MS magazine’s Lindsy Van Gelder explains why she boy­cotts weddings.

A good deal of energy goes into just expecting possible trouble.

ARRIAGE AS A RESevera l years ag o , I s to p ­ped go ing to w eddings. In fact I n o lo n g er c e le b ra te th e w edd ing an n iv e r­saries o r en g ag em en ts o f

friends, re la tives, o r anyone e lse , a lthough I m ight w ish th em lifelong jo y in th e ir re la tio n ­ships. M y exp lan a tio n is th a t th e nex t w edd ing I a tte n d will be m y ow n — to th e w om an I ’ve loved an d lived w ith fo r nearly six years .

A lthough I’ve been legally m arried to a m an my­self (and come close to m arrying two o thers), I ’ve com e, in these last six years with Pam ela, to see heterosexual m arriage as very much a restricted club. (N or is this likely to change in the near fu ture, if one can judge by the recent clobbering of what was actually a ra th er tam e proposal to recognize “dom estic partnersh ips” in San F rancisco.) R e­gardless o f the reason people m arry — w hether to save on real estate taxes o r qualify for m arried stu­dents housing o r simply to express love — lesbians and gay m en can’t obtain the sam e results should they desire to do so. It seem s apparen t to me that few friends of Pam ela’s and mine w ould ever jo in a club that excluded blacks, Jew s, o r w om en, much less assum e that they could expect their black, Jew ish, o r fem ale friends to toast the ir new status with cham pagne. But probably no o th e r stand of principle w e’ve ever m ade in our lives has been so m isunderstood, o r caused so much bad feeling on both sides.

Several prople have reacted with surprise to our views, it never having occurred to them that gay people can't legally m arry. (W hy on earth did they think that none o f us had bo thered?) The most com ­mon reaction , how ever, is acute em barrassm ent, followed by a denial o f ou r m ain point — tha t the about-to-be-w ed person is em barking on a 1 privileged status. (O ne friend of Pam ela’s insisted tha t lesbians are “ lucky” not to have to agonize over w hether o r not to get m arried .) So w rapped in gauze is the institution of m arriage, so ingrained the expectation tha t brides and groom s can enjoy the w orld’s delighted app roval, tha t it’s hard for me not to feel put on the defensive for being so m ean-spi- rited , eccentric, and /or politically rigid as to boycott such a happy event.

A no ther question w e’ve fielded m ore than once (usually from our most radical friends, both gay and straight) is why w e’d w ant to get m arried in the first place. In fact, I have m ixed feelings about reg ister­ing my personal life w ith the sta te , but — and this seem s to me to be the essence of radical politics — I ’d p refer to be the one making the choice. A nd while fem inists in recent years have rightly focused on puncturing the Schlaflyite myth of the legally

protected hom em aker, it’s also true that m arriage does confer som e very real dollars-and-cents be­nefits. O ne exam ple o f inequity is ou r inability to file jo in t tax returns, although m any couples, both gay and stra igh t, go through periods when one p a rt­ner in the relationship is unem ployed o r m akes con­siderably less money than the o ther. A t one tim e in our relationship , Pam ela — w ho is a musician — was betw een bands and earning next to nothing. I was m aking a little over $37,000 a year as a news­paper rep o rte r, a salary that put me in the 42 per­cent tax bracket — about $300 a week taken ou t of my paycheck. If we had been m arried , we could have filed a jo in t tax return and each paid taxes on half my salary, in the 25 o r 30 percent bracket. The difference w ould have been nearly $100-a-week in our pockets.

A round the sam e tim e, Pam ela suffered a m onths’ long illness which w ould have been co­vered by my health insurance if she w ere my spouse. W e w ere luckier than m any; we could af­ford it. But on top of the w orry and expense in­volved (and despite the fact tha t intellectually we believe in the ideal o f free m edical care for everyone), we found it alm ost im possible to avoid internalizing a sense of personal failure — the know ledge tha t because of who we are, we can't take care of each other. I ’ve heard o th er gay people w hose lovers w ere deported because they couldn’t m arry them and enable them to becom e citizens; still o thers w ho w ere barred from intensive-care units w here their lovers lay stricken because they w eren’t “im m ediate fam ily” .

I would never begrudge a straight friend w ho got m arried to save a lover from depo rta tion o r stagger­ing medical bills, but the tru th is th a t I no longer sym pathize with m ost o f the less tangible justifica­tions. This includes the oft-heard “for the sake of the children” argum ent, since (like many gay people, especially w om en) 1 have children, and I re­sent the im plication that som e families are m ore “leg itim ate” than o thers. ( I t’s im portan t to safeguard o n e ’s ch ild ren’s rights to their fa th e r’s p roperty , but a legal con tract will do the sam e thing as m arriage.)

But the single most painful and infuriating rationale for m arriage, as far as I’m concerned , is the one that goes: “W e w anted to stand up and show the world tha t w e’ve m ade a genuine com m it­m en t.” W hen one is gay, such sentim ents are label­led “flaun ting .” My lover and I alm ost never find ourselves in public settings outside the gay ghetto w here we are (a) perceived to be a couple at all (people constantly ask us if w e’re sisters, although we look nothing like each o th e r), and (b) valued as such. U sually w e’re forced to choose betw een being

36 Broadsheet, March 1985

STRICTEDinvisible and being despised. “M aking a genuine com m itm ent” in this m ilieu is like w alking a high- wire w ithout a net — with most o f the audience not even watching and a fair segm ent rooting for you to fall. A d isproportionate num ber of gay couples do.

I think it’s difficult for even my closest, most fem inist straight w om en friends to em pathize with the intensity o f my desire to be recognized as Pam ela’s partner. (In fact, it may be hard er-fo r fem inists to understand than for o thers; I know that when I was straight, I often resen ted being viewed as one half o f a couple. My struggle was for an inde­pendent identity , not the cojo ined one I now crave.) B ut we are simply not considered authentic, and the rem inders are constan t. R ecently at a party , a man I ’d known for years spied me across the room and cam e over to m e, arm s ou ts tre tched , big happy- to-see-you grin on his face. Pam ela had a gig that night and w asn’t a t the party ; my friend’s wife was there bu t in ano ther room , and I hadn ’t seen her yet. “H ow ’s M — ?” I asked the m an. “O h , she’s fine,” he replied , continuing to smile pleasantly. “A re you and Pam still to g e th er?”

O ur sex life itself is against the law in m any states, of course, and like all lesbians and gay m en, we are w ithout m any o th er rights, both large and sm all. (In V irginia, for instance, it’s technically against the law for us to buy liquo r.) But as a gay coup le , we are also m ost likely to be labelled and discrim inated against in those very settings tha t, for most heterosexual A m ericans, constitu te the m ost re­laxed and personal parts o f life. V irtually every tiny public act o f togetherness — from holding hands on the stree t to renting a hotel room to dancing — re ­quires us constantly to risk hum iliation (I th ink, for exam ple, o f the two California w om en who w ere re ­cently throw n ou t o f a restau ran t tha t had special rom antic tables for couples), sexual harassm ent (it’s astonishing how m any m en can’t resist coming on to a lesbian couple), and even physical assault. A great deal o f energy goes in to ju s t expecting possi­ble trouble . I t’s a process which, a fter six years, has becom e second natu re for me — but occasionally, when I ’m in Provincetow n o r som eplace else with a large lesbian population , I experience the absence of it as a feeling o f virtual weightlessness.

W hat does all this have to do with my friends’ w eddings? O bviously, I can’t expect my friends to live my life. B ut I do think tha t lines are being drawn in this “pro-fam ily” R eagan era , and I have no choice about w hat side I ’m placed on. My straight friends do , and at the very least, I expect them to acknow ledge tha t. I certainly expect them to understand why I do n ’t w ant to be am ong the rice-throw ers and well-wishers at their weddings; beyond tha t, I w ould hope tha t they w ould com m it

m

them selves to fighting for my rights — preferably in personally visible ways, like m arching in gay pride parades. B ut I also wish they w ouldn’t get m arried, period. A nd if tha t sounds hard-nosed, I hope I ’m only proving my point — tha t not being able to m arry isn’t a m inor issue.

