters, BDSM nightclubs, anti-Thatcher rallies, protests demanding action around AIDS, and the fierce ties of chosen families. This is an extraordinarily privileged glimpse into a bygone world by those who not only lived out their politics with heartfelt conviction but lived to tell the tale. Out to disrupt the mainstream and expansively define feminism, the film follows the lives of London’s sex-positive rad-femme lesbian crowd and the influential impact art can make as a tool for demanding social change. Rebel Dykes is here, in all its ass-kicking, leather-wearing glory.