Credit: WENN.com/FayesVision

How may actresses in Hollywood (or anywhere for that matter) would get dressed up looking like Nanny McPhee, when you have no chance to win an Oscar for that performance.  Not many women would don that attire even for Oscar bait, but Emma Thompson is on her second run as Nanny McPhee.  The film opens here in the US in two weeks and Emma is not only the star, but she is also the screenwriter.  The film also stars Maggie Gyllenhaal is directed by Susanna White and produced by Lindsay Doran.  Girl power everywhere.

Emma was in Hollywood at the end of last week to get her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.  She was accompanied by Gyllenhaal and her good friend Hugh Laurie (House.)

Thompson has been getting some press lately because of the film but also because she admitted to Good Housekeeping that you can’t have it all.  Here’s what she said that she’s getting a lot of shit for:

I don’t want your readers ever to think they have to have it all. I think that’s a revolting concept. It’s so false! Sometimes you’ll have some things, and sometimes you’ll have other things. And you do not need it all at once; it’s not good for you. You can’t be a great mom and work the whole time necessarily; those two things aren’t ideal. We have an awful lot to work on and to debate about in relation to our working lives, because it isn’t working for a lot of people, particularly for a lot of women….

The only way you can have it all is by delegating all the running of the home to other people — which I don’t ever want to do, nor does Mags. So you do it yourself, and it takes time and energy and effort. And if you give it the time, it’s profoundly enjoyable.

I don’t think she’s saying anything that most all women haven’t thought about at some point in their lives.  The whole concept of “having it all” was created by people who want women to fail.  It’s not a concept men have to deal with.  It’s totally centered around women and making them feel guilty for not being all things to all people.

I like her honesty, and that she is using her voice to raise awareness about women’s issues.  She just presented a play Fair Trade that focuses on the trafficking of women that opened in Edinburgh.  She also talked about her struggle with depression and that she is going to take a year off from work to spend some more time with her family.

Nanny McPhee Trailer

www.youtube.com/watch?v=haMPyTTU2UE

Between Friends (Good Housekeeping)

With all the discussion going on about whether the Oscars should air earlier in 2011 than last year, it should be noted that the good news is that we currently have a true feminist role in the movie theatres worthy of an Oscar nomination.

I am speaking of Rachel Weisz in Alejandro Amenábar’s riveting Agora which is set in ancient Alexandria.  As the wise and sophisticated philosopher Hypatia, Weisz portrays a woman who prefers to teach and discover the mysteries of the sky than to marry and raise children.  And this sole conceit of pursuing knowledge is her modus operandi throughout the entire film to its tragic conclusion.

I can only assume that the talented Weisz just salivated when she got the script for the opportunity to play a heroine who loves knowledge more than being love struck or beholden to a man’s dictation.  Plus the role is right up there with the male counterparts in Ben Hur and Spartacus.

It would be encouraging to see an actress win an Oscar for pursuing her intellectual pursuits instead of being a mad housewife. And her denunciation of a suitor has to be one of the most damning rejections ever portrayed on the screen.

This epic won seven Goya Awards — that is Spain’s Oscar — so it’s excellence has been noted. As the film is in limited release I just hope that the distributor is going to commit the money and time for an Oscar campaign for Weisz.  Not since A Beautiful Mind has a thinker been so worthy of an Oscar nomination.

For those women (and men) who crave a feminist heroine with brains and beauty that seeks a higher authority than being a wife, Agora is the summer film made for you.
_________________________________________________________________________________
Aviva Kempner is the director of Yoo-Hoo Mrs. Goldberg, which will be out on DVD this month, The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg and Partisans of Vilna.

Here’s a great speech by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaking at the State Department’s LGBT event.  The main take away aside from the fact that it was an awesome and inspirational speech, is that she continues to build on the statement she made in Beijin,g China at the UN Conference on Women.

Human rights are gay rights and gay rights are human rights. 

It’s a simple as that.

You can also see the godmother of the feminist movement as Katie Couric called her on Katie Couric’s always interesting online show.  She appears with Jehmu Greene, president of the Women’s Media Center. 

PS- Katie Couric called herself a strong, proactive feminist and proud of it.

