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Back in 2010, Parks and Recreation’s Leslie Knope created a new holiday: Galentine’s Day. Taking place on February 13, the occasion is about, in her words, “celebrating special lady friends.” Not too long after the bit ran on Parks and Rec, it took off online; now we (we being the Internet) celebrate it almost every year—just like Lilith Fair, but with less angst.
So in honor of today’s holiest of days—and the fact that this is the last Galentine’s Day we’ll be able to celebrate while Parks is still on the air—we (we being WIRED) want to take a moment to celebrate Leslie Knope. For years now Amy Poehler’s character has been championing special lady friends, and in this week’s episode she even took on men’s rights activists (MRAs) and #YesAllMen, and it’s high time we celebrated the many, many triumphs of TV’s most special lady friend, Leslie Knope.
That Time She Shut Down MRAs
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In this week’s episode, Leslie was confronted by the representatives of one of the Internet’s loudest factions: Men’s Rights Activists. What could a ray of sunshine like Leslie do to rile up an angry horde? Not want to bake a pie, apparently. In southern Indiana, wives of congressional candidates traditionally compete in a “Pie-Mary” bake-off. (“The last contest winner was June Hartwell’s buttermilk meringue,” Knope says. “Last contest loser was: all women.”) After she and Ben (Adam Scott) decide that he could bake the pie—or at least a dessert calzone—she’s confronted by angry men at a couple of public events. This glorious moment is from Leslie’s ensuing rhetorical smackdown, wherein she pre-emptively answers every stupid question candidates’ wives get asked during election seasons.
That Time She Took a Stand for Women in Garbage (Collection)
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In Season 5, Leslie and April (Aubrey Plaza) set out to prove women could do any job men could—and took on the role of garbage-people. When they got tricked into trying to remove an immovable industrial refrigerator and actually find a solution for the problem (donating it to a soup kitchen that retrieves it), the guys in the sanitation department recant and agree to allow more women on their garbage-collecting teams. It was a win for feminism, but it was also a win for excellent reflective vests.
That Time She Sexually Educated the Elderly
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Due to a lack of protection, education, and ability to keep it in their pants, a group of senior citizens in Pawnee found themselves with chlamydia and other “social diseases.” “STDs are having a field day,” Leslie explained in the episode “Sex Education.” “It’s a amazing what a few old guys can do with a little bit of charm and a lot of crabs.” To combat the problem, Leslie held an educational demo. The condom demonstration was GIFably glorious, but Andy (Chris Pratt) never recovered from the Ick Factor of thinking about old people screwing.
That Time She Kept It Real About Her Friendship with Ann
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Yup, just gonna leave this here.
That Time She Started the Pawnee Goddesses—and All the Boys Joined
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The “Pawnee Rangers” episode of Parks and Recreation is mostly known because it gave us Treat Yo Self! Day, but it also gave rise to the Pawnee Goddesses, a female scout group that Leslie created to provide young girls an alternative to Ron Swanson’s Pawnee Rangers. A mix of excellent crafting options—”I made a Gertrude Stein!”—and good food and merit badges, the Goddesses quickly become a more enjoyable group than the rough-it-or-leave Rangers. Eventually parity is achieved—but not before everyone gets to hear themselves go all Katy Perry and roar. (Oh-oh-oh-ooohoh!)
Happy Galentine’s Day, everyone!
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