Creative Equals’ Recommended Viewing List
TV Shows/Movies/Documentaries
Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution
A groundbreaking summer camp galvanizes a group of teens with disabilities to help build a movement, forging a new path toward greater equality.
Available on YouTube
13th
Combining archival footage with testimony from activists and scholars, director Ava DuVernay's examination of the U.S. prison system looks at how the country's history of racial inequality drives the high rate of incarceration in America.
Tan France: Beauty and the Bleach
Tan France, stylist and presenter on Netflix’s hit show Queer Eye, is on a mission to take down the world’s most shocking beauty trend.
Tan sets out to unearth the truth about colourism – where you are judged not just on the colour of your skin, but on the shade of it - and its impact on black and brown people in Britain and beyond.
Talks to help you understand racism in America
From passionate pleas for reform to poetic turns of phrase, these talks take an honest look at everyday realities of Black Americans and illuminate the way forward.
Brené Brown: The Call to Courage
With humor and empathy, Brené Brown discusses what it takes to choose courage over comfort in a culture defined by scarcity, fear and uncertainty.
Jordanne
A five minute documentary about British Paralympic athlete, Jordanne Whiley, who was born with brittle bone disease. She became the first British athlete, to win all four grand slams in one year.
Fay Presto: Queen of Close-Up
This short potrait documentary introduces one of Britain’s most loved (trans) magicians, who tackled the misogyny of the “Magic Circle” – the guild of magicians that was men-only until the early 90s. She’s recognised as an icon in the LGBTQ community and can still be seen live at her London residency Langan’s Brasserie every Thursday night, where she has been since the very start of her magic career.
Shorter You Tube Videos
Vodafone LGBT+ and Friends: Belong
It's not OK that more than half of young LGBT+ people feel they can't be themselves at work for fear of discrimination by managers and colleagues. It's time to end the discrimination and for everyone to feel safe to be who they are.
Available on YouTube
White Privilege, demonstrated in a race to a $100 Bill
While the quality of this video is low (apologies) the message is powerful and important. White privilege is not something you’ve done, it’s not related to your skills or the decisions you’ve made. It is systemic obstacles that have been removed from your path that others must face. This is an incredibly telling video.
Available on YouTube
Similar video here by Buzzfeed and by Channel 4, with children here.
What people miss about the gender wage gap
A short explainer video on the gender wage gap and the importance of flexible working and gender prejudice. When there is talk about the gender wage gap, often the statistic heard is, “Women earn 79 cents for every dollar a man makes.” While this is factually correct, it does not encompass the nuances of the wage gap. The answer is in the complexity of this problem. Career types and child-rearing duties are both in the equation to closing the gender wage gap.Available on YouTube
Denmark’s TV2 All That We Are Campaign
An incredibly engaging campaign by Denmark’s TV2, demonstrates the assumptions we may use to define some, and the unseen connections which join us. It has been one of the most shared campaigns out of Denmark, for good reason.
About Face: How First Impressions Fool Us
Our faces broadcast information about us: whether we’re smart, warm, trustworthy. How do these signals influence decision-making – and are they accurate? Psychologist Alexander Todorov discusses the science behind face value.
Available on YouTube
Ted Talks
TEDTalk: How to recognize your white privilege and use it to fight inequality - Peggy McIntosh
Many of us believe that we're living in a meritocracy, deserving of what we have and compassionate toward those with less. But that's not true: white people have been given a headstart and ongoing advantages due to the color of their skin, while people of color suffer from equally arbitrary disadvantages, says scholar and activist Peggy McIntosh. She explains what led her to recognize her privilege — and how it can be used by those with power to ensure a fairer life for others.
Available on Ted.com
TEDTalk: The urgency of intersectionality - Kimberlé Crenshaw
Now more than ever, it's important to look boldly at the reality of race and gender bias -- and understand how the two can combine to create even more harm. Kimberlé Crenshaw uses the term "intersectionality" to describe this phenomenon; as she says, if you're standing in the path of multiple forms of exclusion, you're likely to get hit by both. In this moving talk, she calls on us to bear witness to this reality and speak up for victims of prejudice.
TEDx Talk: ‘Let’s stop talking about diversity and start working towards equity’
Paloma Medina challenges our paradigm of diversity in the work place and in society with this eloquent, humorous talk. We need to do a “find and replace” in our vocabulary challenging the concept of diversity vs. equity. Paloma is an expert in the neuroscience behind equity and the psychology on how to improve our work and personal lives. She is a performance coach, trainer, and owner of 11:11 Supply, a store that specializes in beautiful work tools designed to help you feel more productive, happy, and balanced. She has worked with tech companies such as Etsy and Digital Ocean, nonprofit organizations, homeless healthcare clinics, as well as individual leaders and CEOs
Available on YouTube
TEDTalk: Color blind or color brave? - Mellody Hobson
The subject of race can be very touchy. As finance executive Mellody Hobson says, it's a "conversational third rail." But, she says, that's exactly why we need to start talking about it. In this engaging, persuasive talk, Hobson makes the case that speaking openly about race — and particularly about diversity in hiring — makes for better businesses and a better society.
TedTalk:The painted face of a queer future
Alongside graduating with first-class honours in Music from the University of Cambridge, Jacob is both a male model and an international drag performer under the pseudonym Dinah Lux. Straddling seemingly antagonistic worlds - of high academia, high fashion, and nightlife - Jacob discussed actively breaking stereotypical gender binaries in day-to-day life, bringing queer into heteronormative spaces, and to “fully blend the analytical, anthropological, political and performative”.
TedTalk: The danger of a single story - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Our lives, our cultures, are composed of many overlapping stories. Novelist Chimamanda Adichie tells the story of how she found her authentic cultural voice -- and warns that if we hear only a single story about another person or country, we risk a critical misunderstanding.
TEDTalk: How to overcome our biases? Walk boldly toward them - Vernā Myers
Our biases can be dangerous, even deadly — as we've seen in the cases of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and Eric Garner, in Staten Island, New York. Diversity advocate Vernā Myers looks closely at some of the subconscious attitudes we hold toward out-groups. She makes a plea to all people: Acknowledge your biases. Then move toward, not away from, the groups that make you uncomfortable. In a funny, impassioned, important talk, she shows us how.
TEDTalk: It’s okay to be you - Karen Blackett
Shockingly, nearly two thirds of people admit to “covering” – hiding their real personalities at work, to “fit in”. Not only is this sad, says media agency UK CEO Karen Blackett OBE, it’s also a waste of energy and talent - and a denial of valuable diversity that businesses need.
In this inspiring talk, Blackett – a pioneering black, working-class woman in an industry dominated by middle-class white males – discusses how she was able to be herself and still succeed; and she gives 8 powerful guidelines to anyone who wants to be successful, but also wants to be true to themselves.