Feminism Symposium shows `The Righteous Babes'
By SARAH NESTOR
Senior Staff Writer
Saint Mary's Third Wave Feminism Symposium held its third event Tuesday evening, showing the documentary film, "The Righteous Babes."
The movie is a documentary by filmmaker Pratibha Parmar that focuses on female recording artists and how feminism has been incorporated into mainstream music. The film was released in 1998, and even though some of the artists are outdated due to the continuingly changing nature of the music industry, it showcased such artists as Ani DiFranco, Tori Amos, Shirley Manson, Sinead O'Connor, Chrissie Hynde ("The Pretenders") and Queen Latifah.
Through interviews with musicians, writers, professors and journalists, the film explored how female recording artists are also feminists and express this through entertainment. The film states that these women "trash the idea that we are supposed to be sweet and kept backstage."
The film also critiques the recording industry's recent use of selling "girl power," with such groups as "The Spice Girls." Artists such as DiFranco and O'Connor dismiss "The Spice Girls" as having nothing to do with girl power.
The critique of "The Spice Girls" led into a discussion after the film about feminism on Saint Mary's campus in the music industry and whether pop icons, such as Madonna and Britney Spear, were feminists.
"Anti-feminism is palpable on this campus," Saint Mary's English and women's studies professor Astrid Henry said.
Members of the discussion agreed with Henry's assessment that feminism is a word that students are wary of using.
"[It goes back] to the role that is expected of women … to conform to '50s and '60s female gender and how those women were subordinate to their men," Saint Mary's senior Susan Almeda said.
Other members of the discussion attributed a lack of education to the fact that many members of the Saint Mary's and Notre Dame communities are leery of the word "feminist," and said that this could be changed through reading, speaking and learning about the feminist movement.
"It's my second semester of my senior year and for the first time I was asked what my definition of feminism was," Saint Mary's senior Katie Vincer said. "I had to sit down and think about it first."
Members of the Saint Mary's and Notre Dame community can learn more about feminism at the concluding Third Wave Feminism presentation this evening at 7 p.m. in Carroll Auditorium. Authors Amy Richards and Jennifer Baumgardner of "Manifesta: Young Women, Feminism and the Future" will lead the talk, "Can I be a Feminist and… Shave, Love My Boyfriend, Get Married, Make Money, Be Pro-Life?"
All News Stories for Wednesday, March 26, 2003
