whocaresaboutactresses

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Beyond Caring About Actresses: Rape Culture & White Privilege

Another Pandora's box has opened - except that for most of us, the evils come as no surprise. Just a bitter confirmation of what we all know: our patriarchal culture thrives on rape through all forms of actual and metaphorical abuse of the female body, mind and soul. We don’t need a rapist-in-chief to realize America loves rape. Just note the disproportionate number of TV shows and films that fetishize the rape, murder, sexual assault and objectification of women, as brilliantly illustrated in Kristy Guevara-Flanagan’s 2016 short film What Happened to Her (pictured above). In other words, if rape didn’t sell, we wouldn’t see it. 

For three years Who Cares About Actresses has insisted that actresses matter. Our blog was created in response to disparaging remarks we received while trying to finance a feminist film about a burnt-out actress who wants to escape a sexist Hollywood. Well, now Hollywood is burning, and sadly, our point has been made. As avatars of female representation, actresses point to the larger culture’s misogyny and they’ve finally begun to speak out en masse. And despite the patronizing presumptions we make about them, it is they who finally broke the camel’s back, leading to a domino effect. It was actresses, not congresspeople, CEOs, law enforcement officials or public intellectuals who finally brought a Hollywood power player criminal to his knees, and hopefully to jail. 

About a year ago, the story broke on how the infamous ‘butter’ sex scene from Last Tango in Paris (1972) was not consensual. 45 years ago, Marlon Brando, the most famous actor of his generation, simulated manual anal penetration on the young French actress Maria Schneider without her consent.  She was a 19-year-old unknown actor in her first major film role before the term “sexual harassment” was even in use. The power stakes were stacked against her in this creative scheme between Brando and the critically acclaimed Italian director Bernardo Bertolucci. In 2016, people - including many Hollywood actresses - were appalled and outraged but the heart-breaking reality is that Schneider had never kept this a secret, and for years openly talked about the traumatic impact of Bertolucci’s treatment of her. It was not until after her death in 2011, and until a video of Bertolucci himself addressing the accusations was discovered, that her account was taken seriously.  “I had been, in a way, horrible to Maria because I didn’t tell her what was going on,” said Bertolucci. He insisted he doesn’t regret the film, and defended the approach to the scene because he “wanted her reaction as a girl, not as an actress. I wanted her to react humiliated.” 

Actresses always reflect how our culture treats women, and they deserve applause for finally exposing the brutal misogyny of the industry - as there are many women who have been trying to do this for years. But this is just the tip of the iceberg. Both in Hollywood, and in our country, the accounts of white, privileged cis-gendered female bodies are the only women's narratives that generally can be heard, told or seen. We credit Hollywood actresses for risking their professional and personal lives, but the racial implications of the situation is disturbing and complex. Not only has this abuse been going on for decades, but as Jane Fonda pointed out, the only reason their stories are now being heard is because they are "famous and white." American power structures are far more interested in protecting “beautiful” white women because frankly, those are the only women that are valuable to them. 

 It is not a coincidence that the only allegation Harvey Weinstein directly acknowledged and disputed was that of Lupita Nyong’o’s. It suggests that as much as we deny the rape of white women, we deny the rape of women of color even more, perhaps making it safer for Weinstein to deny Nyong’o’s experience than all the other accounts. This country was built upon a system of slavery in which black men were lynched for just talking to white women, while white masters were free to rape their black slaves. This history is still embedded in how we talk about rape today. We think of all the unnamed women who have been sexually assaulted by Weinstein and by men representing every institution of power in America. We think of these women who didn’t go on to have careers and a platform on which to speak about this, and we think of all the women of color who know that they would be treated differently than the white women who have come forward, even if their experiences were exactly the same. (And it’s not like all the actresses that have come forward have been treated so well).

Obviously, we care about actresses, and don't want to minimize the profound service they have given us by bringing this criminal down, and the incredible trickle effect of their accusations. But until we are concerned about the abuse of incarcerated women, trans women, women of color, disabled women and poor women, and all the intersections within that, we will continue to live in a brutal rape culture. The #metoo campaign was initiated a decade ago by an African American woman activist, Tarana Burke, but only gained traction over the past few weeks after such high profile white celebrities spoke up. In order to dismantle the patriarchal machine that weaves such abuse into the fabric of our culture and our psyches, we must attend to the sexual abuse of ALL victims and survivors, not just the ones who walk the red carpet.  