And lastly, Gloria kicked some Colbert butt this week too.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=x66HWNjMPmQ

www.youtube.com/watch?v=0s2ENRo60Uo

Yesterday I moderated a Fem 2.0 discussion on the topic of Breast Implants, Plastic Surgery and Hollywood. The experts on the calls were:

• Sybil Niden Goldrich, Command Trust Network
• Mary McDonough (formerly “Erin” on The Waltons), actress and women’s health activist
• Dr. Diana Zuckerman, president of the National Research Center for Women & Families.

I learned so much about the topic especially the figure that 80% of all breast implants are for cosmetic purposes. Wow. You should listen to the podcast because these women have so much great information and you will hear Mary’s personal story of why she got implants (her agents told her she wasn’t blonde enough and didn’t have big enough boobs and she was missing out on parts.)  She got sick and it took them a long time to connect her illness with her implants.

What is really made me think about is all the distorted images we see of women’s bodies in TV and movies. Think about it. Whose breasts are most visible in the media? Victoria’s Secret models. How many of those women’s breast are real? If everything we see is fake, how are people expected to know what is real?

Next week I’m going to be moderating 2 different events that I’d love people to participate in if they can.

I will be moderating a conversation for Fem 2.0 on breast implants, plastic surgery and Hollywood.

The discussion will be on Tuesday, June 22 at 1pm. You can listen and participate here.

Here’s the description:

Did you know that breast augmentation is the ultimate “women’s issue”? Implants can critically damage women’s health and personal finances. They are for sale based on questionable safety studies paid for by multi-million-dollar, male-dominated industry. They target the ultimate symbol of our femininity, our breasts. Read all about it in this award-winning Glamour magazine article.

On June 22, 2010, 1:30 PM EST, Melissa Silverstein, blogger at Women & Hollywood, hosts a Fem2.0 blog radio discussion about the entertainment industry and its relationship with breast implants and with plastic surgery generally. She will be joined by Command Trust Network founder Sybil Niden Goldrich, actress and women’s health activist Mary McDonough (formerly “Erin” on The Waltons) and Dr. Diana Zuckerman, president of the National Research Center for Women & Families. The group will explore the impact of plastic surgery on entertainment, and the double standards for male and female performers in regard to appearance. They will also talk about how the covert pressure from Hollywood to be thin, to have big boobs and to look young is now influencing even young women to start getting work done.

That same evening June 22, I will be moderating a panel Getting Your Script Onto Screen for New York Women in Film and TV. The event is at 6:30pm and you can buy tickets here.

Here’s the description:

You’ve finally finished your screenplay – and now the real drama begins.  Do you sell your script, or option it?  Maintain control by directing and/or producing it? What if you don’t have an agent?

NYWIFT has assembled a panel of  writers, writer/directors and writer/producers who share the challenges they faced securing funding, performing as their own director or producer, and participating in film festivals. A Q&A follows the panel discussion.

Panelists include:
Marin Gazzaniga
Tanya Hamilton
Jessie Keyt
Zoe Lister-Jones

Read the bios of the panelists and register for the event here.

Not matter whether you love or hate her work, or love or hate her persona, she really is one of the only women working in the film business who is not afraid to talk about feminism and Hollywood.

She spoke this past weekend in SF at a screening of Jennifer’s Body and the blog TresSugar got some juicy quotes from her about her feelings on women and Hollywood.

On a Hollywood double standard: “Women aren’t allowed to be anti-heroes or flawed. Megan got lambasted for talking about Michael Bay. Shia LaBeouf criticized another director, and he got called ‘refreshing’ and ‘honest,’ while Megan is a bimbo who should never work again. Women aren’t allowed to be as complicated as men.”

On being a feminist filmmaker: “If anything we’re less post-gender than 10 years ago. The Kathryn Bigelow thing was awesome, but it’s difficult to be a feminist filmmaker. No one wants you pressing your feminist agenda on nice clean celluloid. It doesn’t sell.”

I really have to agree with what she says about how things are worse for women than 10 years ago.  While their might be more women, there is less interest in things about women especially material that forwards a feminist viewpoint.  We really need to figure out how to get feminist material to sell.  It can be done.  We’re just not there yet.

I am really glad we have her voice in the wilderness.

Diablo Cody Gets Sincere About Women in Hollywood (TresSugar)

There’s no denying that Sunday is a big night for women in Hollywood.  One of the things that has been so exciting about this awards season is that finally paying attention to the fact that no woman has ever won the best director Oscar.  It’s one of the issues around women and entertainment that most people can wrap their heads around.