N ot that my life w ould likely be changed as the result o f any individual straight person’s symbolic refusal to m arry. (N or, for that m atter, do all gay couples w ant to be w ed.) B ut it’s a political reality th a t heterosexual live-together couples are am ong our best tactical allies. The m ovem ent to repeal state sodom y laws has profited from the desire of straight people to keep the governm ent our o f their bedroom s. Similarly, it was a heterosexual New Y ork w om an who w ent to court several years ago to fight her land lord’s dem and tha t she either m arry her live-in boyfriend or face eviction for violating a lease clause prohibiting “un re la ted” tenan ts — and w hose struggle led to the recent passage of a state ren t law that had ram ifications for thousands of gay couples, including Pam ela and me.

T he right wing has seized on “hom osexual m ar­riage" as its bottom -line scare phrase in much the sam e way that “W ould you w ant your sister to m arry o ne?” was brandished 25 years ago. They see m arriage as their turf. A nd so when I see fem inists crossing into tha t territo ry o f respectability and “sinlessness,” I feel my buffer zone slipping away. I feel as though my friends are taking off their arm bands, leaving me exposed .□

In December last year, Mary Simpson, an English lesbian, lost her court appeal to stay in the state house she had shared with her recently dead lover. English widows and widowers can take over the lease of council homes rented by their spouses.Mary Simpson argued that she should have the status of widow as the couple had lived together in a stable relationship which was well known and accepted in their area. One judge of the case said an essential characteristic of life as husband and wife was that the couple were a man and a woman.Ms Simpson intends to appeal to the House of Lords.a

... heterosexual live-together couples are among our best tactical allies.

Usually we’re forced to choose between being invisible and being despised.

Broadsheet, March 1985 37

ON THE SHELFBOOKS FOR YOUNGER READERS________________

THE PUFFIN CALCULATOR BOOKRose GriffithsA practical and en te rta in in g book o f puzzles, sum s and b ra in tease rs fo r ch ild ren o f e ight and over. W hen used in the w ays d escribed , a calcu la to r can actually im prove a ch ild 's understand ing and ability at pencil an d p a p er arithm etic . W ith c lear layout and lively draw ings learnng is fun. A Puffin O rig inal. $3.95 pbk.

HANK, PRANK AND HOT HENRIETTAJules OlderH ank P rank is alw ays ge tting into troub le . H is s ister H ot H enrie tta has a tem p e r th a t tends to get the b e tte r o f her just a t the w rong m o­m en t. T hese sho rt s to ries are com ic, vet tp ta lly unbelievab le . T hey are easy to read w ith lots o f jokes which will keep you laughing from beginning to end. H e inem ann . $11.95 hbk.

PHOEBE AND THE HOT WATER BOTTLESTerry Furchgott & Linda DawsonPhoebe B eeberbee knew a lot abou t hot w a ter b o ttle s , by the tim e she w as seven she had 157 o f them . A delightfu l boo k b e au ti­fully illu s tra ted . F o r ages 3 — 7. F o n tan a P icture L ions. $4.95 pbk.

CARRIE HEPPLE'S GARDENRuth Craft & Irene HaasA book to read to young ch ild ren , again beautifu lly illustra ted . F o n ­tana P icture L ions. $4.95 pbk.

THE FUDGE THAT JUMPED OUT OF THE BATH AND RAN AWAY TO SEE THE WORLDSue FreemanRangi and G eorge set ou t to m ake fudge fo r a pa rty , use N an a 's fo r­b idden spoon and set ou t in hot pursu it o f the fudge which runs aw ay. Bright and co lourfu l illustra ­tions. large fo rm at. C orom andel Press w ith K idsarus 2. $8.95 pbk.

WHERE DO BABIES COME FROM?________ ________Margaret SheffieldF o r 5— 10s. this book cam e ou t of an aw ard w inning B BC prog­ram m e. A ttrac tive fu ll-colour il­lustra tions follow a child from con ­cep tion to ch ildhood . Jo n a th o n C ape , $6.95 pbk.

PELOROUS JACK_________Tania Atkinson'A h undred years ago a strange d o l­ph in . big as a young w hale began regularly escorting the W ellington- N elson steam ers fo r a p o rtion o f

38 Broadsheet, March 1985

th e ir jo u rn ey . F o r 25 years he kep t to his task , then in the sp ring o f 1912. he vanished. W ho was this P e lo rous Jack? W as he th e legen­dary tan iw ha , T ah u -ran g i, godfish o f the M aori. R ead th is tru e story o f the N ew Z ea lan d coast. F o n tan a L ions, $4.95 pbk.

FOR OLDER READERS

MARIANNE DREAMS______Catherine StorrSoon a fte r M arianne found the pencil in the old w orkbox , she began to have d ream s o f an old house with a boy in th e upstairs room . T h en the am azing tru th daw ned on h e r, it was she w ho had c rea ted the house and the boy be ­cause w henever she d rew som e­th ing du ring the day , th a t night she w ould d ream abou t it. This m a r­vellous haun ting story has becom e a classic since it was first published in 1958. Puffin , $4.95 pbk .

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TH iCAY________________Theodore TaylorThis is as tense and com pulsive as on ly a survival s tory can be ; it is also a fascinating study o f the re ­la tionsh ip be tw een Phillip , w hite, A m erican , and influenced by his m o th e rs p re jud ices, and the black m an upon w hom P hillip 's life d e ­pends. Puffin $2.95 pbk.

LET THE CIRCLE BE UNBROKEN______________Mildred TaylorF or C assie L ogan , 1935 in the A m erican d eep sou th is a tim e o f bew ildering change: the D ep res­sion is tigh ten ing its g rip , rich and p o o r a re in conflict and racial con ­flict is increasing . A s she grow s away from the security o f ch ild ­h ood . Cassie struggles to u n d e r­s tan d the tu rm oil a ro u n d her and the reasons fo r the d eep -ro o ted fears o f h e r fam ily and friends. Puf­fin Plus, $6.95 pbk .

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FICTION

THE FRINGE OF HEAVENMargaret SutherlandIn M aori “T itiran g i” m eans "F ringe o f H eaven". T itirang i's bush itself is a living ch arac te r; the rest o f the individuals w ho live in the a rea a re fictional — the p roduct o f M argaret S u th e rlan d 's im agina­tio n , funny and m oving. M allinson R en d e l, $19.96 hbk.

IN LOVE AND TROUBLEAlice WalkerT hese spellb ind ing sto ries are A lice W alk er 's tr ib u tes , m oving, angry and loving by tu rn , to the black w om en o f the ru ral A m eri­can S outh in which she grew up. A lso by the sam e a u th o r The Color Purple ($13.95) w inner o f the P u litzer Prize fo r fic tion , 1983. T he W om en 's P ress, $11.25 pbk.

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NISA: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF A KUNG WOMANMarjorie ShostakB reak ing th rough th e b a rrie rs o f j language and c u ltu re , N isa to ld h e r | ow n story in h e r ow n w ords, to an- j th ropo log ist M arjo rie S hostak . W ith dignity and h u m o u r she tells j o f h e r ch ildhood , h e r ado lescence , 1 h e r m arriage a t the age o f tw elve. I H e r sto ry is b o th fam ilia r and s tran g e , the universal shape o f j w om en 's experience in cir- ; cum stances th a t m ay resem ble those o f o u r ow n ancesto rs. P en ­guin , $13.50 pbk.

ANNAPURNA: A WOMEN'S PLACE__________________In A ugust, 1978, th ir teen w om en left San Francisco fo r N epal to m ake h isto ry as the first w om en to scale the tre ac h ero u s slopes o f A n n ap u rn a I. N ev er b e fo re has such an accoun t o f m o u n ta in eerin g trium ph and trag ed y b een to ld from a w om en’s p o in t o f view. G ra n a d a , $26.95 large fo rm at pbk.

