FEMINIST LECTURE PROGRAM SUMMER RECORDINGS SERIES!
Dear students and fellow critical theory lovers!
As we take our yearly sabbatical over the summer months to prep for what is already shaping up to be a LIT September term, we wanted to make sure that we’re feeding your curious minds as we all melt in this heatwave, so we’ve cooked up a series of our core program recordings (some of which have never been released on our archive), and we’re making them available to you at a Pay-What-You-Can Price! All these lectures are delivered by our founder and director Luisa-Maria MacCormack. Luisa is an artist, researcher and educator specializing in Feminist Art History and with a particular interest in Ecology, Magico-Religious Practices and our Deep Past.
FLP is an entirely un-funded program that brings you cutting edge Feminist Education at a pay what you can price, every single donation matters to us no matter how large or small, so please give what you can truly afford so we can keep our pay-what-you-can system flying high for the long haul 😎
LECTURE DESCRIPTION
Join FLP Director Luisa-Maria MacCormack for a lecture that explores the potent intersection of feminism and fairy tales. Together we’ll unravel the cultural power of these deceptively simple stories—asking what defines a fairy tale, and why they have so often centred female experience, agency, and transformation.
The session will trace the history and structure of fairy tales across global traditions, investigating recurring archetypes, symbolic landscapes, and the social contexts in which these stories were told. We’ll explore some of the great feminist reimaginings—from One Thousand and One Nights’ Sheherazade to Angela Carter’s The Bloody Chamber—and draw on critical texts such as Marina Warner’s From the Beast to the Blonde to consider how fairy tales have functioned as both instruments of control and tools for liberation.
Moving beyond the page, we’ll examine how fairy tales shape childhood through the gendered storytelling we inherit and the toys we are encouraged to play with. What do these narratives teach us about femininity, obedience, beauty, danger, and desire? Along the way, we’ll unpack archetype theory, trace the origin of the word “gossip,” and consider how fairytales encode cultural anxieties about girlhood, power, and the female voice.
Finally, we will reflect on how feminist artists, writers, and thinkers continue to reclaim the fairy tale as a radical form—one that resists linear time, embraces transformation, and honours the complexity of women’s inner worlds. This lecture invites us to look again at the stories we thought we knew, and find within them new paths, new symbols, and new ways of imagining freedom.
THIS RECORDED CLASS IS AVAILABLE IMMEDIATELY.
CLASS EXPIRES ON 25TH AUGUST
ABOUT OUR LECTURER
The Director of The Feminist Lecture Program, Luisa-Maria MacCormack (she/her) studied Textiles Design at London College of Fashion before turning to Fine Art and studying at the Royal Drawing School in 2014. A practicing artist as well as lecturer and Creative Director, Luisa has recently completed her MA at City and Guilds of London Art School. A founding member of the London Drawing Group since its inception in 2016, Luisa teaches drawing, and Feminist Art History classes across London, as well as exhibiting regularly in solo and group shows across the country. Her work specializes in Feminist Art History and with a particular interest in Ecology, Magico-Religious Practices and our Deep Past.
WEBSITE: https://www.luisamariamaccormack.co.uk/
INSTAGRAM: @luisamariamfineart
DONATE TO FLP
Love what you’re seeing? Help The Feminist Lecture Program to keep our Pay What You Can ticket model, and to continue scheduling an incredible line-up of lectures by donating a little extra.
You can send us a ‘tip’ via our PayPal link here: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/my/profile
ALL SUMMER CLASSES
ANA MENDIETA: SOIL, DIRT AND THE BODY AS EARTH
QUEER MYCOLOGIES
SOFT SCULPTURE AND FEMINIST ART PRACTICE
ARTEMISIA GENTILESCHI: THE MAKING OF AN ICON
FEMINISM AND FAIRYTALES
SHAMANESS: THE FEMALE RELIGIOUS LEADERS OF OUR DEEP PAST
HYSTERICAL BODIES: GENDER, MEDICINE AND THE WANDERING UTERUS
ALBRECHT DURER: INVENTING THE WITCH
RECORDING DETAILS
This is a recording only lecture. You can access this class as soon as you book by heading to the online event page. The expiration of the recording is listed in the description.
Please ensure you watch the class before the recording expires as we may not be able to provide extensions.
PAY WHAT YOU CAN
Everyone is welcome to join this Pay-What-You-Can class. We suggest a donation of £20, however, we understand that may not be possible for everybody. Please be honest and pay what you can afford so that we can continue to offer our sessions on a donation basis.
MORE FLP…
Can’t get enough? The Feminist Lecture Program has our very own digital archive, where you can find some of the best past lectures from our back catalogue to rent and watch ON DEMAND. Check out our ever growing collection here: https://thefeministlectureprogram.vhx.tv/
Follow us on Instagram @thefeministlectureprogram
And check out our sustainable merch from FLP Studio at https://feministlectureprogram.com/shop & @flp__studio
And that's it!
We're really looking forward to you joining us x