I’ve also personally enjoyed watching Kathryn Bigelow on all the interviews and how her voice has grown in strength over the season.  A couple of months ago she didn’t say much and seemed quite uncomfortable in the limelight, but in the last few weeks everything she has said has been so outstanding and confident. I also like the fact that because of the content of her film we don’t spend the whole time talking about gender and issues related to women and women’s opportunities (not that those conversations aren’t important too.)

I remember when I worked in women’s organizations and when an important news event happened or an event was scheduled, people would try and get together with some talking points so that people could be on somewhat the same page.  While there is no concerted movement on this topic, I have been pondering some thoughts about what — a Bigelow win or loss –  would mean for women and wanted to know what other people are thinking.

Here are the points I am focused on:

If She Wins:

• A glass ceiling that has been in place for 82 years has been shattered.
• Young women and girls around the world now have an image of seeing themselves as a potential best director winner and hopefully that will dare them to dream bigger than they might have.
• Shows boys and men that women are just as competent as the men.
• That you don’t have to direct a movie about so-called women’s issues as a female director.
• That women can direct kick-ass action films and get noticed for it.
• AND that this is just the beginning and that there are relatively few opportunities (7 percent) for female directors and that we cannot let this win symbolize anything other than the fact that we still have so much farther to go.

If She Loses:

• This is another lost opportunity to break down a glass ceiling that has been held in place for over 8 decades.  Women go to the movies in equal numbers to men, yet our voices and visions are not seen as equal to men’s.  This issue is not going to go away and it’s not just about awards, it’s about opportunities and we need more for women.
• While it would be a huge disappointment, the nomination and all the attention has raised much needed awareness about the lack of opportunities for female directors in a way that has never been highlighted before.
• We need look at this as part of a continued effort to achieve gender equity in all areas of the entertainment business both on the screen and behind the scenes.

In general, I think this is a great opportunity to encourage people to think about the movies that they see and suggest they ask themselves a series of questions before buying tickets.  Who directed this film?  Who wrote this film?  What is this film about?  Sometimes the fact that so few women’s names will come up won’t matter, but if you ask the question enough times it starts to sink in that things are just not right and maybe, just maybe, the next week that person will choose a woman directed film.

Would love to hear your thoughts.

I remember being very excited reading about this play a couple of years ago.  Bening was supposed to bring it to Broadway and, sadly, that never happened for a variety of reasons.  The play opened in 2008 in London starring Eileen Atkins and finally it is getting its US debut at the Geffen Theatre starring Annette Bening.

This is a serious feminist play.  Here’s a description:

Australian playwright Joanna Murray-Smith’s comedy about a renowned feminist author named Margot Mason and her tussles with a disgruntled student, a resentful daughter, her publisher, a cabbie and other characters combines lively debate about the evolution of feminist theory with good old meat-and-potatoes farce. Bening, of course, plays the force-of-nature feminist.

The OC Register asked Bening some questions about the play, feminism and the political context of the work.

Register: This play is a comedy but the issues being discussed – particularly the evolution of feminism and the conflict between its founders and the next generation – are quite serious, aren’t they?

Bening: No question about it. The issues were and are so serious and grave. Women had to take that kind of a stand because of what they were fighting and where we were. We’re not at that point any more. (This conflict) is what makes the play for me. All those issues are being thought about but within a context of humor. I’m so impressed with how she’s been able to get these issues in people’s mouths without it being preachy and overly earnest.

Register: Is there a meta-theme at work in the story?

Bening: The idea that the generation that comes up doesn’t fully appreciate what the older generation went through. They take for granted things that are in place that didn’t always used to be. That’s the way of the world, the ancient problem. She manages to get into all of that with this subject. We’ve come a long way in terms of our laws, but of course in many ways things haven’t changed. One thing she’s writing about is (something) that will never change: what makes men and women different.

Sounds like it will be a good second wave/ third wave exploration.  I don’t recall seeing another play that has attempted it.  It’s supposedly loosely based on an incident in Germaine Greer’s life but is not about Greer.  I really hope it gets to NY.

Annette Bening Likes Getting Theatrical (OC Register)

Just wanted to remind you all that the 6th Annual Bird’s Eye View Film Festival kicks off in London next month.

