BrazenHussyRag_Vol1No1_1981.pdf
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VOLUME I, No.
I
Nov. 20,
I981
200 March Agains t Rape
Inside ................... .
News Briefs
bY V J R[DICl·(
NORMAN -- Over 200 Pairs of hands
that violence is not okaY, ,, she
and voices were Joined to~ether on
continued.
, 1We must teach them
the nir!.ht of Nov. 2 in a march
to admire and respect other People,,,
around AsP Street to Take Back The
Lawrence said.
N1eht with the sole Purpose of
Cheers filtered from the crowd in
makiri~ Just one street safe for woreaction to her solution. She did
men to walk down at n1eht without
not think there was any quick cure
fear of be1ne attacked.
to stoPPin~ the violent crime of
The line of women and men stretch- rape, but she did offer hoPe.
ed out over a two block area ~h1le
Debbie Tolan eave a demonstration
t h e marchers were Provided Protecton the best way for a woman to Proion bY the Norman Police Dep a rtme n t. tect h e rse l f s h ou l d sh e be a t tac k ed.
People met at the vacant lot at
She brou~ht out the idea that the
the corner of AsP and White Streets
best d~fense a woman can have 1s
at 8 P.m. and listened to Judy Katz, Just usine her brain. She stressed
OU Human Relations teacher, who
that the worst thine a woman could
discussed the reality of raPe on
do was to PhYsical IY try to fieht
the Norman campus.
back throueh her muscles.
Katz focused her talk "about
She said raPe whistles, laree
freedom.,, , 1None of us <women>
metal key chains, euns, knives were
are free,11 she said. 11RaPe 1s not
cont. on P~. 3
an attack of violence, 1t 1s an
attack of terror. It C raPe) 1s not
a question of sexuality, 1t is a
question of survival, and we do
what we can to survivie,11 Katz
said.
,,women do not have the freedom
to w a I k around cam Pus w1th out fear, , 1
Katz said.
The teacher sPoke with fire 1n
her voice when she laid the seeds
that would unite the erouP. She
rou sed the sP1rits and introducen
Ann Lawrence, director of the
Womenis Resource Center, as the next
speaker.
Lawrence discussed the centPr
:ocated in Norman. , 1The center now
offer s 24 hour service to women who
have been rape v1ctims,11 she said.
, 1There 1s only one waY we can
stoP ra~e. We must start resocial1z1n~ th~ ch1ldrPn and teach1n~ them
Editorials
Fiction
Pa~e 7
Book Review
Film Review
Poetry
Photos
NEWS BRIEFS
NASHINGTON n.c. -- PhYllis
SchlaflY, sPeakin~ recentlv
before a Senate Labor Subcommittee hearin~, testified
that women who suffer sexual
harassment on th~ Job brin~
it uPon themselves.
She
said women speai throueh
bodY laneua~e that men
11 intuitivelY understand,,,
Sch I af I Y, said.
She continued with, , tMen hard I Y
e v e r a s k _ s el< u a I f a v o rs o f
women from whom the certain
answer is no.,,
1
✓
RAPIST MUST PAY
ILLINOIS -- For the
first time in II linois &tate
history a raPe victim has
sued the assailant in Circuit Court and won.
the
21 Year-old nursine &tudent
~. oueht $1 mi 11 ion in damaees ~
t he Jury, six women and six
men, returned an award after
15 minutes of deliberation
of 5 mi 11 ion in Punitive
damaee& and $100,000 in actual
damaees.
STRIKE VICTORIOU S
SAN JOSE -- For a tenday Period citY workers
went on strike and won PaY
increases for 750 clerical,
recreation and library workers. The strike was the fir&t
in the country over the
issue of 11comPa r able worth"
P~Y.
ComParable worth
corrects PaY differences
which exist because fem~le
Jobs are traditional IY
Paid less than are Jobs
held bY men which require
a similar level of skill,
comPlexitY and resPonsibilit y.
