With a tagline like “Ovaries so big we don’t need no fuckin’ balls!” the East Los Angeles biking group Ovarian Psycos announces to anyone listening that they are womxn who don’t mess around. Organized around “feminist ideals with indigena understanding and an urban/hood mentality” as they write in their site, the Ovas have been taking to the streets and organizing as a community to make their neighborhood safer for women since 2010.
In the documentary that bears their name, directed by Joanna Sokolowski and Kate Trumbull-LaValle, audiences get an inside look at this proudly brown Latinx collective. Mixing on-the-bike footage from the Ovas’ rides with intimate looks at the personal lives of some of their members, Ovarian Psycos is a call to arms against violence against women, against gentrification, and against institutionalized prejudices that communities of color face daily. But above all, it is a testament to the power of grassroots organizations who want to have an effect on the community around them.
Of course, that it’s led by badass brown women who get shit done is in itself a reason to catch this doc and support the work the Ovarian Psycos do. It’s not every day you get to witness firsthand what it is black and brown women have to deal with, and the immense courage and resilience it takes to try to change the world for the better. As one of the OG Ovas Andi Xoch told a crowd in New York City at a Q&A following a screening of the film at the Human Rights Watch Film Festival, “the documentary teaches women of color that their stories are worth telling. That we do deserve this platform that we personally think nobody cares about. But there’s a large community — there’s a world out, a world that does care!”
Ovarian Psycos Full Film | Video | Independent Lens | PBS
Ovarian Psycos is streaming for free on PBS.org until April 27, 2017.