This is one of the most prestigious festivals that highlights films directed by women.

Here’s festival director Rachel Millward talking about why the festival is important:

Birds Eye View is the UK’s only festival celebrating international women filmmakers, founded as a positive response to the still startling fact that women make up only 7% film directors and 12% screenwriters. We passionately believe that a healthy culture requires a balanced perspective and we want to see that on screen. So, we celebrate the talented women making great work today, inspire, encourage and equip more women to make more films, and show the industry and our audiences that without a female perspective in cinema, they’re really missing out!

Birds Eye View keeps working all year round, with a First Weekenders Club, promoting the opening weekend of cinema releases written or directed by women, and bespoke training labs which hothouse exceptional female writers in order to get more commercial features from women into production.

They have a wide variety of films including: Amreeka directed by Cherien Dabis; and Lourdes by Jessica Hauser.

Director Susanne Bier (who directed Brothers which was remade into a horrible Hollywood version) will hold a masterclass, and the festival will close with the London premiere of Whip-It, directed by Drew Barrymore.

More from Rachel Millward:

This is the 6th Birds Eye View Film Festival and it’s a hum-dinger of a programme, celebrating such amazing women filmmakers as Drew Barrymore (Whip It), Jessica Hausner (Lourdes), Isabel Coixet (Map of the Sounds of Tokyo), Kim Longinotto (Rough Aunties), Wanuri Kahiu (From a Whisper) and Susanne Bier (with a retrospective and masterclass).

Plus Blonde Crazy: a celebration of dazzling iconic blondes from the silent era to the present day, and special live music commissions from female artists to silent film, including the first ever animated feature film The Adventures of Prince Achmed from pioneering artist Lotte Reineger. All this with BEV’s usual sprinkling of celeb presence… It looks set to be one to remember.

Support women directed films by attending this festival.

PS- If anyone is planning on attending and wants to write a report for all of us, just get in touch with me. Thanks.

Bird’s Eye View Film Festival

Drew Barrymore debut at Birds Eye View Fest (Hollywood Reporter)

Zoe Saldana is in a unique position.  She is poised to be in not 1 — Star Trek — but two — Avatar — of the top grossing movies of the year.

Not bad.  She recently spoke to the Wall Street Journal’s Speakeasy blog and had some great feminist things to say about the state of women and hollywood.

How bad is the landscape out there for decent female roles?

They’re out there — people just aren’t investing in them. We can sit here forever discussing it, because it has a chicken vs. the egg quality. Bottom line, producers are business people. Hollywood is a money-making machine. At the end of the day, they have to produce numbers that will help them keep their jobs and companies alive. But we as consumers have a lot more power than we think. Women need to demand better roles and get audiences to see their films. Because if a film doesn’t make $150 million, producers and studios aren’t going to bankroll a similar film next time. If there were more filmmakers that were female, trust me, it would be all about women.

Avatar” Star Zoe Saldana on the State of Women in Hollywood (Wall Street Journal)

When I started Women & Hollywood one of the things I dreamed about was doing events with women to raise awareness of issues effecting women in film and other areas of pop culture, and to help build a community to make change in areas that need some serious work.

Never in my wildest imaginations did I think that I would ever get to plan and host an event like the one we had this week for Jane Campion at Gloria Steinem’s home.  (Disclosure: Apparition Films, the distributor of Bright Star paid for the event including my time.)

This was an event where I was able to bring together women who worked in different areas of pop culture including novelists, magazine writers, poets, tv professionals, bloggers, women’s organization leaders, playwrights and directors to meet Jane Campion and celebrate her film Bright Star.  Here’s just a sampling of some of the people who were in the room: Ines Alberdi from UNIFEM; Ann Curry from the Today Show; writer Patricia Bosworth; director Nancy Savoca; feminist media activist Carol Jenkins; playwright and director Emily Mann; writer Erica Jong, writer Susanna Moore; Julie Parker Benello and Wendy Ettinger from Chicken & Egg Picutres; Planned Parenthood leader Cecile Richards and many others.

I know I’m bragging, but it was a magical evening where the group was able to hear from Jane and her experiences and also to talk about figuring out ways to improve the situation for women directors.

I really hope it is the start of something special and that many more events will follow.

