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All’s Well and Fair: A Candid Look at Music, Motherhood, and Life

June 7, 2012 By Leave a Comment

The documentary film All’s Well and Fair presents a fascinating look at motherhood, music, work, and relationships. Director Luci Westphal first filmed her conversations with band mates Rachel, Tina, and Margaret in 1996, shortly after the Gainesville, Florida punk rockers had won a local “F*ck the Government” song contest. Ten years later, Westphal caught up with all three women, now in their 30s with teenage children and, in some cases, marriages and second children as well.

Both the 1996 and 2006 conversations focus on subjects the women raised in their song: war, the government, welfare, money, food, drugs, mass media, creativity, men and women, mothers, and children. The conversations are juxtaposed with footage of Rachel, Margaret, and Tina in their everyday lives, and the combination of in-depth talk with equally candid images makes for an enthralling and thought-provoking film. It’s also very interesting to see how their opinions and perspectives have and have not changed, and on what topics – an evolution that is bound to resonate with many viewers.

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Abortion in Advertising

August 31, 2011 By 3 Comments

I read a ridiculously high number of fashion magazines for someone that doesn’t wear makeup and considers a new pair of Levi’s a major splurge. But what caught my eye while flipping through the latest batch of glossies was the advertisement for Kenneth Cole that appears to the right of this post.

Ads seeking to make a social or political statement are nothing new. In the 1980s and 1990s, the clothing company Benetton used striking and often controversial images in its advertisements. From the famous image of AIDS activist David Kirby on his deathbed surrounded by family; to a picture of a white child, hair in blond ringlets, grinning next to a black child, hair in devil’s horns; to an array of multi-colored condoms, Benetton made a point of tackling the hot-button social issues of those decades.

Though Kenneth Cole’s new abortion-themed ad is part of the company’s recently launched “Where Do You Stand” campaign, which also addresses gun control, gay marriage, and war, this isn’t the first time that the fashion company has combined advertising with social awareness. A handbag ad from 1997 includes the words “It is a woman’s right to choose. After all, she’s the one carrying it”; other ads from that decade focused on AIDS, homelessness and, perhaps most amusingly, Dan Quayle. [Read more...]

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Friday News Roundup

October 2, 2009 By Leave a Comment

mouse-clickMadonna, Motherhood & Choices – Bitch
A Question of Women’s Health . . . And Equality – Gazette Extra
Ab-Only: What Part of “They Don’t Work” is Hard to Understand? – RH Reality Check
Ossowo Shooter Ruled Incompetent to Stand Trial – New York Times
Kay Bailey Hutchinson Criticizes Senate Vote on Abortion – Houston Chronicle
Hillary Clinton Speaks Out Against Rape as a Tool of War – Reuters

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Heartbreaking Status of Women in the Congo

June 1, 2009 By 5 Comments

“It is more dangerous to be a woman than to be a soldier right now.”
Major General Patrick Cammaert, former UN Deputy Force Commander, describing the situation in eastern Congo, May 2008

The Democratic Republic of Congo’s history is one marred by violent colonial rule, rebellions, coups, permeable borders, and resource exploitation. In recent years a transitional government has had only nominal control over the country, as cross-border incursions from Uganda and Rwanda have devastated and destabilized the Northern Kivu province. Amnesty International reported, “Millions of Congolese have perished, and over a million more have been displaced.” This area is home to the largest UN peacekeeping mission, known as MONUC.

What makes this conflict especially disturbing is that women and children have been used as instruments of war to a degree that may be unparalleled in history, including the use and normalization of rape as a tool. The enough project has laid out ten reasons the DRC is the most dangerous place to be a woman. They are: Predatory Security Forces, Lawless Militias, A Culture of Impunity, The Resource Curse, Poverty, A Collapsed Health Care System, Internal Displacement, A Failing Education System, Gender Inequality and Cultural Barriers, and Inaction.

Inaction cuts pretty deep. That, combined with the issue of resources, amounts to a scathing indictment of the western consumer. The resources in which the DRC is so rich are the ones we use to power our phones, iPods, and other personal electronics while keeping a significant amount of bling on our celebrities (coltan, diamonds, etc…).  Eve Ensler may have said it best, “What is happening in Congo is the most brutal and rampant violence toward women in the world. If it continues to go unchecked, if there continues to be complete impunity, it sets a precedent, it expands the boundaries of what is permissible to do to women’s bodies in the name of exploitation and greed everywhere. It’s cheap warfare.” [Read more...]

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