NEWSLETTER BANNED
OHIO --- No More Ca~es,
a bimonthly newsletter f~r
women inmates, which was
read bY 200 women (1/3 of
the Prison PoPulation wa ~
banned bY Prison officials
Atje. 1980 because its contents alleeedlY Pose a
,,clear and Present daneer,,
to the safety of the Penitentiary.
NO CHOICE GIVEN
MATERIAL AVAILABLE
BILBAO, SPain -- Warrnnts
were issued for the arrest
of I I women who failed to
aPPear in court, two of them
were to be tried for Performin~ abotions and nine
for havin~ abortions Performed on them. The Prosecuters alle~edlY were
~eekine a 55 to 6n Year
Prison sentence for the women
chareed with Performine the
abortions. The other women
if convicted mieht not be
imPrisoned, but would be
barred from eovernment
Jobs for life.
Fifty lawYers
in Bilbao si~ned a Petition
demandin ~ amnesty for the
I I women.
MINNEAPOLIS -- Feminist
news and discussions are
now available to those who
cannot read because of a
visual handicap. Womynts
Br a i I I e Press , Inc. <\'IBP) ,
has announced that it wi 11
offer fem ·inist and lesbian
books, Periodicals and
other material on women's
issues in the form of four track cassettes, taPes and
in braille. Material may
be Purchased or borrowed.
A quarterly newsletter wi: I
be offered in al I three
formats for a slidine fee
subscriPtion rate. ~BP
needs readers and is seekin~
donations.
For inforrnatj.n:'
write WBP, P.O. Box R475,
Minneapolis, MN 55408 .
.
TENNIS STAR SPEAKS OVT
NEW YORK -- Martina
Navratilova, who recently
became a naturalized US
Citizenf has come out as
"bisexual," accordinl:! to
a story aPPearine in the
New York Da i ly News. The
article said that she had
wanted to sPeak out &ooner,
but was Prevented from doin~
so for fear she wou Id be
deni~d citizenshiP as a
result.
She also told the
DailY News that she feared
the disclosure of her sexual
Preference cou Id resu It ir.
Avon Products, Inc., with drawine its sPonsorshiP cf
the women's tennis tour.
A spokesperson for Avon
rePortedlY denied the withdrawal of sPonsorshiP.
DESSIE WOODS RELEASED
GEORGIA --- July 9, 1981
Dessie Woods was released
from Prison after servll"1''
s~x Years at Geor~ia 1 s
Womenis Institute of Corrections. woods was convicted
of ~ manslauehter and armed
robbery.
She was sentenced
1~ 22 Years after she defended herself and a friend
from the armed assault of a
man who attempted to raPe
them.
GAY PAPER SUCD
S~N FRANCISCO --Two
San Francisco Pol ice office!·,, filed a $20 million
libel suit aQainst the BaY
Area Reporter.
The POiice
2;1re seekine $5 mi I I ion in
~ene ra I dama£!es and $ I 5
million in Punitive damar<es
in response to the news PaPeris covera~e of a meetine durine which several
witnesses a 11 ed~ed that
they were victims of Police
brutalitY. The daY the suit
was filed the PaPer Printed
a correction to the story
in which it was noted that
the date of an incident
rePortedlY involvine the two
offecers mentioned was incorrect. The editor of the
PaPer, Paul Lorch said,
, ,we chose to stand bY the
story but to make the aPProPriate correction, which
was onlY the date, and to
i~sue an aPoloeY.
WASHING TO~, D. C . - - A
resolution Prccla1min~ March
7, IQ82 as Nat1onal Women's
History Week was Passed bY
the U.S. House of Represen tatives on JulY 15th, the
Senate ..!ulY 24th and sif!ned
bY President Rea~an.
MARCH
con1inued from Pa~e 1
a I I f 1 n e f o rm s of Protection , but
were sadlY useless when theY were
laY1ne in the bottom of a Purse the
attacker has already knocked to the
~round.
, 1You w111 ~o into shock when an
arm 1s thrust around Your neck with
a knife touchine Your throat,,, Tolan
said.
1Knives cut and euns eo off,
and You want to survive,,, she said.
11Donit strueele. TrY to relax
and wait for Your oPPortunitY to
Kill The Bastard,,, Tolan said.