[Activist Tarana Burke (right) and actress Rose McGowan at the Women’s Convention in Detroit on October 27, 2017. Photo by Aaron Thornton/Getty Images]

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82 women who were sexually assaulted/raped/molested by #HarveyWeinstein

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We cannot retroactively resituate the women who left jobs, who left their whole careers because the navigation of the risks, these daily diminutions and abuses, drove them out. Nor can we retroactively see the movies they would have made or the art they would have promoted, or read the news as they might have reported it. This tsunami of stories doesn’t just reveal the way that men have grabbed and rubbed and punished and shamed women; it shows us that they did it all while building the very world in which we still have to live.

Rebecca Traister, “Our National Narratives Are Still Being Shaped by Lecherous, Powerful Men,” New York Magazine, October 27, 2017

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"Does it only count if you only have done it to loads and loads of women? Or does it count if you do it to one? I say the latter." —Emma Thompson

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Hollywood stop enabling abuse. (Banner & photo by #ultraviolet) (at Hollywood Sign)

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Revisiting our 2 and a half year anniversary post, a selection of some of our favorite posts and greatest hits. As the regime continues to destroy what’s left of democracy, WCAA wants to remember the efforts women are making on both sides of the lens to fight the patriarchy. 

Who Cares About Actresses in the New Regime

Given the political crisis, we’ve been sitting on this post for a while, but controlling the representation and rights of women is one of their tactics, and we will fight back in every way. On our two year-plus anniversary (actually last November), Who Cares About Actresses reflects on our mission, our best posts over the past two years, and where we’re going from here. 

The above photo is of Ruby Dee, the legendary, ground-breaking African American actress and dedicated civil rights activist. In 1963, emceed the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, with her husband Ossie Davis. Trump’s administration has aggressively initiated its attacks on women, people of color, muslim people, LGBTQ people, undocumented people, immigrants and disabled folks. Along with everyone, we are having a hard time focusing on much else. But as well as relentlessly refusing and resisting, we must also continue to do our own work. In this blog, that means fighting for equality in the image-making regime. In the next few months, we’ll be focusing on actresses who have made substantive contributions to progressive political causes, not as celebrities, but as powerful women willing to put their lives and careers on the line to speak out for change. 

From its inception, WCAA has been about the change we want to see in the film industry, and to support feminist, intersectional analysis of cinema, TV and popular culture. For us, that began with our mission statement, and then our manifesto, “Why Caring About Actresses is a Political Act” which makes the case that transforming female representation in our culture can instigate radical change. We’re encouraged by all the dialogue and activism that’s taken place since then about women in the film industry, though we’ve got a long, long way to go. 

To celebrate our second birthday, we’re looking back at some of our favorite posts and learning from what readers have responded to most. We’ve broken it down below by themes. [‘We’ meaning founder & editor Elisabeth Subrin, current writer & researcher Olivia Creamer, and founding research, writing and design intern Molly Murphy, who collaborated with Elisabeth to launch this blog]. 

1) WOMEN OF COLOR IN FILM

Photo: Guests at Alfre Woodard’s 2015 Oscar’s Sistahs Soirée at the Beverly Wilshire on February 18, 2015, in Los Angeles.

While we’re encouraged by Hidden Figures, Insecure and Queen Sugar, as well the Oscar nominations this year, the poverty of roles and gigs specifically for women of color filmmakers and actresses is still shamefully limited. We’ve seen particular enthusiasm for our posts on women of color actresses and filmmakers - obviously, there is a need for more. In February 2015 we put out a call for submissions on black actresses, and got an amazing response. We were especially excited to see meditations on groundbreaking actresses who may be less familiar to a contemporary audience. Here are just a few links. Filmmaker and artist John Brattin wrote on Mbissine Thérese Diop, who starred in Ousmane Sembene’s Black Girl (1966), which is considered to be the first Sub-Saharan African film by an African director to receive international attention. David Shapiro wrote on Gail Fisher, who won two Golden Globe awards for her roles on TV. Critic and director Brandon Harris wrote on Diana Sands and her role in The Landlord. WCAA posted on Sonja Sohn (by Lauren Wolkstein), Nichelle Nichols, and Cicely Tyson. We’ve saluted Gabourey Sidibe and Danielle Brooks for their body positivity work. Kerry Washington and Issa Rae have both addressed the position of black actors in the industry, with Washington making the point that Olivia Pope is not post-racial, and Rae commenting on the complete lack of recognition black actors often get. WCAA has talked about the future of women of color filmmakers, including Ashley Mills who is in post-production for her doc Unapologetic.