Since I was really busy I didn’t take such great notes but the thing that was so wonderful was that Jane was unafraid to talk about the abysmal situation for women directors.  As a successful female director, she knows how much things suck for women in the business.  Many women are afraid to speak out.  That needs to change.

Here are some of the nuggets Jane shared:

She is looking forward to the day when we stop saying women filmmaker and that women are introduced as artists.

That women directors in the US are more timid than their counterparts abroad.

Poetry is the only thing that does not disappoint on this planet.

Filmmaking seems to have a glass ceiling that is untransparent.

That is makes her furious that men aren’t more interested in what women think.

Thanks to everyone who took the time out to attend the event.  If you are interested, my remarks from the evening are after the break.  More photos will be posted on the Women & Hollywood Facebook page.

As a person who monitors gender issues in film on my blog Women & Hollywood, this time of year is always bittersweet.  There are always some great movies to see but when looking at the year-end awards, the conversation is fueled mostly by men talking about films made by and about guys.

But the good news is this year feels different and that gives me hope.  And one big reason for that hope is with us this evening Jane Campion with her beautiful film Bright Star.

I am not a filmmaker, I am a film lover.  I want to see all types of movies about men and women.  I buy tickets just like you do.  It makes me crazy when Hollywood keeps saying that women don’t go to movies.  We do.  We buy 50% of all tickets, and for the last few weekend women have actually dominated the box office around the world.

Yet it is incredibly difficult for women directed films to get made and distributed and then marketed in a way that women can find out about them.  The abysmal statistics speak for themselves.  Women directed 9% of top 250 grossing films in 2008 and that it up from 6% in 2007.

And it gets even worse when you look at awards.  Out of the 396 people who have been nominated for an Oscar for best director only three have been women. That’s not even 1%.  And one of those women is Jane Campion who is also the only woman to have won the Palme D’or at Cannes in its over 60 years.

But tonight is not about complaining about the sorry statistics, it’s about celebrating the great work of an unparalleled filmmaker.  But just keep in mind that numbers do count, especially in Hollywood, so the next time when you are making the decision about what movie to see and there is a film by a woman director that you want to see BUY THAT TICKET.  Don’t wait.  Support a female filmmaker, especially on opening weekend.  Because the reality is that your dollars are like a vote and those votes add up so that hopefully soon successful films by and about women will not be seen as a fluke but as the norm.

I want to thank you all for coming tonight in this busy season to help show Jane Campion the vibrant supportive feminist community in NYC.  I want to thank Gloria for hosting this event and Jeanne Berney at Apparition films for sponsoring it.

Emma went on The View yesterday to talk about Journey which is opening in NY today.  Kudos to the View for discussing the topic and really letting her talk about it in lots of details.  I was kind of surprised at how little Barbara Walters seemed to know about the topic but maybe she knew more and was prompting Emma with questions:

It seemed to me that she really didn’t know what sexual slavery is and was shocked to hear that there are women enslaved right here in NY.

Barbara: What do you mean by sexual slavery?

Barbara: Here in NY?

Here’s the full segment (in the segment is a great PSA on human trafficking that Emma did for the UN)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=1194gPNdBHg

On another Emma note, Shakesville has reported that her name has now been fully removed from the pro-Polanski petition.  She is the first person to have done that and I commend her on realizing that it was a mistake.

I’m going to see the installation tomorrow afternoon.  Anyone want to come with me?

Actress Emma Thompson’s art project takes viewers on ‘Journey’ of sex slave (NY Daily News)

Journey NYC (The Brow)

Winslet just won $40,000 in damages from the Daily Mail which said she lied about her exercise regime.

Just so bizarre.  Why does anyone care what her exercise regime is.  Seems to me that these papers are finally getting caught out for lying when people fight back and say no more.

Here’s part of Winslet’s statement today:

“I strongly believe that women should be encouraged to accept themselves as they are, so to suggest that I was lying was an unacceptable accusation of hypocrisy.”

Hope she donates the money to organizations that helps work with girls on body image issues.

Kate Winslet accepts £25,000 libel damages from Daily Mail (The Guardian)

Lauren is a 21-year-old young director and has started a film fund for female filmmakers called X-Factor Filmmakers.  Her next step is to launch a contest: The Best Female Directed Picture where you can win a netflix subscription to make people aware of the lack of female filmmakers.