WHEN THE BOYS WERE AWAY__________________Eve EbbettW hile m uch has b een w ritten abou t the experiences and exp lo its o f the

L J L 3r — *

A Novel bym i

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PREMENSTRUAL EXPERIENCEHecate Women’s Health Collec­tive, Janice Burns & Viv Maidaborn.The second boo k in th e N Z W om en’s H ealth Series is abou t p rem enstrua l experiences — the highs and low s, th e p leasan t and u n p leasan t, in all th e ir em o tio n a l and perso n al fo rm s. S ubstan tia l coverage is given to b o th o rth o d o x and a lte rn a tiv e p re m en stru a l self- care activ ities. R eed M eth u en , $9.95 pbk .

RACISM AND SEXISM IN CHILDREN'S BOOKSAn illum inating co llection o f analyses o f ch ild ren ’s bo o k s, in ­cluding Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Cay, Pippi Longstocking, E n id B ly to n ’s girls, and m uch m ore . A m ust fo r p a - ' rents and teach ers , R ead e rs and W rite rs , $9.95 pbk .

TAKINO IT UKB A WOMENAnn OakleyAnn O akley chronicles the battle betw een love and the fam ily in scenes o f co n fro n ta tio n and in ti­macy; she in te rw eaves th ro u g h o u t

TEST-TUBEWOMEN

WHAT FUTURE FOB MOTHERHOOD?gorett sv t, s«i.t£v woe>s

the book the accoun t o f a haun ting and d is tu rb ing love a ffa ir, b lend ing fiction and m em oir seam lessly in a rem ark a b le d o cu m en t abou t w om anhood . Jo n a th o n C ape , $25.05 hbk.

THE JOURNALS O f ANAIS NIN, VOLUME SEVEN 1966 -1974___________________V olum e seven co m p le tes the jo u r­ney o f psychological d iscovery m ade by o n e o f th e m ost re m ark a ­ble w om en o f th e cen tu ry . T his vol­um e is o f p rim e in te re s t as a record o f A na is N in ’s p h en o m en al rise to in te rn a tio n a l celeb rity a fte r the p ub lica tion o f th e first vo lum e o f h e r jo u rn a ls in 1966. Q u a rte t B ooks, $17.95 pbk.

THE W OMPI QUESTIONMary Evans (ed)T his co llection o f read ings on the su b o rd in a tio n o f w om en raises q uestions cen tra l to th e w o m en ’s m o vem en t and fem inist d eb a te . E ach o f th e e ight sec tions exp lores the m ateria l and ideological basis o f sexual inequa lity , in th e fam ily, the lab o u r m a rk e t, po litics, ed u ca ­tio n , the m ed ia , lite ra tu re and p o p u la r cu ltu re . T h e b oo k includes ex trac ts from M ary W ollstone- c ra ft, Sheila R o w b o th am , S im one de B eauvo ir, A d rien n e R ich , T illie O lsen , an d m any o th e rs , F o n tan a $14.95 pbk .

sperm ban k s, te s t tu b e fe rtilisa ­tio n , sex selec tion , su rroga te m o th erin g , ex p erim e n ta tio n in the th ird w orld a n d increased technolog ical in te rv en tio n in ch ildb irth . W ho con tro ls it? W ho benefits? W h at a re th e im plica­tions fo r w om en w orld w ide? T he co n trib u to rs to th is b o o k com bine th e ir perso n al and political perspec tives to exam ine these questions an d o th e r d ifficult issues. P a n d o ra P ress, $17.10 pbk.

FAT IS A FEMINIST ISSUE 2Susie OrbachA s tep by s tep guide to show you how to b reak th e cycle and stop d ie ting fo rev e r. W ith practical exercises designed to he lp you u n ­d e rs tan d you r bod y ’s needs. H am - lyn, $7.50 pbk .

THE SEXUALITY PAPERSLai Coveney, Margaret Jackson, Sheila Jeffries, Leslie Kay & Pat MahoneyA n exce llen t co llection on m ale sexuality and th e social con tro l o f w om en from a g ro u p o f B ritish and lesb ian fem inists. L o o k s a t how o u r a ttitu d es to sex and w hat we desire have b een shaped by the m ysoginist sexologist o f th e 19th and 20th cen tu ries. E xam ines the ideas ab o u t sex he ld by suffragists and takes a searing look a t Forum m agazine. H u tch in so n , $1 3 .5 0 pbk .

LESBIAN

FOLLYMaureen BradySet in a C aro lin a mill tow n, this novel b lends the s to ry o f a union o rgan izing strike by w om en who sew in the local facto ry w ith the p erso n al struggles o f th e ir daily lives. T h e C rossing P ress, $13.95 pbk .

Jeannine AllardS om etim e in th e last cen tu ry , tw o w om en living on th e coast o f F r­ance , in B rittan y , loved each o th e r. T hey h ad n o o th e r m odels o f such a th ing , so they chose th is solu tion: o ne o f th em posed as a m an fo r m ost o f th e ir life to g e th e r; they w ere m arried , ad o p te d a child , and w ere very happy . A beau tifu l s tory o f tw o w om en in love. A lyson, $15.95 pbk.

RELATIVELY NORMA______Anna LiviaM innie , L ondon lesbian fem in ist, flies to A ustra lia to com e o u t to her fam ily only to find h e r m o th e r re ­belling against the constra in ts of m o th e rh o o d , h e r fo s te r s ister struggling w ith nostalg ia fo r an adop tive fa th e r and a grow ing love fo r w om en, w hile h e r little s ister seeks so lace in food . O nlyw om en P ress, $10.60 pbk.

TH i TRAUMA OF INCESTSandra ButlerT his tho ro u g h ly re sea rch ed and well d o cu m en ted boo k exp lodes the reassu ring m yth th a t incest is a p red o m in an tly low er-class p ro b ­lem , and reveals the p ro fo u n d im ­p lica tions o f incestuous assault for th e em o tio n a l and in te rp e rso n a l dev e lo p m en t o f th e child victim s. V o lcano P ress, $25.95 pbk.

UST-TUBE WOMEN_______Rita Arditti, Renate Duelli Klein, Shelley Minden (eds)T h e technolog ical ta k e o v er o f m o th erh o o d : genetic eng ineering .

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<OUR W O R K ON SCREEN from page 33.

from some risible advertisements (“the creation of the

modern housewife”) to look at how married women

came under attack in the depression for “taking away

men’s jobs” .

Working for the Duration (1939 — 1969) shows the

W W 2 industry using and discarding women’s labour

again and describes the prolonged equal pay campaign.

It also adds the stories of migrant women to the experi­

ences of Aboriginal women woven throughout the film.

The last part, Work of Value (1969 — 1983), con­

tinues the theme of women’s revolt with equal opportun­

ity campaigns and the impact of feminism, and

flashbacks to earlier moments of resistance and exploita­

tion. The strong cyclical pattern of women’s gains and

losses documented in the film , the echoes of our earlier

treatment in times of boom and depression, encourage

us to look at the problems that have been solved and

those that remain.

For Love or Money received very good reviews in all

the mainstream newspapers in Australia. It was the most

rented film in 1983 of the 500 independent films in the

Sydney Filmmakers Coop Library. One of the film mak­

ers used a $10,000 grant from the New South Wales gov­

ernment to show the film in the outback of the state.

“She bought a projector and a van,” said Gayle Lake,

“and did a huge mailout to all community groups and

schools throughout the NS Wcountry area and set off into

the dust, just showing it in halls and all sorts of places. It

was really going back to the old days of ‘four walling’ it. ”

Cinema managers in Australia were amazed by the

number of older women going to see the film . “I took my

mother and my grandmother to see it ,” said Gayle Lake,

“and both of them had very different politics and in ­

terests to me, and we all found something in the film that

we really loved.” The film has had successful seasons at

film festivals and ordinary theatres in several other

countries.

Sales of For Love or Money are being negotiated with

the Australian Broadcasting Commission and Televi­

sion New Zealand. The distributors are keen to organise

screenings in other places around New Zealand beside

the three main centres. They also hope groups will bor­

row prints of the film (to buy a print costs approximately

$4,300). The N Z Education Department has already

bought three, and when the film opens, a SFC worker

will hold previews of For Love or Money and other SFC

films to libraries, resource groups and other possible

buyers. The film can also be bought on video, either half

inch or three-quarter, for much less than the print cost.

