Women & Film (Suggestions Needed!)

In the "Intro to Women's Studies" course that will teaching this semester, I am offering students an extra-credit opportunity in which they pick a film that deals with women's and gender issues and write about short paper about that movie's themes, characters, and so on. We did this in the Intro class that I TA'd for last year, and it was successful because it was easy for students to pick a film, watch it, and write about it. And I really think that this type of activity is useful, because, while the activity is fun, at the same time, students are forced to put their "classroom" thoughts into a "real life" experience, i.e. noting the social constructions of a cultural object.

So I'm asking for suggestions for films (in English or with attending subtitles) that tackle "women's issues", such as movies about famous women, or females in the workplace or dealing with personal issues, or with regards to the law, sports, sexual harassment, etc. Below are the films currently on my list. If you'd just add your suggestions (and a brief explanation of the film's qualities), that would be wonderful!

4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days

9 to 5

The Accused

The Accused

Adam’s Rib

Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore

Alien

All About My Mother

An Angel At My Table

The Apartment

Bastard Out of Carolina

Beloved

Bend It Like Beckham

The Burning Bed

Born Yesterday

Boys Don't Cry

Boys on the Side

Citizen Ruth

The Color Purple

Conceiving Ada

Divine Secrets of the YaYa Sisterhood

Elizabeth

Erin Brockovich Fiddler on the Roof

Fried Green Tomatoes

Gracie

Heavenly Creatures

House of Sand

The Hours

Human Trafficking

Imitation of Life

Iron Jawed Angels

The Jane Austen Book Club

The Joy Luck Club

Julia

Juno

Kissing Jessica Stein Last Picture Show

A League of Their Own

The Magdalene Sisters

Marnie

Mildred Pierce

My Brilliant Career

Once Were Warriors

Orlando

Norma Rae

North Country

The Piano

Persepolis Pleasantville

Postcards from the Edge

Rabbit Proof Fence

Real Women Have Curves

Rosemary’s Baby

Salt of the Earth

Secrets and Lies

Set It Off

Silkwood

Sleeping With the Enemy

The Stepford Wives

Sweetie

Terms of Endearment

Thelma & Louise

Transamerica

An Unmarried Woman Urban Cowboy

Vera Drake

Volver

Waiting to Exhale

Whale Rider

Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?

What's Love Got to Do With It?

White Oleander

Woman of the Year

Female Directors: A Film Herstory Awareness Post | Bitch Magazine

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Thinking Back, Thinking Ahead

In working on my summer independent study (devoted to exploring sex ed programs in high schools), almost all readings I've undertaken seem to invite me to think about my own experiences.

When I think of my own sexual education encounters, I primarily think of two things: being enrolled in a semester-length program in middle school (in the spring of my sixth grade year, to be exact) and witnessing a few grim, grossly explicit STD slideshows in high school.

Through these programs, the dangers of sex were stressed and a general attempt to explain some parts of reproductive anatomy was attempted. And, at the back of my mind, I feel values-laden curricula ("good" girls v. "bad" girls, sexually active equalling "high risk student" rhetoric) lurking around my sixth grade course experience.

For example, I remember witnessing one of those "cheeto" exercises. You know, like when a male and a female student each get a cup of water and some cheetos and then additional "sexual partners" (i.e. new students added to this original grouping) mix their cheeto water mixtures together, to presumably highlight the "dirtiness" of sexual transactions.

Honestly though, I don't remember if (and my instincts don't think that) the male and female participants were treated on equal footing in this exercise. I suspect more emphasis was placed on the girl's increasingly gross cheeto mixture.

But as I said above, I have only fleeting memories of this (and other similar) scenarios. I can remember one male participant who was involved in this activity (whose name I will withhold of course, haha) and I know that--curiously--it took place in my teacher's classroom, which seems odd, since our sex ed classes were taught by and held in our guidance counselor's room.

Perhaps my murkiness is not by accident. At least, one side effect of my sex education occuring relatively early in my schooling (and importantly, not really discussed again as part of a curriculum) is that it served to pseudo-police my (and other students') thoughts about sex.

The time needed to expound on this subject requires much more space to lay out my thoughts, so I will simply articulate the following of my own experience: I cannot remember what exactly was covered in my sex ed, but I remember how it made me feel: awkward and scared and a bit confused. I remember looking for social cues from friends and crushes to see what was appropriate and I remember desiring to be seen as a 'good girl'. Of course, discussions about sex often have these aforementioned (awkward) elements, but I do think that this program, like countless others across the nation, (intentionally or not) ramp up these features.

(Additionally, and not surprisingly, I do not remember any substantive or "neutral" discussion about "hot topic" subjects like abortion or masturbation, let alone homosexual or bisexual desire in these courses.)

Undoubtedly, my experience lies somewhere in the continuum of "good" (comprehensive, constant education about a variety of sexualities, subjects, and situations) and "bad" (no organized education or deliberately misleading material)--but, as I am mapping out the current sex ed field, by reading, listening, and thinking via academia & the media, why not devote some webspace for noting others' "real life" experiences?