Impressive.

Lauren was interviewed in the Boston Globe this weekend.  Here’s one of the questions:

The contest is part of your project, X-Factor Filmmakers, which raises funds for grants to female filmmakers. Why do you think it’s important to have more female directors? When we go to the movies, we’re only viewing the stories by men. And I kind of feel like I’m not getting the whole picture in terms of our culture.

What an awesome young woman.  I am totally behind what she is doing.

Check out all her sites:

X-Factor Filmmakers

X-Factor Filmmakers Socil Network

Last week I wrote with frustration about the lack of public voices from feminist organizations and especially from women in the speaking out against setting Roman Polanski free.

I knew in my heart that many women felt the way I did and I wanted to hear from them.

Some have now spoken.  I have decided to link to women in the entertainment business who have taken a stand on this issue.   I will also make this site available for those women who want to have a voice but don’t have a blog.  Send me your thoughts and I will post it as long as you are a real person and a woman.  I will also post pieces (not tweets) anonymously if people are too nervous to put their name out in the public on this issue for fears of retribution.  If I can confirm that you are real (so if I don’t know who you are send me your bio or a link to something you have done), you will get posted.

The list is still way too short.

Here’s what I have as of Oct 6:

Why Are Female Directors Silent About Roman Polanski’s Arrest?, Aviva Kempner (documentary director)

Art Is Not Enough, Allison Anders (director)

I Work in Hollywood. I Do Not Support Roman Polanski. Even A Little Bit, Sarah Fain (TV writer/executive producer)

A Post Full Of Questions – the Polanski Issue, Lore Haroutunian (Cinematographer)

Crimes and Misdemeanors, Jamie Lee Curtis, (Her Polanski stuff is in the middle of the piece.)

Polanski to prison for at least ten years! Roseanne Barr

Polanski, rape, and the myth of Not Like Us, Abby McDonald (writer)

Roman Polanski and WTF, Kristin Cashore (writer)

No, Valerie Meachum (actress)

Does the Brotherhood of Fame Endow You With a Lifetime Exemption From Accountability? Eve Ensler (writer/activist)

HOLLYWOOD RAPE Rosie O’Donnell (a repost of Eve Ensler’s piece)

Update: October 8

Wanda Sykes- on the Jay Leno show

Please send me any posts I am missing and I will continue to add to this post.

From everything I’ve heard she is beyond spectacular in her film debut Precious so much so that there is already Oscar talk.  I loved what she had to say to NY Magazine about her weight and her body.  I cannot wait to see this movie.

“I learned to love myself, because I sleep with myself every night and I wake up with myself every morning, and if I don’t like myself, there’s no reason to even live the life. I love the way I look. I’m fine with it. And if my body changes, I’ll be fine with that.”

Have you seen the trailer yet?

www.youtube.com/watch?v=rx-3jYJkUWQ

Living the Life (NY Magazine)

Why We Love Gabourey Sidibe (Lemondrop)

So here we are on day three of Polanskigate on my blog.  Have to say that the amount of comments I’ve gotten on the site over the last couple of days has been incredible, however I wish as many people would comment on an interview with a woman director (like the one I just did with Sally Potter) or other issues that I write about regularly.

But no, this has been the big kahuna.  It seems that now that I have spoken up and levied deserved criticism on Hollywood and feminist organizations for not speaking up, the perception is that I have instantaneously abandoned my feminist roots and have joined the dark side.

That couldn’t be farther from the truth.

Because you know what?  Rape is a feminist issue.  If it wasn’t for feminists rape would still be know as “life” for so many women across the country and the world.

So just to clarify.  I am a feminist.  I don’t buy into the bullshit that I have to vote for a woman because she is a woman.  I would never, ever vote for Sarah Palin.  Because you see –  I am a feminist.  I believe in equal rights for all.  I believe in a woman’s right to determine what happens to her body.  I believe that we need to see more women’s visions in film because it will expose us to a vast amount of important stories that are missing and will improve the cultural dialgoue.

I know that my fellow feminists are out there with my back because I have heard from them on Facebook and twitter.  Feminists everywhere are aghast about the fact that we have lost sight that this man raped a 13-year-old girl.  Feminist everywhere stand up against rape because it is endemic in our society.