Photo: Ava DuVernay’s Barbie Doll 

It’s certainly no secret that we love Viola Davis and Ava DuVernay. Our manifesto opens with a quote from Viola Davis’ SAG award acceptance speech. Her Emmy speech quoted Harriet Tubman and then proclaimed “The only thing that separates women of color from anyone else, is opportunity.” We were so excited when the Ava DuVernay Barbie doll was released and immediately sold out. Serena Williams has overcome so much adversity but has remained fiercely independent and true to herself throughout her career. We’ve talked time and time again about Black Women Directors, and celebrated Alfre Woodard’s Oscars brunch for black women actresses, also a big hit with readers (image above). 

It is clear that there is a hunger for this content that is being greatly hindered by racism and misogynoir in the film industry. 

2) PEOPLE CREATING CHANGE IN THE INDUSTRY

Video: The Celluloid Ceiling 

We kept talking about progress being made, about who is doing the work and what to do when the problem feels so huge. The video above, “Celluloid Ceiling,” allowed women in film to speak out about the multitude of issues they have been facing. We wrote this piece just when the ACLU was announcing an investigation into Hollywood’s hiring practices. Putting her politics front and center into her work, Elisabeth’s film, A Woman, A Part, tells the story of a burnt-out actress (Maggie Siff) who runs away from Hollywood and tries to reinvent her life in New York. It stars three actresses over 40, and was produced with an 80% female cast, over 50% female crew, and 40% cast and crew of color. 

For the past two years WCAA has done its own version of a year in review, starting at the beginning of 2015 by talking about some of the amazing work indie actresses did in 2014. Our end of 2015/beginning of 2016 post looked at the men who stepped up for women in film. There were fifteen dudes who stepped up who we recognized as making an impact for women in film, not just superficially. For example, Paul Weitz was on the list for directing Grandma, an feminist film with Lily Tomlin playing a badass lesbian grandmother (inspired by genius poet Eileen Myles) front and center.

3) THE DELEGITIMIZATION OF WOMEN’S BODIES 

In the summer of 2015 Molly Murphy did an in depth post addressing domestic violence by examining the play Dancing on Eggshells. She also paid homage to the incredible actress Leena Alam, who starred in Afghanistan’s first feminist TV drama, Shereen’s Law, pictured below. 

This past year, we also questioned how women’s pain is dealt with in real life, which is widely delegitimized in our society. We were pissed off by the inappropriate response to Hillary Clinton’s pneumonia during her campaign, with people even calling for her to withdraw from the race. 

As we got closer to November 8th, it became almost impossible to not focus on the election. Donald Trump’s “grab them by the pussy” comments hit us hard; his candidacy became scarier by the day. We, along with countless other women, exposed our trauma to the internet and spoke frankly about how so many women are subject to sexual harassment and assault (i.e. “Just locker room talk”) on a regular basis. Olivia wrote a deeply personal piece about her own experiences with harassment, asking “How Many Times Do We Have to Explain This to You?” We also put out resources for marginalized voters, and talked about the women who are building a wall against Trump. In other words, fuck Trump. 

4) INTERSECTIONALITY & DISMANTLING WHITE FEMINISM

Viola Davis Accepting Her Emmy 

When we talk about diversity in film and art, we are not just talking about cisgender straight white women. We loved the incredible diversity in the comic Bitch Planet, writing about the label of ‘non-compliant’ as it is used in the story, and by its reader, as a rallying cry. We thought about the position of trans actors in the film industry, and talked about the common problem of cisgender actors playing trans characters. We explored body shaming and mental illness, Obama’s feminism, queer women filmmakers, and feminist porn. 

As always, we continued to work on dismantling white feminism, addressing its impact in the film world as well as during the Presidential Campaign. We talked about checking your white feminism after this video from Huffington Post went viral, and Viola Davis gave a moving speech after winning her Emmy, saying “You cannot win an Emmy for roles that are simply not there.”