“We are asking people to publicise it in their groups,”

said Gayle, “because we’re not sure whether we’re going

to get the mainstream press support that we did in A u ­

stralia. So we’re hoping that women will see the film and

if they like it tell other women that it’s worthwhile, put it

in newsletters and make group bookings.”□

Jenny Rankine

40 Broadsheet, M arch 1985

WHAT'S NEW?

WORKSHOPS/MEETINGS/COURSESEducation and Career Oppor­tunities for Women — the good

and bad news of schools, 4

weekly sessions starting 4

March, 5.30 pm to 7 pm. At

Room 15, Classics Building, 5

Symonds St, Auckland. Tutor:

Eileen Chandler from Exeter

Uni. Organised by Continuing

Education ph 737-999.

Creative Women’s Weekend atWhale Bay, 9km from Raglan.

Workshops on the performing

arts, visual arts and creative

writing. Friday 29 March to

Sunday 31 March. Waged $35,

unwaged $24. Write to Regis­

trar, University of Waikato,

Private Bag, Hamilton for

more info or enrolment. No

creche, vegetarian food.

Auckland Continuing Educa­tion courses for 1984: Women

and Collaborative Art (Juliet

Batten), Women as Fabric Ar­

tists (Juliet Batten), Women’s

Visual Diaries (Juliet Batten),

Feminist Philosophies (Jan

Crosthwaite), Women in

Africa (Ruth Butterworth),

Women’s Spirituality : The

Goddess Religions (Lea Hol-

ford), Motherhood : Myth or

Reality (Margot Roth), Three

Tragic Queens (Phyllis Petit),

Psychology of Women (Lea

Holford), Women and Change

(Claudia Bell), Women’s

Studies : Theory and Practice

(Clare-Louise McCurdy),

Maori Women, Past and Pre­

sent (Atareta Poananga). For

more info phone 737-999 or

737-720.

University of Waikato Con­tinuing Education courses:Young women in the 80s, The

History of women in Aotearoa,

Violence Against Women. For

further info write University of

Waikato Centre for Continu­

ing Education, Private Bag,

Hamilton. Ph 62889 ext 4706.

Work Cooperatives for Women, a weekend workshop

in April. Tutor Karen Johns.

Contact the above address.

On The Threshold — Housing Women, First National

Women’s Housing Confer­

ence, Adelaide Uni, 1-3

March. Write GPO Box 1072

Adelaide 5001, or phone Jen

McCarthy (08) 227-4822

Adelaide.

Values Party Conference,theme: Politics of the Land, 17-

20 May. Write Box 814 Auck­

land, phone 266-5322.

International Women’s Day Auckland, see page 11 this

issue or contact Working

Women’s Resource Centre,

phone 762.156.

Women in Secondary Educa­tion Conference, Easter 5 — 8

April, Waikato University,

Hamilton, sponsered by

PPTA. $40, $20 students.(

Write to PO Box 4415 Hamil­

ton East.

1985 Women’s Studies Confer­ence, Hamilton Girls’ High

School, 23 — 25 August. Pap­

ers and suggestions for work­

shop topics are invited. Par­

ticular interest in papers/work­

shops on racism and

heterosexism. All women pre­

senting are asked to consider

the visibility of lesbians, black

women, the disabled and work­

ing class women. Presentations

do not need to be academic,

videos or discussion welcome.

For more info contact Jane

Ritchie, 62889, ext 4907 or G il­

lian Marie, ext 4706 Hamilton.

Career/Life Planning Coursefor women who have spent

years caring for a family and

would like new directions, Au­

ckland YW CA. Begins Tues­

day 5 March, 9.30 am — 12.30

pm at the Y , 10 Carlton Gore

Rd, Grafton. Phone 775-909.

Wellington YWCA, courses

in: Media for Women 23 and 24

March, Racism for White

Women, Tutor Kataraina Pipi

and others, 17 March; Maori

Sovereignty, Tutor Kataraina

Pipi and others, 4 May; Re­

flexology, Tutor Kay Henry,

21 April; Cultural Perspec­

tives; Tutors Robin Peace and

Claire Jensen, 14 April; The

Law and You, Tutor Helen

Croft, 26 April; Self Defence,

Assertion Training for

Women, Tutor Irene Pearson,

21,28 March,4,11,18 April, 2

May. Contact the YW CA for

more details of courses and

fees, PO Box 9563 Wellington,

phone 850-505.

Women’s Studies course at

Northland community Centre,

Wellington, beginning Tues-

day 5 March, 7.30 pm. For de­tails ring tutors Jo Lynch (766- 309) o r Lyn Jowett (759-080).

Women’s History, W EA, 72 Taranaki St, W ellington, be­ginning W ednesday 6 March,7.30 — 9 pm, for 7 weeks. Tutors: Jill Abigail and other members of the W om en’s Studies Association. Fee $18.

Auckland WEA women’s studies courses in March in­clude: Lesbian Study Circles (general meeting for 1985,7.30 pm Mon 4 M arch); N Z Women Writers of the 70s and 80s; Women and H ealth; Women Yesterday and Today; C arpen­try W orking Drawings for Women; Making Changes — Self-Esteem for Women (one eight week course and one weekend course); Introductory Feminism and Tutor Training/ Basic W omen’s Studies.

O ther courses are the Meadowbank Community House Political Discussion Group; Structural Analysis and Maori Language Courses— in the evening Maori Pro­nunciation and Maori Lan­guage, in the day An Introduc­tion to Maori Language and Maori Language, an overview. For full programme details please phone W EA office 732- 030.

EXHIBITIONS ETCFor Love or Money, A ustra­lian film on women and work. See article in this issue. For two week seasons at the Academy in Auckland, Christchurch and Wellington, starting 8 March, International W omen’s Day.

Pacific Poetry Series, open to writers who haven’t previously published a volume of poetry. Winning manuscript published by Uni of Hawaii Press. M an­uscripts between 64 and 96 pages should arrive during

j March: entry fee $5. For further info write with SAE to

i Pacific Poetry Series, Univer­sity of Hawaii Press, 2840 Kolowalu St, Honolulu, HI

196822.

Lesbian Tape, three Pakeha, one Maori lesbian talk in edited interviews about coming out to themselves and others on David Burke-Kennedy’s The Other Side of Auckland, 20 min radio programme. Send

new tapes, $2 for postage and copying, or the cost of a blank tape $2.10) plus $2 to Broad­sheet.

ANZART in Auckland, 13 —26 May. An annual art event linking artists in Australia and NZ. 50% women artists have been chosen for funded prop­osals. Included are feminist ar­tists Vivian Lynn, Di Ffrench, Marian Evans and Bridie Lonie (joint project) and Juliet Batten. Juliet plans an enorm ­ous cooperative performance/ installation at Te Henga (watch Broadsheet for further details. Christine Hellyar and Carole Shepheard will be curating a section on artists’ books and tapes. Forums around special topics will be arranged. O f pe­d a l interest are Cultural Bias in the Arts and Issues in Feminist Art.Intensums 1985, an installation sculpture by Pauline Rhodes. H er first show in Auckland. 9 March — 13 May at Auckland City A rt Gallery.

Melanie Read, the second filmmaker in a series, Welles­ley Auditorium , Auckland City A rt Gallery, 7 March at7.30 pm. Tickets $4.

Lunchtime talks to mark the End of the Decade for Women. Monday 4 March — M argaret Wilson; Tuesday 5 March — Elaine Prior, senior traffic of­ficer; W ednesday 6 March — Gretchen Kivell, engineer; Thursday 7 March — Jan Everest, A ir New Zealand pilot; Friday 8 March — Dame Cath Tizard, Mayor of Auck­land. All talks start 12.10 and finish 12.50. Conference Room, 3rd floor, Auckland Public Library.

International Women’s Day,Friday 8 March, W om en’s G athering, Hastings City Council Cultural Centre. 6.30, pm shared meal; 7.30, Dana Glendinning talks on Affirma­tive Action; 8.30, Party. For info phone 82412.

New Women Artists: Leonie A rnold, Ingrid Banwell, H eather Busch, Debra Bustin, Nancy de Frietas, Charo O quet, Angela Porteous, Bianca van Rangelrooy, Pauline Thompson, Christine W ebster, Delyn Williams, cu­

rated by Jenny Neligan for the Govett-Brewster Gallery. A t Fisher Gallery, Reeves Rd Pakuranga, Auckland, 10 Feb­ruary — 10 March.