So to just remind people why we are all livid about this:

• 1 in 6 women will be sexually assaulted in her lifetime.
• In 2007, there were 248,300 victims of sexual assault.
• Every 2 minutes, someone in the U.S. is sexually assaulted.
• Approximately 73% of rape victims know their assailants.
• Only 6% of rapists will ever spend a day in jail.
• 44% of victims are under age 18.

Statistics from RAINN

So even though this has been a disturbing topic to focus on for the last couple of days, and who knows if I will suffer for speaking out as I did in the LA Times this morning, at least it has afforded us an important conversation about how pervasive rape is in our culture and that it can happen to anybody at anytime.

I am facinated by Catherine Deneuve.  She recently spoke with the Times of London on the release of her new film Je Veux Voir (I Want to See) in which she plays Catherine Deneuve, an actress touring war torn Lebanon in a partially ad-libbed docudrama. The film played at Cannes.

For one of the most beautiful women in the world (who has stated she has not had work done on her face) she sounds quite uninterested in being the center of attention:

To be the centre of attraction is something I have a lot of problems with. The idea of being on a stage with people looking only at me terrifies me. On a film set it is very different. Everyone there, perhaps 25 or 30 people, they are all working, all involved in whatever they are doing. Whereas in the theatre you rehearse and rehearse and rehearse and then you present this thing which is completely finished, and in front of you.

What’s cool is that she has always been political and supportive of women’s issues including being a part of Voix de Femmes pour la Démocratie (Voice of Women for Democracy) and as one of the signers of the 1971 Manifeste des 343 Salopes (Manifesto of the 343 Sluts), in favour of the legalisation of abortion. (OK- has anyone ever heard of the Manifesto of the 343 Sluts? I gotta read this.)

When I signed that [1971] petition, I was not officially a feminist. Yet I have always been one. I was from a family of four sisters…But I am not political in the same way as Marguerite Duras [the writer] or Simone Signoret [the actress] were. I refused to belong to a political group. But it [the abortion issue] did become political because people were going on trial, and what they had been doing was pursuing love.”

She was recently one of 8,000 signers of a petition of the sexist treatment of Segolene Royal when she ran for president:

I think many found it difficult to accept the fact that a woman woman wanted to be elected president…But then they still have difficulty admitting that a woman could direct a company, or a group of men.

Catherine Deneuve: politics, plastic surgery and her new film Je Veux Voir (The Times of London)

It is absolutely unacceptable that we have a slave trade in the 21st century.  It is beyond belief – Emma Thompson

I saw this Fatal Promises on Saturday and I have not stopped thinking about the topic.  It’s not because Emma Thompson was there and was so passionate about the issue, it’s because I felt — and still feel — really ignorant on the topic.

To me it’s unfathomable to believe and understand how people can feel that’s it’s ok to sell other people.  They sell people and make money at it.  All day, every day.  This is a huge business.  Bigger than arms and drugs, yet we all want to get rid of drugs and keep trying unsuccessfully to deal with the arms topic, but the selling of people — mostly women and girls — just passes us by as we go about our every day lives.

The film tells the story of several people — both men and women — who have escaped from slavery.  Yes, they are slaves.  It’s not what we think of as slavery, but they are held against their will, lots of time transported to foreign country, lots of time sexually abused, not fed and made to do work that they are not paid for.  That’s slavery.

Emma Thompson became moved by the issue because she met a woman, Elena, who worked in a massage parlor on Emma’s street in London.  It was a place she and her family passed every day and joked about and behind the glass window was a young woman who was a slave.

Lots of people who are trafficked are women and girls who are forced into sex work.  Girls are kidnapped or sold and young women are lured lots of times by other women into situations they can’t escape from. Fundamentally as Emma Thompson said: “I suppose that it has to do with the fact that in the world there is not enough safety for women.  Women are not safe in many places and that’s a huge and complex issue but in essence the undervaluing of the female is at the root of all of this.”

As an individual, the whole issue seems so overwhelming because there is so much that is unknown.  It’s an underground issue that is about power, sex and money   But you can do something.  First, think about the people around you. Lots of times people who have been trafficked are hidden in plain sight.  If something looks fishy call the cops.  Problem is that lots of times the women who have been trafficked are treated like criminals because there are no good laws to deal with persons who are in another country against their will without proper papers.