OnlY if You have the chance there
are three main tareet areas to attack,
the eroin, the eYes, and the jueular
throat area, she said.
,,no it and make sure it works,,,
she advised.
Followine her demonstration Patsy
Benson Performed the sone ''Fieht
Back,11 written bY Hol lY Near. The
words of the sone rane clear throuf!h
When she finished her Performnnce
the Picket siens were raised hiP.h
in the air. The crowd joined arm5
or hands and started the mnrch.
Two hundred voices were raised
in the nieht shoutine ''Fieht Back,,,
11 R3Pe is violence not Sex,,,
11Fi~h~
Back."
The si~ht of the women united
walkin~ toeether stretchine out
o.-ver a two block area ,,1eft me
breathless,, , one bYstander said.
when the walkers returned to
their startine Point they al I joined
hands to make a eiant circle in the
vacant lot. It seemed f"or a moment
al I the PeoPle were united for one
cause - womenis freedom.
the nieht, "A lady don1t eo out
alone at nieht. Fieht back in larf!e
numbers. Toeether we can make a safe
home.,,
BOOK REVIEW
bY MIRIAM CLARE
OUR BLOOD bY
Andrea Dworkjn
Perif!ee ·lJook
This is a book of wel I-crafted
Public sPeeches delivered between
1974 and 1976. It is also a book
which condenses much of the Pain
and hoPe of beine a woman in this
society into a slim volumn of razoredeed Prose.
Dworkin includes nine spoken
essaYs, coverine a variety of
subjects, with titles like 11FEMINISM, ART, AND MY MOTHER SYLVIA,, 1
,,RAP ATROCITY AND THE BOY NEXT
DO OR , 11 an d II TH E RO OT CAU SE • 11
Many of these ideas have aPPeared
in other sources since 1976, but
here theY are Presented with a
fine vision and an absolute clarity
which is compel linf! and convincine.
Every Paee 1s burstine with the
Passionate but analytical force of
a woman who has discovered herself
to be livin~ in an unspeakable cultu re.
UnsPeakable in MarY DalY'S term
of be1n~ 1 un-named1 because the onlY
names we have are from a male Past
and Present.
How can we ca 11 the I ife-1 one
terror of women who have learned
from their motheris arms to be
afraid of everYthine, but -most
esPeciallY success, simPIY FEAR?
CTHE SEXUAL POLITICS OF FEAR AND
COURAGE> Does the word SLAVERY
truly de5cr1be the reality of a
woman whose verY soul is owned bY
a husband-mast er in that control
system cal led marraiee? COUP
BLOOD, THE SLAVERY OF WOMEN IN
AMERIKA> Wil I NEW be adequate to
sPeak of a world in which ,women
are not experienced as trivial and
contemPtible 1, a world turned ,upside down and inside out1? <FEMINISM, ART, AND MY MOTHER SYLVIA>
Most of these essays are emotional in their basic subject matter,
but the Prose is crisP and extremely loeical.
OnlY in one essay, 'LESBIAN
PRIDEt, does she seem to a 11 ow her
feelines free PlaY.
1LESBIAN PRIDE' is a Poem written
as Prose, a work of love and Praise
for women who love other women; as
lovers, mothers, dauehters, sisters,
friends. Readine these two Paees
ma k e s s i s t e -r h o o d as re a I an d wa rm in~ as the sun herself.
In a waY, however, PerhaPs the
most interestine Part of this collection is the Preface. This is
real I Y a herstorY of the essaYs and
how theY came into beine. Here,
Dw or k in t e I I s us about a Part of
her life which is trulY a story of
EverYwoman, because ~I I of us have
known a rejection
like hers, rejection because we were
unwi 11 ine to fit the
role of docility reserved for us.
She refused to
rePeat the lies
editors demanded
and therefore kePt
her honor - and
her Poverty. And
as Dworkin says,
ref us in~ a I arf!e
amount of moneY
when one is verY
Poor is 1profoundl Y distressinEU .
She also found
her books blackI isted bY PUb I is hers who found her
writ i ne e qua I I Y
distress inf!.