So what type of sexual education did you have in high school (or earlier than that, in elementary or middle schools?) I know that memories of my experiences are unclear at best (it was in the sixth grade, after all), but if you can recall: please leave the following info in the comments:
(1) When did the education occur? During what years, when during the school year?
(2) How long did the course(s) last? How much time was spent a week, and for what duration?
(3) Who taught the courses?
(4) What subjects were covered? Significantly, what subjects were not discussed?
(5) Were classes gender-segregated?

And, if you'd like, just add your general experience and feelings about the course(s). Of course, you don't have to answer these questions in any kind of formal or systematic manner. (I merely provided the qs to generate discussion and to answer some of the most commonly asked questions about these courses.)

Statistics Headache

Currently, I’m reading Dissertations and Theses from Start to Finish. Although the text is geared toward primarily psychology projects and, secondarily, toward social sciences students (and my project will most likely be sociology-geared, though I have minimal experience in this field), its recommendations and guidelines are useful for my planning and plotting. I'm about halfway through the book (which, as its title suggests, adopts a chronological approach to research), currently on the section about “Collecting, Managing, and Analyzing Data”, having just finished the (dreaded and confusing) statistics chapter. And I have arrived at a quick and already-suspected conclusion:

Without a doubt, I need more research education and experience.

I’m thinking my best bet is to enroll in an appropriate class in the fall. Should I take ENG 7432 “Qualitative Research” offered in the English department (which appears to be cross-listed with the communications department), as this course is in a field that I am most comfortable with, or venture farther into more quantitative territory, by taking the Psychology department's offering of PSYC 7301 “Research Method and Design” –or would I even have the experience/credentials to take this latter class?

Also, I know I need to have some research experience before I begin my own project. Thankfully, and most likely, I will be helping out a friend as a research assistant with her project in the fall (should I give a shout-out to the awesome Jani Johnson or not? …too late). Maybe I can get additional experience this year, possibly helping out with some of the University of Memphis's Center for Research on Women projects.

Ultimately, even though I am still stressed about this amorphous project (having no background in research design, I’m not even sure what form I want my plan to take, at this point), I do feel a bit better with each preparatory reading or brief brainstorming session I do.

June Progress

Shamefully, I have not kept up with this blog (obviously). Fortunately, I have done more reading and thinking than my lack of communication implies. I began my independent study by reading (relatively) new sexuality-related texts. Instead of beginning with works about theses or quantative research, I first read about the general underpinnings of my chosen subject, human sexuality (rather than the even more specific "sexuality education in high school.")

The three books I began with ended up being helpful for my thesis-thinking (as well as being an opportunity/excuse to get to read buzz-worthy books I'd heard about in the feminist community.) The books in question include: Heather Corinna's (and Scarleteen's): S.E.X.: The All-You-Need-to-Know Progressive Sexuality Guide to Get You Through High School and College; Laura Carpenter's Virginity Lost, and Jessica Valenti's The Purity Myth.

Sex-Ed Summer Vacation

This summer I will be working on an independent study. After a few months of reading and writing, the end goal is that I establish my master's thesis topic. Hopefully so, that is. Right now, I'm concentrating on sexual education programs in high schools, paying attention to local school issues (around the Memphis area) and how young women in particular internalize and interpret this curriculum. Obviously, abstinence only versus comprehensive sex education curricula differences will be noted. Also, I might incorporate mother/daughter dyads (or some other kind of pairing) in my future examination.

I will be using this blog as a outlet for my progress and a journal for thoughts on my readings.

Report from the ACS Women and Gender Conference: Part Six--Gender and the Entertainment Industry

I'm attempting to recap my experience at the 2009 Associated Colleges of the South Women and Gender Studies conference on March 6-7. Here is part six! (Note: schoolwork and other things a.k.a real life have gotten in the way, so that's why there was a delay in between entries.)


My final session of the conference was Gender and the Entertainment Industry. Undergraduate students presented on the following three topics: "The Disintegration of Black Love" (Sharde Chapman, Rhodes College); "Cowgirls and Cowboys, Country Music's Mimicry of the Macro-Level Gender Evolution" (Liliana Angel Reyes, University of Michigan-Flint), and "Masculinity in Mad Men" (Brittany Aucoin and Michelle Buchanan, Millsaps College.)

Chapman analyzed current hip-hop music and African American culture-centric movies through the historical prism of slavery and the concept of sexual scripts. Reyes discussed concepts of proper masculinity/femininity in contemporary country culture by playing popular country songs by artists like Toby Keith and Shania Twain. And Aucoin and Buchanan articulated Mad Men's critique of 1960s masculinity by focusing on the characters of Don Draper, Pete Campbell, and Salvatore Romano.

The final event of the conference was a BBQ and Blues social, featuring, obviously, barbecue and related foods and an enthusiastic local blues band, which was a very enjoyable and very Memphian way to convene.