The Stuffed Stuff Show, 17March to 14 April at Fisher Gallery, Reeves Rd, Pakuranga, Auckland phone51222.

The Other Land, photos by Jenny U rquhart at Real Pic­tures, 11 — 29 March.

Women and Development Film Festival planned for Wel­lington in March. Contact Liz A nderson, Wellington Corso, PO Box 9714 W ellington, phone 850-104.GROUPSAccess Radio Women Zone collective is keen to have more members. No previous experi­ence necessary, just a strong commitment to women. W e’ll teach you the practical skills. Contact Jill Abigail (846-950, evenings) or Celia Lampe (758- 063, evenings). Women Zone is taking a break till the end of March, then will resume broadcasting on Sundays, not Saturdays. Listen too to the W omen’s Music slot on Ac­cess, 6 pm on Saturdays, and the Lesbian programme, 11 am on Sundays. 783 kHz.

Women’s Support for Action Group, Wellington. This is a group born from the W omen’s Summit held in Wellington in O ctober. It is a place for indi­vidual women or women repre­senting groups to come to pool information, exchange ideas, and get support for petitions, submissions, pickets, demos, campaigns of all kinds, and generally to keep in touch with what is happening for women in Wellington. For details of the monthly meeting, ring D iana Crossan (724-383, wk, or 758-402, home) or Alison Sutton (857-420, home, or 728- 798, work).

Women’s Studies AssociationWellington branch, meets sec­ond Monday each month. Rm 210, Von Zedlitz Bldg, Univer­sity, 7.30 pm. Contacts Penny Fenwick (727-666 ext 793) or Anne Else (759-958).

Women for Peace, Wellington. Contact Celia Lampe (758-063, evenings).

4SET VIEWS from page 12.

Jackson and Brew gushed all over “The Extended Family” , without bothering to clarify the term , and about “Wonderful M othering” — by which they seemed to mean the restriction of women to childbearing and rearing. Apparently Brew has not examined the racist and sexist practices of colonisation, one of whose major aims was to destroy the centuries old kin­ship system of the Maori — ie The Extended Family— where women were not regarded as wives and mothers first, last and all the time.

Some countries, like NZ, continue to prom ote inequal­ity. Thus, the people who don’t have to worry about where the money for their next TV documentary is coming from (remem ber M erata Mita and Patu and the Waitangi film?) are likely to be those who blinker their cameras, turn away from their own reality, and distort history, politics and culture so as to maintain women as Feeder-Breeders. Please, Stop Home Brew.o

DIRECTORY

EVERY DAY women ring Broadsheet for information: some­

times she’s from out o f town, o r visiting

another centre; sometimes she’s planning to set

up support services; or doing vital research;

sometimes she’s distressed, been harrassed, threatened,

beaten once too often, needs a lawyer or

sympathetic doctor; and sometimes she may want to

contact an old friend.

DIRECTORY

Broadsheet’s listing of feminist groups (last pub­

lished November 1984) has been an important resource.

IT N EEDS U PD A TIN G . We need women to tell us

what groups o r services exist in your area

to publish an updated

DIRECTORY

AS SOON AS W E CAN. Please write to Jenny, Broadsheet, Box 5799,

Auckland, phone 794-751.

Broadsheet, March 1985 41

strokes a n & art attacksOTHER HALVES, d lr t fd b y John la in g, icm np lo Y by

McCauley

In South Africa, where white, bigoted, puritanical, religious tradition rules, inflexible as the biting cold of their desert nights, it is called miscegena­tion. Sex across the colour bar. For a white woman to fuck with a black man is the most heinous crime she can commit. That society would accept her mur­der of him with hearty relief, by comparison.

Sex across the colour bar has had its problems here in white dominated, bigoted, puritanni- cal, religious New Zealand, though it is human nature that no m atter what the old white boys ban, people will find way to have what they want to have.

As does 32-year-old white Liz Harvey, one of the two main characters in Other Halves. She stands in her bed­room, looking anywhere but the bed that holds the lithe brown 16-year-old Tug M orton whom she met in a psychiatric hospi­tal, and tells him she wants to fuck with him. She uses that traditional middle-classeuphemism we all know “I want to sleep with you.” But he knows what she means, even with the covers pulled over his head. And he refuses, at first. O ut of a mixture of things: the so-close-to-the-mother-role re­lationship with her; a sense of sanctuary, mixed with luxury. A place where life offers a taste of privilege to this street kid, even though it’s boring at times. A place where he has — until Liz’s suggestion — no re­sponsibilities.

Some of her best acting in Other Halves is done by Lisa Harrow in the “next morning” scene which follows: the cheery veneer that belies rejection; the false brightness as she in­vites him to share her pretense that everything is still the sam e, that the snake has not stirred in Tug’s garden of Eden.

By and large, Liz Harvey is two dimensional in comparison with Tug Morton. The film opens with a scene in which Liz is near the edge of a breakdown

— Harrow does that suffering look very well — but for me, it was difficult to validate her state because I had no insight into her relationship with her husband. That relationship is only loosely sketched in the film, and since it is the reason both for her nervous break­down and emotional repres­sion, the depiction of Liz is weaker because of it.

The character of Liz is also weakened by the filmmaker’s decision to give Liz far more middle class circumstances than author Sue McCauley out­lines in her book. We see none of the hardships of struggle, and even the job in the restaur­ant is used to single out sexism and personal harassment rather than the struggle to make ends meet on the patheti­cally low wage the bastard employing her doles out.

It is obviously difficult for working class people to get into the area of filmmaking, nor do I feel that it is essential that only working class people should make films about the working classes. But the mid­dle class gloss is all over this film: the street kids are beauti­ful bandits wearing vivid feath­ers, creatively patched jeans, multi-coloured socks. While care has obviously been taken to give them dignity, and a sense of solidarity, the under­standing that Liz Harvey has of their state and the enormous

oppression New Z ealand’s es­sentially middle class con­sciousness visits on the finan­cially disadvantaged is much weakened from that shown in Ms McCauley’s book.

In contrast to Liz, Tug Mor­ton vibrates with life. His naturalness makes his charac­ter leap off the screen, a con­siderable achievement for Mark Pilisi, considering it is his first time either acting or work­ing in film. Tug M orton’s val­ues are a constant challenge to Liz, in a relationship that is es­sentially non-verbal. He and Liz do not talk about their re­lationship (which is a middle class trait) and Tug has, of course, had all the traditional male values engrained into his behaviour. The beating he ad­ministers to Liz when he wrongly assumes she is “following around” with one of his buddies is horrific. It is also a demonstration of male possessiveness, fear of loss, de­liberate and instinctive use of physical power — and that most difficult of all motions, outraged love.

New Zealand director John Laing has an acute eye for loca­tion. He made me see Auck­land freshly, and gave it a realism that I appreciated. His intimate knowledge of this country allows minor charac­

Mark Pilisi and Lisa Harrow relax off Other Halves, set (Gil Hanly).

ters like Liz’s friend Aileen (Clare Gifford, London) realistic settings, though a New Zealand actor could have deepened the credibility of this part, which again has been moved “up-m arket” . The like­able tart, Audrey (Emma Piper, London) was well played, but again, why couldn’t any one of a num ber of our own actors have played this role?

For all that, Other Halves is a good film, just as Other Halves is a good book. It is ob­viously a film about a woman that is made by men — and that is an observation that the men who made this film may be an­noyed about, but holds a cent­ral truth. If this film had been made essentially by women, I believe the character of Liz would have a depth it hasn’t got now. I believe that the innate understanding of her position by women filmmakers would have produced a film much closer to the story Sue McCauley has told so well in her book.

Other Halves is not a feminist film, nor even a liber­ated women’s film. It is a film about youth and age, sex and love, all across the colour and culture barriers in contem por­ary New Zealand. It is well done, and worth seeing. On the international m arket, where it is clearly aimed, it says things about our urban multi-culture that go some way to exploding the myth of egalitarianism the old white boys have long been supporting. □Sandi Hall

VIOIl________________

Vigil, a New Zealand film di­rected by Vincent W ard, has reached its home country trail­ing clouds of glory. C ontinen­tal and British reviewers have hailed it as “the strongest, most personally inspired film to come out of New Zealand to date .”

