[photograph of filmmaker Lorella Zanardo, from here]Warning: The film mentioned here contains lots of graphic objectification of women, but is deeply critical of it from a feminist perspective. The film was made by Lorella Zanardo.
In Italian:
Potete trovare un feminist's blog in Italia @ http://ilcorpodelledonne.blogspot.com/, che è circa la pellicola il corpo delle donna. Il documentario è circa il objectification delle donne nei mezzi italiani della televisione.
Troverete un collegamento là alla pellicola.
Usi prego un Web site quale Babelish per la traduzione.
In inglese:
You can find a feminist's blog in Italy, which is about the film On Women's Bodies. The documentary is about the objectification of women in Italian television media.
For more of an introduction, and a link to the film with English subtitles, go to this UK blog, The F-Word, linked to here.
Liberazione per le donne!
END OF POST.
I get redirected to the main site when I try to view the English version via the link at F-Word, but a quick search yielded this: http://www.ilcorpodelledonne.net/?page_id=91
ReplyDeleteIt's a powerful video. I think it goes a little too far in invisibilizing men, though, or at least in accepting men's behavior as a given. Actually, what's really interesting is that while there is so little comment about men, their presence, their sense of entitlement and their complete lack of regard for women is so palpable. It leaves a horrible knot in my stomach.
Hello AST,
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for the feedback. Sorry the link at F-Word doesn't work. But thanks for providing us with one that does!
I wrestled with whether to directly link to the film and decided not to. The objectification of women in the film was just so upsetting to me (and makes me want to just dump buckets of rage on any man that "enjoys" such images) that I could actually only watch a few minutes of it. I really can't take in images that reduce women to things. (I've seen most of what men can do to women in the last twenty-five years. I've decided my mind doesn't need more graphic images of men's atrocties to women to know what's going on. I'll learn through reading print text.)
I am so appreciative of your review. I didn't really get to know, in those few minutes, to what degree men were being held to account for producing and profiting off of this gross exploitation of women's bodies.
I hate it when men's entitlements are "left out of the picture". I look to stories, reports, and analyses about women's abuse and exploitation by men to do at least two things:
1. Portray the women as real human beings: de-objectify them; let the viewer understand what forces are at work in giving women "that choice". As I often argue back to men who say, "What about the fact that women in pornography often make more money than men?!" My reply is "What does it mean that men will pay [a few] women more to take off their clothes and be sexually available to men, visually at least for the "consumers", be pimped, drugged, battered, and raped, and have that called "entertainment for men"? What does it mean that men pay women more to experience/endure that, than to do ANYTHING ELSE? What does THAT tell you about where men see women's value???" Sometimes the men shut up and get it. Sometimes they just leave and I can tell they'd rather stick with their fantasies of how it is women come to perform for men in ways that keep men's degradation of women locked into culture and society.
2. Reveal exactly what men do that allows them to try and reduce women to things. As you note, identify the men and their values, dynamics, privileges, entitlements, institutions, industries, practices, boy-bonding... it's so infuriating to me when that is rendered invisible.
Thank you for letting the readers here (and me) know what is missing from my post, from the film, and also for sharing that you found it to be powerful.