Must Watch Videos by & for Women

Pretty, by Katie Makkai

I was in tears when I saw this and I suspect I’m going to watch it over and over and over again! The cage of “pretty” is extremely powerful and can contain us and our whole being for our entire lives, without us ever suspecting that we might be wasting our potential to be so much more than “pretty”, that worse, we may not even know that we ought to be enraged by the imprisonment. I hope to run into this video every time I doubt myself based on the most pathetic parameter I can apply to measure my self worth – “pretty”.

 

Sunitha Krishnan on Sex Slavery in India               

One of the bravest women I have seen, a warrior to make every Indian woman proud and hopeful.  This video is a wake up call for anyone who ever thought that the days of human slavery are a thing of the past. And for anyone who had any misplaced ideas about prostitution and what it entails.

 

Eve Ensler on Embracing the Inner Girl

The lovely, the brave and the refreshing Eve Ensler.  While Sheryl Sandberg talks about having to be a Type A go getter to really make it as a success in the corporate world, I’ve always held a bit of a different view. You could also make this a personality debate, but most women, carry a pretty huge, what Ensler calls, the “girl cell”.  But we are living in a world which scoffs at the girl cell, that makes it look like a weakness and a mistake. Men have it, women have it, and unless we acknowledge it and respect it, and make room for it at our workplaces, the campaign on gender diversity will remain a struggle.

Half the Sky, Sheryl Wudunn

The book is a 100 times better, but this is a good snapshot. I have often wondered about the phenomenon of prostitution, how women get there and what it entails. The truth is far from and much more horrific than anything we see in a movie or read in the newspaper. The book half the sky, amongst many other issues,  talks about the business of sex trafficking and how brothel owners and traffickers break young girls by beating, humiliation and drug dependency, so that they eventually lose all hope and comply, for the rest of their lives. It’s scary that one of the largest human slavery phenomena sees such little spotlight and help from the larger world. This video tries to focus on the virtuous cycle that can be created to combat gender discrimination issues though education. The book talks about other issues women across the globe face: Child-birth related deaths, mass rapes during wars, honour killings / rapes and more. It highlights a lot of the work which organizations are currently doing to address these as well.

The book is a must read (I blame it for having a bit of a White Savior Complex, but it it’s a must read anyway). It’s horrifying in what it exposes, but is humbling, eye opening  and something every one who cares about women’s place in the world should read.      

 

 

Morgan Steiner on Domestic Violence

I have been guilty of judging other women sometimes, because I believed that every woman ought to be strong enough to fight for herself, and not feel sorry for her victimization. I have since been greatly humbled, by life and by the amazing women I have met and heard from, who have survived awful miseries, finally rising with courage, but not without soul stealing suffering that preceded the eventual conquest they made.

Megan Kamerick: Women should represent women in media

Pretty interesting insights. The underrepresentation of women in Media ensures that our stories and perspectives aren't told enough, understood enough.

               

Eve Ensler on Security

This one isn’t about women in particular, but none-the-less an extremely profound and hard hitting thought process by an awesome woman. Don’t miss the short interview at the end of the video.