Inspired by Nicholas Kristoff and Cheryl WaDunn’s novel, Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide became a two-part documentary that came out in 2012. The film includes six actresses/activist, Eva Mendes, Meg Ryan, Olivia Wilde, America Ferrera, Gabrielle Union, and Diane Lane, who travel to six different countries, Somaliland, Vietnam, Sierra Leone, Kenya, Cambodia, and India to highlight the oppression of women and girls. With the help from Nicholas Kristoff, they get the opportunity to meet extraordinary women who dedicate their lives to help women and girls within their countries. The overall theme of the documentary is women and girls oppression. However, in the specific story from Cambodia that was analyzed, …show more content…
However, she manages to rescue six girls from that brothel. Each of the ten small bedrooms in the brothel contains two nasty, worn, and stained mattresses on the floor and bloody tissue paper in the trashcans. Each door has a lock on the outside that explains why the girls could not run away from their clients. In this one scene, there are anomalies being seen left and right. The first are the pictures of the little girls on the inside of the bedroom doors. When thinking of images that help men get roused, pictures of little girls do not come to mind. Second, a woman is the co-owner of the brothel. How can any woman allow men to exploit innocent girls, knowing that they would not want their own child being in that predicament? And third, the part of the scene where the woman is taking in while the male owner is negotiating with police for his freedom. Nothing sums up this scene except for the binary characteristics of being afraid and being scared at the same time, that Somaly embodies during the …show more content…
On the way, the question was asked how does Somaly assimilate the girls. She repeats the word kids four times to emphasize how important her mission for the victims to be kids again. When they arrive, they are welcomed by waving Cambodian girls in their white shirts blue skirt school uniform with smiles on their faces and flip flops on their feet. Images of playful girls running around shows that Somaly Mam did achieve her goal to bringing life back into the girls. There is a shift halfway through the scene where Somaly goes back to talking about her experiences. Trying to distance herself from the man who deceived her as a child, she repeatedly refers to him as he. She bluntly says that she knew nothing about sex before she was forced to have it. That is an anomaly because it is traditionally thought of that the people who are sexually active have heard or been taught about sex at least once. She then goes on to express six times that when she told the brothel owners and clients “I don’t want it,” they would beat and rape her more. Switching back different scenes of the children, the binary of tears and smiles was
We cannot deny the imperfection of the world today; poverty, violence, lack of education, and the general overwhelming deficiency of basic daily necessities are among some of the most troubling issues on the agenda. By carefully selecting our critical lens, we can gather that there are many aspects of today’s issues where we can focus our attention and begin the quest for solutions to these pervasive problems. Authors Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn (2009) utilize their book Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide to emphasize the particular struggle of women in the world today and how by addressing three particular abuses of sex trafficking and forced prostitution, gender-based violence (including honor killings and mass rape), and maternal mortality, we may begin “unlocking an incipient women’s movement to emancipate women and fight global poverty” (p. xxii). However, we must first understand the difficulty of addressing such complex issues by a proposing a “one-size fits all” solution and take into consideration the varying feminist perspectives that currently contemplate the oppression of women in societies around the world. To be able to critically digest Kristof and WuDunn’s book we must explore the types of stories and evidence included and how they’re presented, and the generalized theories behind the insight and solutions regarding the women in need around the world. The authors alienate their audience by ignoring the complexity of building a singular feminist movement. Kristof and WuDunn’s book Half the Sky further contributes to the oppression of women because they objectify Third World women by portraying them as victims in need of outside rescue and suggest that an overarching solution...
CNN News aired a documentary known as “Every Day in Cambodia” which is a CNN Freedom Project documentary made by Mira Sorvino. According to CNN, Mira Sorvino is an inspiration towards any person who has been a victim of modern-day slavery. In this film, Sorvino speaks to women who have been a part of human trafficking, as well as mothers of some of the victims. “The incredible spirits of these girls inspires me” stated Sorvino. Sorvino teamed up with Don Brewster who is the founder of Agape International Missions (AIM). Brewster is a firm believer in rescuing and protection girls who have been forced into sex trafficking.
