SMILF star challenges South Boston councilor to actually watch her show

Frankie Shaw, the creator and star of that SMILF show, suggests City Councilor Ed Flynn (South Boston, South End, Chinatown, Downtown) should maybe watch some of her episodes first before yammering about how it impugns the fair maidens of South Boston.

In most popular movies and television, South Boston is generally portrayed as extremely violent, corrupt and notoriously racist. We at SMILF are none of these things. SMILF's Southie is about a woman striving for a better life for her kid. I have a feeling that the judgement comes from underlying gender-bias more than anything else. And I get it, these deep-seated unconscious judgements are centuries old and very hard to recognize. But just like Ben Affleck and Seth MacFarlane, who came into town to make their very male art of chasing women, robbing banks, and getting high with teddy bears, I'd like the same consideration to tell the stories that are important to me.

I'll admit, I get why you don’t like the title. To me, it was an attempt to reclaim a terrible term, a term that men use to categorize women.

Shaw notes her Southie roots, although she indirectly admits she did not herself grow up in the neighborhood. She does not thank Flynn for raising the profile of her show in much the same way books and movies banned in Boston used to get a boost in the rest of the country.