The Traverse City Film Festival is celebrating women at its 8th annual outing, July 31 through August 5. Women’s rights, women’s health and women filmmakers take center stage with films like Julia Reichert’s Growing Up Female, Amalie Rothschild’s It Happens To Us, Rory Kennedy’s Ethel, and clips from The Chicago Maternity Center Story.
Sexy Baby is a documentary that takes an unflinching look at women in our modern times and reveals how the sexual landscape has changed with the cyberage. (As a side note, if you Google “cyberage,” it brings up an adult web site – no, I’m not linking to it here). Directors Jill Bauer and Ronna Gradus discovered a few disturbing trends:
- Having pubic hair is considered gross and unattractive.
- Most youngsters know someone who has emailed or texted a naked photo of themselves.
- Many kids have accidentally or intentionally had their first introduction to sex via hardcore online porn.
- Facebook has created an arena where kids compete to be “liked” and constantly worry about what image to portray.
In Sexy Baby, Jill and Ronna decided to tell the story through three people:
Laura, a 22-year-old kindergarten teacher who undergoes labia reduction surgery to give her boyfriend the porn star body he likes to watch online. Look, I try not to judge, but I had to wonder about the stability of a relationship based on his desire for a porn star’s parts “down there” and her decision to give him that. And yet, she truly believed that the surgery would enhance her life. I felt for her mom who wanted to support her daughter’s decision, but burst into tears at the thought of it. And if you’re at all squeamish, you might want to look away during the scene where we actually SEE the labia surgery. I’m not gonna lie – it’s tough to watch.
Traverse City Film Festival: The Line-Up
Winnifred, a 12-year-old living in New York City who’s both an emerging feminist starring in a girl-power play and a growing teen caught up in Facebook and social networking. Her parents try to guide her through this new terrain, and as the mom of a 15-year-old girl, I identified with their plight. You can’t shield kids from everything, but you can darn well be involved enough in their lives to know what’s going on.
Nichole, a.k.a. Nakita Kash, a 32-year-old former porn star and pole dancer who competed on season three of America’s Got Talent. I actually remember her from AGT, and she wasn’t bad, although I don’t really get pole dancing, in general. She and her husband Dave are attempting to settle into a conventional life and start a family while at the same time build an Internet porn business. When asked how he’d feel about explaining the porn business to his child, Dave is at a loss for words. That says a lot.
It’s a very challenging world we live in now, and Jill and Ronna offer perspectives from three insightful women with a lot to say. It doesn’t matter if you’re a male, female, parent or teen, you’ll find something to identify with in this thoughtful film that doesn’t shy away from asking the tough questions — and demanding the answers.
Traverse City Film Festival: Bernie Review
Other women’s films at the Traverse City Film Festival include Taking Our Bodies Back, Turn Me On Dammit, The World Before Her, and a collection of shorts that include Anything You Want to Be, Make Out and Up Against the Wall Miss America.
I have to ask: If you’re a female, would you ever consider labia surgery? Just the thought of it makes me shiver – and not in a good way.
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