5) TOP HITS

We don’t really give a shit about how many notes we get, but it’s fun to see what (besides posts on women of color in film) has done well. We’ve covered everything from women working to make feminist content in the Middle East, to the film industry in India, to the disparities between white women and women of color working in Hollywood. Here of some of our articles that got the biggest response from you.  

Should We Boycott Suffragette?

The Beauty Gap

Women Don’t Speak

What You’re Going to do About Hollywood’s Woman Problem

26 Mile Glass Ceiling

Men will be Criminals and Women will be Wives. (How to get an Oscar)

Cecily Strong at the White House

Julie Delpy on Male Filmmakers and Hysteria

Rose McGowan slams Variety

Bill Clinton’s Wife Wins the Nomination

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A woman running from a man. (Maria Schneider and Marlon Brando in Last Tango In Paris (1972, directed by Bernardo Bertolucci)

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“A Woman, A Part” at Roxy Hotel Cinema/NYC May 3

New Yorkers: If you missed Maggie Siff in A WOMAN, A PART in NYC at IFC, now’s your chance! Screening on Wednesday May 3 (7:30, 9:30) and Friday May 5th (midnight show) at the Roxy Hotel Cinema in Tribeca!

Tickets here: http://bit.ly/2qmsaHK

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Speaking of badass, this woman gave amazing Q&A for A WOMAN, A PART, while in the midst of directing and acting in her own episode of TRANSPARENT. (at Laemmle Monica Film Center)

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Wonderful reunion with our beloved leading man @johnortiz718, me & Maggie at our 2nd night of #awomanapart in LA. In the Q&A Michelle Satter asked him why did he want to do this movie. He said that besides the script and story that he connected to, he wanted to work with a woman director and women leads. ❤️💪🏽👏🏼 John. And LA one more day of opening weekend!! After the Easter egg hunt... (at Laemmle Monica Film Center)

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Reblogging as an introduction to Who Cares About Actresses on the occasion of our A Woman, A Part premiere at the IFC Center in New York March 22-28th

Why caring about actresses is a political act. (My manifesto).

In Viola Davis’ acceptance speech at the SAG Awards for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series, she spoke specifically to something I’ve been trying to explain to people who ask me, “Why on earth are you making a film about actresses?” Even actresses I’ve interviewed about their experience have said, “Really, who cares about actresses?” The alternately reverential and dismissive attitude we have towards actresses in our culture does not recognize the utterly critical role they have as ambassadors for female identity. 

“When I tell my daughter stories at night, inevitably, a few things happen,” Davis said. “Number one, I use my imagination. I always start with life, and then I build from there. And then the other thing that happens is she always says, ‘Mommy, can you put me in the story?’ And you know, it starts from the top up.” 

If you have children, then you know that every day our culture is telling them stories about what it means to be a woman (or anywhere on the gender spectrum). For an easy example, my friends’ daughters, despite being brought up in a gender-neutral households, already want nail polish, make up, and everything pink. (Most of their mystified mothers do not wear nail polish, make up and everything pink). 

Actresses (in movies, TV shows, advertisements, billboards, magazines, on the web) perform the gendered representations in these mass produced stories that penetrate society on every level. Though they are generally not responsible for creating (imagining) these representations (actresses are rarely invited to the table, to say nothing of women at all), actresses are enlisted to present to the world what a woman is, whether it’s the role they dream for or not (actresses want to act, more than anything else, of course). As we’ve witnessed over the past few months, actresses are speaking out more than I’ve ever seen before against their limited opportunities to present a diversity of women’s characters and experience, and pointing out the limitations for all women in the film industry. (The Golden Globes women presented practically a feminist manifesto—though that didn’t reduce the parade of white men crossing the stage). Actresses are now demanding that we present, imagine, and create a wider spectrum, and therefore, a better world. 

The lack of DIVERSE women characters ( diversity in race, age, orientation, sexuality, body size, beauty-type, (dis)abilities, personality, professions, politics, mental health, on and on) and DIVERSE STORIES about women and other marginalized groups is what Viola Davis was talking about last night. Her daughter is not in the story; most women are not in the story. (We could talk about all representations, but right now I’m just focusing on women. Obviously all human beings deserve to be represented in the full expression of their amazing beings). 