Another thing to do is to learn about the issue.  That’s on my list.  If you are in NY go and see this film.  It opens tomorrow at the Cinema Village.

In November, Emma Thompson who is the chair of the Helen Bamber Foundation an organization that works with survivors of human rights abuses, will bring to NY Journey an installation that “bring the reality of the sex trafficking industry to the forefront of social consciousness and empower people to take action. Shackles bind perpetrators to victims, and victims to the punters who exploit them.”

Here are some tidbits (courtesy of Charlotte Cooper and her Flip Cam) from Emma and director Kat Rohrer talking about the issue after the screening on Saturday.

You can check out the trailer for the film on the Fatal Promises site

Diablo Cody is one of the figures who gets both the love and hate especially from other women.  On the one side she used her sexuality (her stripper book and pole-dancing life) to get her break in Hollywood and I bet that meetings in Hollywood with Diablo are nothing like meetings in the past with female screenwriters.

On the other hand she used what she knew and broke into the boy’s club and now in two years is kicking ass up and down the street with a new movie (Jennifer’s Body- out September 18) and a successful TV show The United States of Tara.  She has figured out what works (like so many guys have) and has run with it.  Her success opens the door for other women.  Her success also opens the door to lots of scrutiny and because there are so few other women at her level, she has a lot of responsibility to continue to be successful cause you know the saying (in Hollywood) when one women fails — we all fail.

I know that women and lots of feminists have issues with Cody and her work.  But I am impressed with her.  She stands up for herself and her beliefs and for women and feminism.  Who the hell else in Hollywood admits so publicly and proudly that she is a feminist and that everything she does is layered with feminism?  Let me think.  No one.

Here’s some stuff she said in a great interview on The Frisky:

My feminist hat is permanently welded to my head—I definitely can’t take it off! It’s so important for me to write things from the female perspective and in service of women and in the right roles for women. That’s usually what I’m thinking going into it. Obviously, the story goes first. But then my next priority is how am I going to sneak my subversive feminist message into this?

The Frisky: Do you always think the female perspective is the feminist perspective, though?

DC: No, not always. But I think representation is obviously the first step to equality, so if women aren’t being represented in a diverse way in movies, they’re going to remain marginalized.

You have to listen to her on Elvis Mitchell’s show, The Treatment.  She’s humble, smart, in awe of the opportunities she has gotten, and is a true lover of pop culture.

Now I haven’t seen Jennifer’s Body yet (I will at the end of this week.)  I have never been interested in the horror genre before but I want to see this film because Cody wrote it and because it is directed by Karyn Kusama.  (Cody also has an executive producer credit on the film.)  Who knows if the film will be feminist.  Just because the person who wrote it is a feminist doesn’t mean that the film will be feminist even if it stars women.  This is a mainstream Hollywood movie.  It was bought by Fox Atomic (which doesn’t exist anymore) and now is being released by big Fox.  It’s opening wide which means 2500 plus screens.  It could potentially gross 30 million or more on opening weekend.  It’s going to attract young men and young women.  The men cause Megan Fox is hot and the women cause young women seem to love horror films.

Here’s what the NY Times had to say about women and horror:

And yet recent box office receipts show that women have an even bigger appetite for these films than men. Theories straining to address this particular head scratcher have their work cut out for them: Are female fans of “Saw” ironists? Masochists? Or just dying to get closer to their dates?

Jennifer’s Body is a film created to appeal to both men and women (I think it will skew young).  If they can manage to pull it off it will be a big deal.

“Jennifer’s Body” was designed with both feminists and 15-year-old boys in mind, a seemingly eccentric blueprint that, as Ms. Kusama points out, is in line with the best movies of the slasher tradition. “It may be one of the best ways for a young male audience to experience a female story without feeling like they have been limited by a female perspective,” she said.

I think that women, feminists, need to stop beating up on Diablo.  We love to eat our young.  Sure her feminism is different but does that mean it’s not feminism?  Just the fact that we are having a conversation about feminism in a horror movie to me is a step forward.

Here’s the trailer:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYQ19JM_M1g

The Fempire (Women & Hollywood)

Taking Back the Knife: Girls Gone Gory (NY Times)

Exclusive Q&A: Diablo Cody Talks Megan Fox, Therapy, And Doing “The View” With Courtney Love (The Frisky)