In the documentary, “What Stands in the Way of Women Being Equal to Men,” gender inequality is analyzed within four different countries through the narratives of four young girls. Each of these countries, Iceland, Jordan, the United Kingdom, and Lesotho vary in their level of gender inequality, yet all maintain unjust social constructs. While Iceland does demonstrate less social tendencies towards gender inequality, feminism is not accepted and women are burdened with social expectations that men are exempt from. In Jordan, girls are assigned certain activities and restricted from participating in others that boys are free to do whenever they please. Girls and women in the United Kingdom are oversexualized through pornography and are expected
After watching the 4 hour video, Half The Sky, I became more aware of how there are more people suffering and feeling much worse than I am. As a woman, I have felt the pain they were experiencing especially the young ones. I have never imagined such cruelty and inhumanity in this world. There are several issues that people in general are facing. Focusing on women, I have realized they are the most oppressed. It is ironic how conservative countries tend to have the most prostitution probably because the
The documentary, Very Young Girls, was heart-wrenching, informative, and very hard to relate to these young girls. These girls are daughters, sisters, friends, family, and some are already mothers. However, these young women are treated and seen as criminals, not as victims. Prostitution and human-trafficking happens everywhere and every day, including in the United States. People have this perspective that human trafficking only happens in foreign countries. There’s a negative stigma on prostitution because we, as a society, only pay attention to the sexual acts and services that these women provide. Young women’s dignity, adolescences, and respect is taken away from them. Yet, this was not their choice, but they do not have positive influences
Many men come to brothels for young girls, but when the girls get out of the brothel, the same people who pay for their services are the ones who reject them from the community. Also, people who know about what is going on do nothing to help the unfortunate situation in which many young girls are in. The hypocritical state of today’s society makes it challenging for these girls to eventually become ordinary citizens in the community. “A Human Security Crisis of Global Proportions” explains how “... victims are typically very young, most ranging in age from eight to eighteen years old.” Shunning a child is immoral. Parents, and even older siblings, are the ones who shape the person who the child will grow to be. Without the support and love from relatives, children have nowhere else to go, and no one to define who they will become in the future. All these girls have known are their abhorrent past lives. Having the ability to become a part of society after enduring such hardships can be strenuous without aid from the rest of the community and, most importantly, friends and relatives. Family should be there for each other, no matter what, and, in cases like this, it is obvious some families are not fulfilling that duty. In pursuit to scare the girls away from trying to escape the Happiness House, Mumtaz
Sex trafficking is when women, young girls, and young boys are held in slavery and forced into prostitution for the financial gain of others in brothels in the United States, Europe, and other developing countries such as Thailand and the Philippines (Sexual Slavery). It’s happened to many women and children throughout many years in many of these countries for money and more power. Often purchased or kidnapped off the street, women, girls, and boys are trafficked across international
Photographer, Zana Briski in her documentary, “Born into Brothels,” tries to highlight the living conditions of children in the red light areas of Calcutta, India. Briski’s purpose is to provide education to the children, introduce the hobby of photography, and get the children out of the Brothels. She also aims to achieve global attention on the topic of child prostitution. The filmmaker adopts a benevolent tone towards the children in order to bond with them and rather a pitiful tone in general to seek emotional support from the audience to achieve her purpose.