The roles actresses perform teach children how to be. These children become the adults who shape the world. The roles actresses perform dictate to the whole world what women should be. It doesn’t take Feminism 101 to point to the implications of the world we live in because of the limitations imposed on female representations. Who cares for our children, who declares war, who educates, who creates the policies that affect everyone on the planet? 

Actresses matter profoundly. It is a political act when they (and we) question the patriarchal Hollywood (i.e. global) media machine, when they (and we) fight for and choose roles that offer the world a broader and more diverse understanding of what it means to be a woman, and when they (and we) have the courage to present alternative images of women to the world.  —Elisabeth Subrin

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Actresses can't be protagonists (88% of the time).

Just in, another resounding confirmation of the profound limitations put on actresses, which, as I expressed in my manifesto, has profound political and social implications far beyond who we watch on TV and film. 

The Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film has released its report on 2014, titled “It’s a Man’s (Celluloid) World,” which examines on-screen representations of female characters in the top 100 grossing films every year. See below - it’s dismal. Dr. Martha Lauzen, Executive Director for the Center of the Study of Women in Television and Film at San Diego State University, wrote the report. “The chronic under-representation of girls and women reveals a kind of arrested development in the mainstream film industry,” Lauzen said in a statement. 

A few of the main findings below:

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Who Cares About Films About Actresses?

"I can barely hear what my producer is saying, but I persist with the self-hating perversion of someone who doesn’t want to know the answer: 'WHY DID YOU LET ME WRITE A SCRIPT ABOUT AN ACTRESS?!'" 

Elisabeth writes for Talkhouse Magazine to figure out why making a feminist film about actresses matters. Below, Maggie Siff and John Ortiz in her film, A Woman, A Part, opening in NYC at the IFCCenter March 22-28. Tickets available here:  http://www.ifccenter.com/films/a-woman-a-part/

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Maggie Siff is A Woman, A Part

New Yorkers, please come out for the theatrical premiere of  A WOMAN, A PART starring Maggie Siff with Cara Seymour, John Ortiz and Khandi Alexander. Only one week at IFC Center in downtown Manhattan, March 22-28. Q&As and special guests at selected shows. See IFC listing for more information. 

Tickets: http://www.ifccenter.com/films/a-woman-a-part/

And stay tuned for upcoming screenings in other cities. 

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On International Women’s Day and A Day Without Women, we remember the staggeringly brave, brilliant and prescient African American women suffragettes who took on the double battle against their oppression due to their gender and their race. In honor of the amazing women of color leading our movement today, like Women’s March co-chairs Tamika Mallory, Linda Sarsour and Carmen Perez, and the Black Lives  Matter co-founders Patrisse Cullors, Alicia Garza, and Opal Tometi to name just a few, we place the A Day Without Women red frame around some of these African American suffragettes. The future is not only female, but it is of color. Women of color are creating the most powerful movements of resistance, and everyone needs to get in formation. 

Pictured above: Image 1: (first row) Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, Anna Julia Cooper, Ida B. Wells (second row) Sojourner Truth, Nannie Helen Burroughs, Elizabeth Piper Ensley. Credit: Lynn Yaeger, “The African American Suffragettes History Forgot.” Image 2: Woman protesting at the Women’s March on Washington, photo by E. Subrin. 

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After almost two and a half years of writing about actresses, representation, the image industry and politics, we are so happy to share our film A Woman, A Part our film’s theatrical release in NYC. This project inspired and epitomizes the mission of our blog by making a film by and about women on both sides of the camera. Starring Maggie Siff (Billions, Sons of Anarchy, Mad Men), the film tracks the life of a burnt out, Ritalin-addicted LA television actress who walks off the set of her sexist TV series and flies back home to try to heal old relationships and reinvent herself outside of the corporate film industry.

New Yorkers, please save the date for our theatrical premiere at the IFC Center March 22-28th (or more)! Everyone else, please repost and spread the word to your NYC friends!! There will be very special guests, discounted group rates and special educational offers. Additionally, WCAA Founder and writer/director of A Woman, A Part Elisabeth Subrin is offering a FREE VISITING ARTIST TALK for any educational organization that purchases 20 tickets or more. Please email awomanapartmovie@gmail.com for more information.