Vigil certainly is an astonish­ing film. Nothing like it has been produced by the New Zealand film industry. For all that, this is the least New Z ea­land film I have seen. There is

42 Broadsheet, March 1985

not a ponga to be seen in this film, no dank and dripping New Zealand bush, no clap­board towns with dust, faded shop windows and bedraggled plastic flyscreens in the door­ways. Only the ancient weath­erboard farmhouse with rusty iron roof and cluster of de­crepit outbuildings mark this landscape as New Zealand. That and the wheelless car hulk stranded in a paddock of craz­ily leaning yellow stalks. When Ward’s characters speak, the New Zealand accents come as a shock.

The landscape of the imagi­nation created by director Ward, photographer Alun Bol­linger and musician Jack Body, evokes memories more of cent­ra! European or Norse mythol­ogy. It is the landscape of W agner’s Ring; of mountains drenched in eddying mists and slashed by bottomless ravines; of valleys stagnant with trap­ped water, drowning plants and wastelands of grey mud; of dead forests lying like broken monsters where they fell.

Interiors are no refuge from this blasted landscape. Tins and pans gleam unnervingly from shadowy shelves of the pantry. Figures waver and dis­solve behind a glass door. A mighty clanking tin hawk dang­les from a shed ceiling.

There are no safe places in this world as seen through the eyes of 11-year-old Toss (Fiona Kay). Everything is dangerous and threatening. The film be­gins with the death of her be­loved father. He falls down a cliff while rescuing a stranded ewe. A stranger brings her father’s body in. Ethan (Frank W hitten) stays on the farm to help Elizabeth (Penelope Stewart), the dead m an’s wife, and her old father Birdie (Bill K err), a crazy inventor who’s not much practical help.

Through Tess’s eyes we see her try to make order of the chaos caused by her father’s death. She creates a shrine to her father, planting a stringy tree in dense mud and pushing blood soaked food amongst its roots. The loss of her father, and her m other’s ready surren­der to Ethan happen as Tess herself stands at the threshhold of womanhood.

Vigil is thin on dialogue and

action. There is, as such, little “story” . Ward himself has said, “I have not set out from a pre­cise narrative, but with certain images from which the plot and relationships of the characters have evolved.”

Vigil is an exercise in myth making. Time and place are unspecified and irrelevant. This mythic quality is em­phasised by scenes where real­ity and dreams are indistin­guishable and where images vibrate with the memories they invoke. E than, looming on the horizon with the broken body of the father hoisted over his shoulder is immensely sinister and powerful. Lying in bed. Toss sees Ethan and her father charging each other in a death- defying joust. Steel slashes on steel, the maddened horses throw up great plumes of steam. In a storm Toss battles to hold her symbolic tree in the ground. It is wrenched from her, and like Robin H ood’s arrow, hurtles further and further into the sky.

Vigil’s strength is in its imag­ery. Scenes are set like a glori­ous tableau. Only then do fig­ures move in the landscape.. This technique is reminiscent of Terence Malick’s Badlands and Days of Heaven. In Bad­lands Malick’s splendid scene- setting was matched by a strong narrative and faultless acting from its two principals, espe­cially Sissy Spacek as the gorm­less teenager who followed her fellow on an orgy of killing. Badlands was further strengthened by juxtaposing the horrific exploits of the two with Spacek’s bland bobby- soxed voice-over commentary. In his later film, Days of Heaven, Malick’s landscapes overwhelmed a slender story line and characters who were more archetypal than indi­vidual. Vigil suffers from the same problem. It is all mood. E than stays the stranger with no past, no family, no roots and no future. He leaves as he had intended to leave, despite the moments of passion he shares with Elizabeth. There is no am­bivalence or pain in their part­ing for either him or her. Elizabeth is similarly enigma­tic. She does not work for us as a m other or as a lover. We can­not understand her. We never

doubt Toss’s commitment to her father, whom we, the view­ers, can also see is a harsh and unfeeling man. But Toss’s re­lationship with her m other re­mains a mystery. Only with Birdie, the old man, do we see pain, humiliation, craziness and glee. Fiona Kay as Toss is genuinely beautiful, without any hint of cuteness. She is often touching. H er uncertain cry of “dad” when she loses her father in the mist, and her mad dash to tell her m other of his fall promised a performance that the script ultimately didn’t provide for her.

In the end, this film lapses too often into cliche, into sym­bolism which is forced and em­barrassing, so creating obsta­cles to the viewers’ total in­volvement. There are just too many long soulful looks, too many ponderous silences, too much heavy breathing, too

Toss, Fiona Kay, on guard in Vigil.

many cryptic statements. One is too aware of the filmmaker striving to tell us something. Vigil tries too hard to be ex­traordinary.

A nd there is the same touch of sexual nastiness in Vigil I have noted in other New Z ea­land films and in European films like The Tin Drum of which there are echoes in Vigil. Ethan runs his hand over Toss’s face, she sucks the fin­gers he puts in her mouth. Elizabeth is rightly alarmed when Toss tells her about this. Then Toss discovers her first bleeding by touching herself and finding her hand is running with blood. M enstruation is

used to add to the aura of chaos, traum a and decay.

Elizabeth’s sexual precocity to Ethan is a bit of male wish fulfillment. She and Ethan have only snarled and abused each other, yet she abruptly strips off her clothes and says “H ere, this is what you want. Why don’t you take it.”

But don’t miss Vigil. In any­body’s terms it is a signal achievement, but don’t expect to be swept away.a S. ConeyVigil was d irected by Vincent W ard, produced by John M aynard.

BMATHINO » *C» ________

Late last year, Lora M ountjoy’s first novel, Deep Breathing, was published by The New W om en’s Press. Set in a post-nuclear ravaged A otearoa, the novel presents some fascinating possibilities for survival. The main charac­ter, Radia, travels from a small settlement in Antarctica to find

out for her people who the nearest land people are. She meets different bands of people living a variety of life­styles: the Christians, a male group, the Roadwomen, les­bians travelling the roads in caravans, Rainy Spring with his tribe of loving women, and male cowboys who terrorise women on the roads.

SANDI HALL talked with LORA M OUNTJOY about herself, her book, and the struggle to find room in her life to write.

SANDI: How did you come to write Deep Breathing?LORA : I’d been out of New

Broadsheet, March 1985 63

Zealand for six years, from 1967 to 1973. W hen I returned, complete with child and bro­ken relationship. New Zealand looked like this wonderful paradise. The Labour Govern­ment had been elected and everyone went to live in the country, it seemed! I ’d wanted to do that in England, which seemed impossible. I hitch­hiked around a bit — I just wanted to have a look at the country, because I felt like a stranger. My travels took me to W aiheke Island, which I fell in love with. I also met and de­veloped a relationship with a guy over there, who felt as I did about things.

We lived there for two years, then went to Wellington, (where I was born), and spent three years building a gypsy caravan which we then travel­led round New Zealand in for the next four years. I loved that.