The oppression of women commonly occurs in Patricia McCormick’s novel Sold. Lakshmi, the protagonist, and many other women are impacted by the cultural beliefs in India. Lakshmi is a thirteen-year- old girl from Nepal who loses everything she knows because of her stepfather’s greed. She lived in a small village with her mother who does housework and takes care of her little brother while her stepfather gambles at the tea shop. Desperate for money, Lakshmi is sold into prostitution by her stepfather with her believing she is going to work as a maid. Lakshmi moves to India and reaches the prostitution house, known as “Happiness House”. There are many women and young girls close to her age at the house who got trapped like Lakshmi. Mumtaz is the head of the Happiness House and the one who paid for the girls, so their debt to her is the price that they got bought for. They earn their money as sex slaves and some girls spend years trying to pay off the debt. Lakshmi does the same for months and realizes that it is a common practice in India and because it is a norm, many women and young girls are affected by this. In “Sold”, the Indian culture discriminates against women when looking at gender roles,
On November 7th at the Indiana University Cinema, I had the opportunity to watch an intriguing documentary called The Beauty Academy of Kabul, which was eye opening in terms of gender oppression. The main purpose of the film was to portray the role that beauty has in these women’s lives who live in Kabul and how it empowers them and allows them to be independent in a certain aspect of their lives. In the documentary, women from America travel to Kabul and create a school where they rigorously teach Afghan women the techniques that are found in beauty parlors. Throughout the documentary, several interviews take place where the audience learns just how unequal men and women are treated in the city of Kabul. Overall, the documentary showed me how women are treated in that culture, how it is different from our culture although we still face some of the same issues, and how something like the beauty school helps the women to feel empowered and how it gives them a sense of purpose.
Women in history were subjected to an oppressed role, which men were in control. Many of these women created groups to talk about these problems such as the Seneca Falls. Women fought for equality, but some were happy with the status quo, and some simply became the change.
Laura Bassett, a reporter from the Huffington Post, explains that in today’s society women are paid 77 cents for every dollar that a man earns, resulting in women being paid an average of $37,800 a year compared to men who are paid an average of $49,400 per year in 2012 (Women Still Earned 77 Cents On Men's Dollar In 2012: Report). Also, when a man and a woman apply for the same job, the man will almost always be chosen. This has resulted in the amount of full-time working males increasing by 1 million within a years time, and the number for full-time working women remained nearly the same. To this day, females are not treated equally to males even though almost a century has gone by from 1920 when women gained their deserved suffrage rights and other rights of equivalent importance. Both men and women are standing up to spread the awareness of the meager changes to women’s rights throughout the years. One way to raise awareness is to write a book, and many books have been made about the lack of equality rights for women. In the novel The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd, the main character Lily witnesses several equality rights between men and woman in the way that females are treated by males, which has become a major social issue in today’s society.
The movie "Girl Rising" consists of nine short stories of nine different girls from nine different countries. Each has their own life to live and a story to tell. The movie portrays girls' rights and their ability to rise above their unfortunate fate. Sokha, known as the "child of the dump," lives in Cambodia with no family or relatives. She is an orphan. Her home is the dump. She has always yearned for a chance to go to school. She wanted to know what the alphabet sounds like coming out of her mouth. She wanted to wear a school uniform. That was her one dream-- to have an education. Sokha's determination to wear a school uniform eventually became a reality.
There is a group of people in the world today who are more persecuted than anyone else, but they are girls. Being born a girl means you are, more likely to be subjected to violence, disease, poverty and disadvantage than any other group on the planet. The documentary, I am a girl, directed by Rebecca Barry paints a picture of the reality of what it mean to be a girl in the twenty-first-century. I am a girl introduces us to six young women from all over the world. Katie is a wealthy, middle-class student from Australia getting ready for the exam, suffers from depression. Kimsey is a sex worker from Cambodia who supports her entire family. Manu is a Papua New Guinea villager whose unplanned pregnancy has put her in deep conflict with her traditional
...d make them more educated about the situation to hopefully prevent more trafficking from occurring. Deputy General Commissioners met in Phnom Penh to be trained on the investigation of sexual exploitation and gain knowledge about human trafficking in September later that year. Later in October Cambodia National Police Gender group with Protection Pillar put together a workshops for officers that focused on the violence against women. Officers were expected to go to a 3 day workshop to be educated. Ms. Kanha Chan speaks about what she thinks of the workshop.