We made a critically acclaimed feminist film that is unique both in content and form, and committed to inclusion and diversity in our cast, crew and production ethics. Read more about how we did it here and here. Low-budget indie films like A WOMAN, A PART rely so much on their theatrical release, and we need you to make this week at IFC as meaningful as possible. Please come, and please spread the word.

We’re so excited to be sharing this news on WCAA, which exists because of A Woman, A Part. The first weekend of the release is ever so critical, especially for microbudget dramas about and by smart women. So PLEASE come out to see the film and support truly independent filmmaking. And please SHARE this post widely!

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Who Cares About Actresses in the New Regime

Given the political crisis, we’ve been sitting on this post for a while, but controlling the representation and rights of women is one of their tactics, and we will fight back in every way. On our two year-plus anniversary (actually last November), Who Cares About Actresses reflects on our mission, our best posts over the past two years, and where we’re going from here. 

The above photo is of Ruby Dee, the legendary, ground-breaking African American actress and dedicated civil rights activist. In 1963, emceed the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, with her husband Ossie Davis. Trump’s administration has aggressively initiated its attacks on women, people of color, muslim people, LGBTQ people, undocumented people, immigrants and disabled folks. Along with everyone, we are having a hard time focusing on much else. But as well as relentlessly refusing and resisting, we must also continue to do our own work. In this blog, that means fighting for equality in the image-making regime. In the next few months, we'll be focusing on actresses who have made substantive contributions to progressive political causes, not as celebrities, but as powerful women willing to put their lives and careers on the line to speak out for change. 

From its inception, WCAA has been about the change we want to see in the film industry, and to support feminist, intersectional analysis of cinema, TV and popular culture. For us, that began with our mission statement, and then our manifesto, “Why Caring About Actresses is a Political Act” which makes the case that transforming female representation in our culture can instigate radical change. We’re encouraged by all the dialogue and activism that’s taken place since then about women in the film industry, though we’ve got a long, long way to go. 

To celebrate our second birthday, we’re looking back at some of our favorite posts and learning from what readers have responded to most. We’ve broken it down below by themes. [‘We’ meaning founder & editor Elisabeth Subrin, current writer & researcher Olivia Creamer, and founding research, writing and design intern Molly Murphy, who collaborated with Elisabeth to launch this blog]. 

1) WOMEN OF COLOR IN FILM

Photo: Guests at Alfre Woodard’s 2015 Oscar’s Sistahs Soirée at the Beverly Wilshire on February 18, 2015, in Los Angeles.

While we’re encouraged by Hidden Figures, Insecure and Queen Sugar, as well the Oscar nominations this year, the poverty of roles and gigs specifically for women of color filmmakers and actresses is still shamefully limited. We’ve seen particular enthusiasm for our posts on women of color actresses and filmmakers - obviously, there is a need for more. In February 2015 we put out a call for submissions on black actresses, and got an amazing response. We were especially excited to see meditations on groundbreaking actresses who may be less familiar to a contemporary audience. Here are just a few links. Filmmaker and artist John Brattin wrote on Mbissine Thérese Diop, who starred in Ousmane Sembene’s Black Girl (1966), which is considered to be the first Sub-Saharan African film by an African director to receive international attention. David Shapiro wrote on Gail Fisher, who won two Golden Globe awards for her roles on TV. Critic and director Brandon Harris wrote on Diana Sands and her role in The Landlord. WCAA posted on Sonja Sohn (by Lauren Wolkstein), Nichelle Nichols, and Cicely Tyson. We’ve saluted Gabourey Sidibe and Danielle Brooks for their body positivity work. Kerry Washington and Issa Rae have both addressed the position of black actors in the industry, with Washington making the point that Olivia Pope is not post-racial, and Rae commenting on the complete lack of recognition black actors often get. WCAA has talked about the future of women of color filmmakers, including Ashley Mills who is in post-production for her doc Unapologetic.

Photo: Ava DuVernay’s Barbie Doll 

It’s certainly no secret that we love Viola Davis and Ava DuVernay. Our manifesto opens with a quote from Viola Davis’ SAG award acceptance speech. Her Emmy speech quoted Harriet Tubman and then proclaimed “The only thing that separates women of color from anyone else, is opportunity.” We were so excited when the Ava DuVernay Barbie doll was released and immediately sold out. Serena Williams has overcome so much adversity but has remained fiercely independent and true to herself throughout her career. We’ve talked time and time again about Black Women Directors, and celebrated Alfre Woodard’s Oscars brunch for black women actresses, also a big hit with readers (image above). 