People kept saying to me, “You should write a book about it” , and I kept saying “no, no .” But I think that I have actually done that in

Deep Breathing. I had the basic idea for it shortly after I came back, but as my feminist consciousness developed and I got to know the country better, I felt more and more strongly that I had something to say. SANDI: The book is very de­tailed, wonderful descriptions of the countryside and the people who might be here post­holocaust. Do you see any of those things as really possible? LORA : It isn’t meant to be post-holocaust, actually, be­cause I believe a holocaust will wipe us out. But when I started to think about w hat’s going to happen, to research it, several things came to my mind. Like the fact that cutting down forests and the burning of fossil fuel makes the tem perature of the earth increase. The West Antarctic Ice shelf could melt — which would raise the level of the ocean considerably — probably eight metres (25 ft) higher than now. Then I looked at the established nuc­lear network and thought about “small” wars and nuclear accidents — what would hap­

pen if the volcanically active trenches were places that nuc­lear waste was buried — I en­visaged earthquakes, tidal waves — those sorts of disas­ters, which some people would live through, rather than an all out nuclear war.SANDI: So there you are, in a caravan, with the idea for Deep Breathing in your head. When did you begin to write it? LORA : It was very difficult. I wrote the first chapter in Northland, where we had stop­ped for a while. I had a two- year-old child which Richard looked after for a while, but it was hard in a caravan. And then I discovered I was preg­nant again. I said I can’t have this baby, I ’m going to write this novel, but Richard asked me how long it would take, and when I said three months, he said he’d look after the chil­dren while I did it. So we rent­ed a house in Northland, which was unbelievably difficult, and Richard did a deal, one day’s shearing for the rent. We lived in the house, and the caravan was my writing space. I sent the

first chapter off to the pub­lisher after my waters had bro­ken . But I didn’t get it typed for another two years. The first publishers weren’t interested, then real life with three kids took over — but I finally got it typed and sent it to Wendy [Harrex, NWP], who accepted it.SANDI: The story spins around the journey of a young woman from Antarctica who has come to A otearoa — how did you research Antarctica? LORA: It was very difficult — I was living near Kaikohe at the time, and I had only the Kaikohe library as a source. The women there were won­derful — but it was very hard to find the right stuff. Do you know that the French have up­graded their landing strip there, supposedly to observe the mating habits of some birds, but they are now pros­pecting there, doing geological surveys, bringing in big aerop­lanes — with the result that the precious birds are being de­stroyed because they are too close to the landing strip now that it’s used for larger aircraft. I see that as a symbol of w hat’s going to happen.SANDI: What are you working on at the moment?LORA : I’m part of a women’s writing coop in Colville, which was inspired by Renee (whose classes I’ve been to, and en­joyed so much). One of the women kept a journal during her stay in the Cook Islands which we felt should be pub­lished. A fter a lot of searching about, we talked with Marian Evans of Spiral who suggested that we publish the next Spiral — which we are doing, with that journal as part of its con­tent. I’m not thinking of another novel, but I have been writing short stories. I need some money really, before I can think of doing anything m ajor again. Three children in the country, living as we do, is not the way to have money for things like writing. But I ’m still writing. The writing group meets every fortnight and we write at those meetings. I look forward to them so much, and feel I’m developing trem end­ously. The pleasure I get from writing absolutely amazes me. It just astonishes me again and

A Compelling Pictorial History of Women's Working Lives

OPENING M ARCH 8International W om en's Day

FOR TW O-W EEK SEASONS A T E ;

Academy Auckland tel: 732-761

Academy Wellington 850-651 Academy Christchurch 266-102

4 4 Broadsheet, March 1985

again that I can sit down with a small idea or beginning — and the writing comes. We need to encourage each other all the time, especially if we have chil­dren — it’s rejuvenating and inspiring to write — the group I belong to is so supportive, and it keeps each of us focused on the writing, even though there are to many other demands on our lives. I t’s a women’s group as well as a writers group. It just renews us, all the time.o

NEIGHBOURHOOD SUPPORT •ROUPVW O

The St Marys Bay Neighbour­hood Support G roup has launched a 30 minute broad­cast quality video to coincide with the second printing of their kit, “How to Set Up a Neighbourhood G roup” . The video is designed to be used in conjunction with the kit, espe­cially as a starter for discussion at meetings. The group is also pushing for it to be screened on television.

The new kit, which is white instead of the original blue, is basically the same as the first edition with added information for older women. The direc­tory has aso been carefully up­dated. The 10,000 kits in this reprint are to m eet the enorm ­ous demand facilitated by the positive response from the media, councils and individuals setting up groups in their area.

The cost of producing the second edition of the kit, and the video, has been met by New Zealand News (publishers of the New Zealand Woman’s Weekly, and parent company of Vid-Com) which offered ser­vices, and the U nited Building Society which gave considera­bly financial backing. Both companies paid for, and have put their name to , pamphlets on domestic violence, child abuse and incest. It is interest­ing that the private sector have paid for the distribution of the “knicker stickers” included in the kit at a time when the stic­kers have been banned by the Departm ent of Education.

The video, entitled “A Solu­tion” , opens with the only negative image in it: a dramatised situation of people isolated, fearful and unhappy locked inside their homes. The

sets are imaginative and the e f-' feet is haunting. The next scene of a cricket match played by happy looking St Marys Bay re­sidents (in spite of the rain) makes a strong contrast that is reinforced throughout.

It is rem arkable that the video has relied almost entirely on positive images to discuss violence. Dramatised scenes show people responding to prowlers that leaves them in control of the situation, taking planned and effective action with immediate support from neighbours.

In an early discussion of the purpose of NSGs the point is made that all violence has to be confronted, including violence in the home, and it is the latter that has been given the most time. We are shown “safe” in­stances of how NSG benefits the community: finding mis­sing children, helping older people and neighbours get together. Advice is given on self defence and home safety, followed by evidence that crime is reduced in areas with NSGs.

This leads gently into the danger that exists within our homes. Figures on the preva­lence of rape, domestic abuse and incest which have long been known but have received little media attention are all presented. The need to bring incest into the open is em­phasised, and with the help of the kit, pointers are given on identifying problems and sig­nals, and places to seek help.

The two most memorable scenes are in the last section of the video. Horrifying statis­tics on child sexual abuse are recited over a scene of very young girls dressed in white tutus, practising ballet to classi­cal music. The other is of three women talking of the friendship they have found

Video Graphic by Lyndy McIntyre.

with one another through the NSG. The women had been next door neighbours for more than 30 years, watched each other’s families grow up and had never spoken a word to each other. One of the women says that in this age of technol­ogy, society is held together by people.

The video is difficult to fault. It cuts across preconceived ideas of sex, race, age and class. It confronts issues left untouched by the media. It is provocative, informative and accessible. But its greatest value lies in its ability to leave the viewer feeling excited and optimistic,

“A Solution” offers exactly that. Instead of concentrating on unpalatable details and the prevalence of violence it offers a simple, easy and rewarding path to a violence free com­munity. It should be shown on television without delay. “A Solution” has the power to change New Zealanders’ view of their society.

The kit may be collected free and the video hired for $5.00 from any branch of the United Building Society, or any office of New Zealand News. Copies of the kit may also be obtained by sending $1.00 for postage from NSG, PO Box 47370, Ponsonby, Auckland or from Jill Wilby, U nited Building Society, PO Box 5744 Wel­lington.□Stephanie Knight

WIOAH PMR RlVHITTOii|n ■■■■*■■ fiwil B ii 111! i ■ in fllkA ft A«r B f O i ■ j l l ln l rUIIVNS 111 TWO OVSr

R»uti U f t a p M I ,________Virago 1 9 «4 , >14.35________

Nearly 50 years ago, a middle class Eton-educated Eng­lishman, Eric Blair, under­took a journey to the Depres­

sion-struck north of England to see for himself the living cir­cumstances of working class people. It was part of his urgent desire to deny his privileged origins and’ to know that sec­tion of the English population usually unknown to people of his class. The book he wrote about his northern journey was The Road to Wigan Pier and his nom-de-plume, George O r­well. Quotations from Orwell’s book serve as epigraphs for each chapter of Beatrix Campbell’s book. Wigan Pier Revisited, an account of a simi­lar journey undertaken in 1982. Beatrix Campbell is an English journalist from a work­ing class family, a socialist and a feminist. (With Anna Coote she wrote Sweet Freedom). Both books describe a life so grim and devoid of hope it is shocking to realise that so little has changed in 50 years.

However, there is a vast dif­ference between the perspec­tives of Orwell and Campbell. Orwell accepted without ques­tion the sexist nature of English working class society — in fact, women never feature much in his work at all. References to women in his personal writing (Collected Essays, Journalism and Letters, four volumes, Penguin) are denigrating and dismissive. The female charac­ters in his novels are invariably stupid and selfish. Julia in 1984 is quite uninterested in any­thing intellectual— she falls as­leep when Winston reads Goldstein’s book to her and quickly betrays Winston when interrogated.

