Cannes: Jane Campion addresses sexism in film

All you privileged men who just don’t get this. At one time you wouldn’t give us the vote. Forget about working or an Olympic sport. Women just can’t play tennis so they don’t deserve the same pay as men. Women are stupid and don’t have the same brain capacity as men. Women should not be doing any job which is traditionally held by men. Women are the weaker sex. They can’t manage the same job as men. Women won’t be hired because one day they will get married and have children. Hollywood is perhaps one of the most old fashioned industries in the world. It does not reflect the lives of women. Stories about men, by men, fantasies by men of women who are beautiful, just wives or girlfriends and certainly not doing the same job as men. Hollywood promotes fantasy while living in a fantasy world where women are second. And Hollywood, time and time again, promotes the lie that no one is interested in a female POV. Men – you don’t know how privileged you are. I hear of so many amazing stories about strong women over the past decades – true stories about real girls and women – the courage, the tenacity, the power – yet these stories don’t get made because you carry on the propaganda that says that men are the heroes – Batman, Superman, Spiderman – and girls and women are the pretty, plain, mother or whore. Look around where you work and where you live. Do you see weak women? Are your sisters, mothers, girlfriends, wives, women friends – all just weak little sexual things who just want to get married and can’t do anything without a man? We fight, we are heroes, we travel the world, we create – we are real. We want our stories. We want them, not for selfish Hollywood reason to make $$$$, but to show girls and women out there that life doesn’t belong to men. Men are part of it and are amazing, no one is disputing that, what we are fighting for is our stories to be told. How can 52% of the population be treated like 3% of the population? The reason why black actors and filmmakers couldn’t get on the industry was because of racism. Everyone agrees with that. Now men don’t see that with women that the only reason we don’t have more than two female directors at Cannes is down to sexism and not, as is often stated by idiot men, that we just aren’t good enough – we don’t have the balls to be a director. There was a time when women were not allowed to run a marathon. 2014 – and nothing has changed.

 

Ginger Liu

http://www.gliumedia.com

Star Wars new casting mistake

The new Star Wars filmmakers announced their casting yesterday and it’s perhaps no surprise, with J.J. Abrams at the helm, that there is just one female actress and six males. Why does Hollywood not want 100% of the population’s money? Why do they just want 48% – the males? It just doesn’t make any business sense.

We girls loved the original Star Wars film back in the 1970’s – but now we are in 2014. Have a few more women in this movie and then it opens out with media coverage to women’s media, publications, blogs, girl fans. Women blogs are the biggest in the world, bigger than men. That’s twice the publicity, twice the ticket sales. It’s just bad business sense – again. So the only reasons I can think of for their decision is plain old fashioned sexism or Star Wars is a gay movie. Which is it?

Why alienate 52% of the population? Why not make a film that sells tickets to everyone? Why is Harry Potter such a big franchise? Girls love the female lead. I loved Star Wars because I could dream of being a Princess in outer space. Time and time again, Hollywood producers shut out half the population. Oh sure, the new Star Wars will do well. It would do twice as well if young girls could watch it too.

This is plain old fashioned sexism. What other reason could there be to not want to market to an additional 52% of the population?

I feel let down again by Hollywood. I have to pinch myself every time this happens. Am I really living in the 21st century or is it thirty years ago when I was first getting into contemporary films and feeling starved of female protagonists? What’s changed?

Don’t bother to argue with me if you’re a white male and you can’t see what the fuss is all about. Lucky for you to be born at the top of the pyramid. May I remind you that women are not a minority. Why treat us this way in Hollywood? Don’t you think that little girls and grown up women want to see ourselves having an adventure in space, just like the boys? We are not sex objects, or just the girlfriend, the wife, mother or whore.

Girls just wanna have fun.

Better rewrite that script!

Ginger Liu

Twitter and sexism

I’m sorry. But I love men. But you can’t tell me as a woman that it’s okay to put up with rape threats online. You have no fucking clue what it is like to be a woman. We can’t go out at alone at night. I was attacked last year and the year before in the real world – followed to my home – and I’m in my 40’s. Stop saying that being threatened online is okay. You have no fucking clue what it is like to be a woman. No clue. It is not acceptable to be threatened with rape and death on social media.

Sexism on Social Media

I remember when i was a manager at publishing company in London and the fullfillment guys downstairs had boobs calendars on the walls in their production office and they sent me an email where a woman was being fucked by a bottle of champagne. I complained and nothing was done. When I grew up my dad told me i could do anything. When I got to the age of working I realized that it would be a struggle because some men, many men treated me like shit simply because I was female. When I was younger it really upset me. I was young and as a young women I wanted to be liked. It’s very upsetting to be treated such a way because you are female. Of course I also later met some amazing men, bosses, male workers who I loved and loved and was one of the “boys.” Those men I love. To the other men – let’s not let them get away with it because there’s laws about racism and now people are taking notice of homophobia and still women struggle. The one thing I don’t get is why young boys/men on forums are using rape language? I see it all the time. Why do they talk this way? I thought that being a young guy you’d want to fight other men but where does rape of women come in to it? Where do they get this stuff from? Fuck free speech. Stop “rape” on social media.

Sexism on Twitter

But why are boys and men (who are naturally misoginists and not real lovely and amazing boys and men) allowed to threaten women with rape? Why? Death. Rape. Posting addresses of women to rape. Why are they getting away with this? This is not free speech. This is hate speech and violence which is illegal in the “real” world. This must stop. And the social media bullshit about free speech and letting hate speech go on is nonsense because it is not men on the whole who get this abuse. And I’m sick of the posts from misogninists – (I won’t ever call them men from now on because they are not, they are misoginisists) who still go on about how much they hate women, feminism, etc. Why do you hate us so much? You accuse feminists of hating men. By definition we don’t hate men. Why do you hate us so much? You are missing out on great friendships, mothers, sisters, daughters. You hate us so much, why? This is 2013 in the west. And I have to pinch myself that I’m not a teenager in the 80’s and being upset by how I’ve been treated by some men at work and at play. But of Hollywood can’t get into the 21st century when it comes to women then how can you expect these misgoninists who are masturbating at home in front of a Hollywood film or a magazine that treats women as tits and ass, wife, girlfriend, prostitute, lover, mother?

Andy Murray deletes Wimbledon women champions from history

Four British women have won the title in the last 77 years but according to the Brit media, Murray is the first winner and apparently we’ve all been waiting 77 years for a winner, completely ignoring the fact that FOUR BRITISH WOMEN have won the title.

It’s disgraceful. What is this teaching young girls when the history of women has been deleted from history? I remember when Vieginia Wade won the title in 1977. You know she was not mentioned once by the BBC or in the media.

The Guardian has taken notice. With male radio announcers and media in general judging sportswoman by their fuckability, with even this years champion being insulted, this is so sad for young girls and women who look to other women as their inspiration but paternity, yet again, bashes us down. Shocking.

Hilary Clinton: I won’t be happy until there’s a democrat woman in the White House

Many women I’ve spoken to felt cheated after Hilary Clinton was defeated. After another man pipped her to the post, I find it difficult to show the same elation I would have felt if Mrs. Clinton was in office. I think Obama is a breath of fresh air and brings a lot of youth and excitement to this country and I hope that he can change the world but he’s still just a man. A man in a man’s world. How different the world might be if a woman was at the helm of it’s most powerful country.

Vivian Gornick makes this point in the LA Times today:

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-gornick9-2008nov09,0,4592196.story?track=ntothtml

Women are still judged by their appearance and not their intellect and Clinton suffered a lot under the media.

I look forward to  a woman in the White House. We are the majority after all.