It is clear that there is a hunger for this content that is being greatly hindered by racism and misogynoir in the film industry. 

2) PEOPLE CREATING CHANGE IN THE INDUSTRY

Video: The Celluloid Ceiling 

We kept talking about progress being made, about who is doing the work and what to do when the problem feels so huge. The video above, “Celluloid Ceiling,” allowed women in film to speak out about the multitude of issues they have been facing. We wrote this piece just when the ACLU was announcing an investigation into Hollywood’s hiring practices. Putting her politics front and center into her work, Elisabeth’s film, A Woman, A Part, tells the story of a burnt-out actress (Maggie Siff) who runs away from Hollywood and tries to reinvent her life in New York. It stars three actresses over 40, and was produced with an 80% female cast, over 50% female crew, and 40% cast and crew of color. 

For the past two years WCAA has done its own version of a year in review, starting at the beginning of 2015 by talking about some of the amazing work indie actresses did in 2014. Our end of 2015/beginning of 2016 post looked at the men who stepped up for women in film. There were fifteen dudes who stepped up who we recognized as making an impact for women in film, not just superficially. For example, Paul Weitz was on the list for directing Grandma, an feminist film with Lily Tomlin playing a badass lesbian grandmother (inspired by genius poet Eileen Myles) front and center.

3) THE DELEGITIMIZATION OF WOMEN’S BODIES 

In the summer of 2015 Molly Murphy did an in depth post addressing domestic violence by examining the play Dancing on Eggshells. She also paid homage to the incredible actress Leena Alam, who starred in Afghanistan’s first feminist TV drama, Shereen’s Law, pictured below. 

This past year, we also questioned how women’s pain is dealt with in real life, which is widely delegitimized in our society. We were pissed off by the inappropriate response to Hillary Clinton’s pneumonia during her campaign, with people even calling for her to withdraw from the race. 

As we got closer to November 8th, it became almost impossible to not focus on the election. Donald Trump’s “grab them by the pussy” comments hit us hard; his candidacy became scarier by the day. We, along with countless other women, exposed our trauma to the internet and spoke frankly about how so many women are subject to sexual harassment and assault (i.e. “Just locker room talk”) on a regular basis. Olivia wrote a deeply personal piece about her own experiences with harassment, asking “How Many Times Do We Have to Explain This to You?” We also put out resources for marginalized voters, and talked about the women who are building a wall against Trump. In other words, fuck Trump. 

4) INTERSECTIONALITY & DISMANTLING WHITE FEMINISM

Viola Davis Accepting Her Emmy 

When we talk about diversity in film and art, we are not just talking about cisgender straight white women. We loved the incredible diversity in the comic Bitch Planet, writing about the label of ‘non-compliant’ as it is used in the story, and by its reader, as a rallying cry. We thought about the position of trans actors in the film industry, and talked about the common problem of cisgender actors playing trans characters. We explored body shaming and mental illness, Obama’s feminism, queer women filmmakers, and feminist porn. 

As always, we continued to work on dismantling white feminism, addressing its impact in the film world as well as during the Presidential Campaign. We talked about checking your white feminism after this video from Huffington Post went viral, and Viola Davis gave a moving speech after winning her Emmy, saying “You cannot win an Emmy for roles that are simply not there.”

5) TOP HITS

We don’t really give a shit about how many notes we get, but it’s fun to see what (besides posts on women of color in film) has done well. We’ve covered everything from women working to make feminist content in the Middle East, to the film industry in India, to the disparities between white women and women of color working in Hollywood. Here of some of our articles that got the biggest response from you.  

Should We Boycott Suffragette?

The Beauty Gap

Women Don’t Speak

What You’re Going to do About Hollywood’s Woman Problem

26 Mile Glass Ceiling

Men will be Criminals and Women will be Wives. (How to get an Oscar)

Cecily Strong at the White House

Julie Delpy on Male Filmmakers and Hysteria

Rose McGowan slams Variety

Bill Clinton’s Wife Wins the Nomination