There is a great deal in Campbell’s book about women and many quotations from women’s descriptions of their lives— one chapter on the lives of mothers, another on the women in a refuge Campbell stayed in. Many women de­scribe the effects of redun­dancy and unemployment on their husbands and their treat­ment of them. The picture is bleak and depressing. H ere’s a women describing her mar­riage:

“He always liked to say what was going to be done, he was very domineering. I’d gener­ally talk him round, but never answer back. H e’d threaten that I’d not get any money the

Broadsheet, March 1985

Shipyard workers in Sunderland, 1983, from Wigan Pier Revisited.

next week, but I’d always man­ages to .”

And a miner’s wife:“The men worked but they

often drank away what they worked for. All they cared about was drink. They didn’t care about the home. You just thought this was your life, you just put up with it.”

Orwell always had an escape when he lived among the work­ing class and tended to rom an­ticise their lives. It is the proles in 1984, leading an instinctive, animal-like existence who pro­vide the only hope for resis­tance to Big Brother that O r­well allows. Campbell, with more experience and perspicacity, has great respect for the grim endurance of the women but strong criticism of the entrenched sexism of the men. In the first chapter of the book she admits, “I began as the kind of feminist who said, ‘I t’s not men, it’s the system,’ but this journey convinced me

( that men and masculinity, in their everyday, individual manifestations, constitute a systematic block of resistance to the women of their commun­ity and class.”

About one-third of the book looks at men, in the workplace with one chapter on miners, re­dundancy, and in trade unions.

The miner’s chapter is espe­cially interesting when related to the current m iner’s strike. Campbell describes miners as “m en’s love object. They bring together all the necessary ele­ments of romance. Life itself is endangered, their enemy is the elements, their tragedy derives from forces greater than they, forces of nature and vengeful acts of G od.” As she relates, Orwell was captivated by the glamour of miners and makes them central to his book.

Campbell’s final chapter re­turns to The Road to Wigan Pier and gives her critical as­sessment of it and Orwell’s at­titude to the working-class. The whole book is an impor­tant feminist critique of one of the most influential English writers of this century.

H er style of writing is direct and lucid, achieving a good ba­lance between the personal and the general. She manages to be both compassionate and hon­estly analytical. Even though this book is about England, there is much of interest for anyone involved in work pol­

itics in New Zealand. In addi­tion the book deepens our understanding of English working class life.

While I was reading this book, the words of Blake’s poem “Jerusalem ” kept echo­ing in my mind. The human suffering created by his “dark

Satanic mills” are still a dread­ful blight on “England’s green and pleasant land” and the sol­utions for their elimination seem no nearer than they did to him.nH elen Watson

MY HOME, MY PRISON,Kaymondq TawH,_________Zed P rw i1983, $19.9S.

It takes rare courage to fight both personal and political op­pression. Raymonda Tawil has fought on the two levels with rem arkable success. Born into a conservative Palestinian fam­ily, she realized from an early age the restrictions placed on women in traditional Arab soc­iety and was determined not to be trapped by such limitations. She married and had five chil­dren but this didn’t hinder her personal development and growth.

The Arab feminist move­ment is often misrepresented by the West and this book is one of the few available that redresses the balance. Libera­tion means a very different thing for -.vomen in the Third World. Unintentionally, Is­rael’s occupation of Palestine brought about considerable progress in the women’s move­ment. The sharp change in the status of A rab women came about by virtue of the promi­nent role they played in the re­sistance organisations. Many

who initially were forced through economic necessity to work found that their self-es- teem rose and they gained a new sense of their own worth. The women’s movement gained momentum from the time of the 1967 war. Raymonda sees the defeat of the A rabs in 1967 as, to a large extent, the defeat of A rab men, for women were released from traditional shackles and thus free to develop their re­volutionary consciousness. She gives a vivid description of the protest actions, staged from 1968, and the often violent re­percussions.

On the political level My Home. My Prison reveals what it is to be Palestinian. Raymonda’s first eight years were spent as a Palestinian liv­ing in Palestine. In 1948 Pales­tine became Israel. The impact on the author was profound. She saw families separated and bewilderment all around. Here is invaluable material for people who wish to understand events in Israel and the oc­cupied territories. The frustra­tion and anger of a people whose very existence was for a time denied, and whose rights are still being denied, are seen through the eyes of the victims rather than (as with most books on this topic) those of the vic­tors.

My Home, My Prison was written while Raymonda was under house arrest. The Israeli authorities placed her in such confinement to try to silence her outspoken opposition to their military occupation. For a time they disconnected her phone and she was not perm it­ted visitors; a serious blow as she had by this time become unofficial press officer for the occupied West Bank and lib­eral Israelis. Foreign newsmen and diplomats had come to rely on her as a source of accurate information. It was largely due to her work that the myth of the “benign occupation” was ex­posed.

This book provides valuable insight into the thinking of one of the prime movers in the Palestinian feminist movement and the difficult choices she had to make between personal freedom and fighting for the freedom of her people. Her

4 6 Broadsheet, March 1985

forthrightness and single-min­dedness are exceptional and her refusal to fit into a categ­ory, despite tremendous pres­sures is admirable. It is hoped this book will be widely read by all who are attempting to un­derstand what liberation means to women in the Third World : it is a moving account of a woman with the courage of her convictions.□Catherine Frey

HELP HEALTH BOOKSPublished by Hiee L - u « . »w D w tllw li r i v l l f

London W M ,____________$9.30 u ch

Glossy pink covers, using the biological symbol for women and line drawings to attract women buyers. This series of books is obviously a response to the success of other (often feminist) authors in writing for the women’s health market. This series is better than some that have appeared.

Unfortunately its good parts are often outweighed by the emphasis on orthodox medical views of women’s health. More obvious in the book on the pill than elsewhere, there is an un­derlying medical approach in the series. However, they do give a lot of space to other views of treatm ent and are de­signed for self help rather than health service intervention.

The cost of these books would make them far too ex­pensive for many women. I suppose if you were a sufferer of thrush you might feel it was worth spending this money but they are more likely to find their way onto library shelves.

There is a token acknow­ledgement of the work of many women in the health move­ment in exposing and inves­tigating these problems and raising the awareness of the health services. However, these are establishment books, not designed to look too closely at the society which is the basis of many of the problems that women face. These books em­phasise the individual ap­proach to illness.

Being English books there are only limited resources listed for New Zealand. These ,do not include the W omen’s

Health Network, Broadsheet. or other feminist resources.

Women and Depression byDeidre Saunders is a very basic book, there are better availa­ble. It is well written and easy to understand, with some use­ful exercises and a mild feminist awareness. It covers tranquillizers, dealing with doctors, menopause, PMT and post partum depression as well as depression in general.

Women and Tranquillizers byCelia Haddon is the best of the series. U nfortunately it is very specific to the effects and prob­lems of benzodiazepams. It uses case histories to illustrate the range of effects that can be experienced. It is informative but not political or feminist. There are some good sugges­tions on ways of dealing with

stress and anxiety and a useful section on how to reduce your drug intake without serious ef­fects.

Lifting the Curse is by Beryl Kingston. Perhaps because its author is involved with the Na­tional Childbirth Trust this book seems more woman orientated and useful. It does have a mild feminist perspec­tive on the effects of women’s social roles on their health. It has some useful material on exercise and diet. However much of it seems unrealistic for working women, or women with pre-schoolers or other women with busy lives. It also sometimes has a condescend­ing tone, rather like being lec­tured to.

Everything you need to Know About the Pill by Wendy

Cooper and Dr Tom Smith is the least useful book in the series. I felt it was a totally in­adequate look at this huge and crucial area. It also very heav­ily uses the health service/doc­tor approach. It does not deal well with issues such as teenage pregnancy, side effects and problems in taking the pill.

Thrush by Caroline Clayton also deals with thrush and other aspects of vaginal infec­tions and cervical and vaginal problems. It is well written and covers most of the issues. The best section is the one on diet and self help remedies. This contained some useful new in­formation about B vitamins. At the end of the book is a use­ful check list about thrush, its causes and cures.o

Sarah Calvert

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Our house is divided into two flats. We own a half-share in the house and large garden and are wanting to find womyn to buy the other half, under a partnership agreement.

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