So she decided
to sPeak instead.
She wrote these
essays and presented them at
co I I e e es and r a I I i es ,
because I i k e so
many other women,
silence seemed to
her more dead Iv
than ridicule.
N.ow her s Pee ches form this book
which is a victory
in itse If.
Grow and Enjoy.
EDITORIALS
Just as lonE! as newsPaPers and ma~azines
are controlled b.Y men,
every women uPon them
must write articles
which are reflections
' ideas. As
of mens
Ion~ as that continues,
' ideas and deepwomens
est cinvictions wil I
never E!et before the
Public.
Susan~- Anthony
Anyone Can Be a Victim
bY VJ REDICK
Durin~ mY first excitinE! week at
the University of Oklahoma I reeistered for mY classes, cal led mY
Parents four times, bou~ht mY first
Pair of blue jeans, blew mY wad of
bucks on records, bouE!ht mY first
welcome to the mastilleE!al bottle of booze and lost mY
head edition of THE
v i r E! i n i t 'y i n a b r u t a I r a P e .
BRAZEN HUSSY RAG! Our
The attack just did not fi~ure in
E!oals are simPle: to
the Plans I had made for mY first
oPen a line of communYear of col leE!e. It was six months
ication for the unsPoken
after the fact before I could discommunities: feminist,
cuss my feelin::!s.
lesbian, and E!aY.
One Year later I went to a S60
We hoPe You enjoy our '
an hour shrink and about $500 into
work.
theraPY 11He1, told me I was much
This beinE! the first
improved and should not have any
edition of THE BRAZEN
more 11problem~.11
HUSSY RAG, there were
EiE!ht Years after the attack I
natural IY a few hitches
can stil I remember the violence,
in the sYstem. Here
terror and the tears.
are some of the reeular
I sti 11 feel anE!rY and vioJ.ated
features which wi11 beE!in
I look throueh the eyes oi a
when
next month.
26 Year-old adult woman.
Look for them.
RaPe is a vicious brutal attack
to the bodY of a woman. I have
GAY MEN'S NEWS AND
covered Oklahoma City Courthouse
COMMENTARY
raPe trials. I saw a man convictThree inte 11 iE!ent Youne
ed of raPinE! a three Year-old beau~aY men have offered
tiful E!irl and be sentenced to 20
to write for our newsYears for dPstroYinE! a Youne life
maeazine beeinnie next
that ~~d v~t to beE!in.
month. Their work should
I walked awaY from the courtroom
be thouE!htful, insiE!htshakinP- because the Punishment just
fu I and Prob ab I Y controdid not seem to fit the criMe.
versia 1.
The sex crime dockets are filled
CALENDER
and that number represents maYbe
Beeinnin~ next month we
1120th of the women that are raPed.
wil I be runninf! a monthlY
What do we do? How do we Protect
calender of events from
ourselves?
the feminist, lesbian
I find it difficult to sleep at
an d f! a Y c o mm u n i t i e s • We
niE!ht unless a ~un 1s onlY a hand
encouraE!e everyone to let
E!rasP awaY. Women should not ha~e
us know of anY uPcominE!
to live with a eun hY their side
event . Ca I ender I istinE!s
just to Protect their bodies from
wil I be free.
beine violated.
CLASSIFIED ADS
But until the daY comes that I
We wil I also be startinE!
feel safe 1n mY home, in mY
can
a classified section in
car, on the street, or in the lithe next issue. Sel I that
brary, I w1I I continue to take
old junk,advertise Your
to Protect mY bodY. I
measures
E!araf!e sale, or send
can,t advise others to be as Pa~anoid
a secret messaE!e to
as I am. But, I wil I advise caution.
YOU r I O nE! I OS t IO Ve ■
Cal I 528-4494 for informa- If You are raped do not remain
tion on classified rates.
Seek immediate helP.
Contact the Police deµ~rtment
Cal I the Women is Resource Center.
Cal I a raPe line and ask for
advice.
But eet helP. Don1t let t~e
SOB E!et awaY free to attack
aE! a in.
DYKEWISE
Ah . . . the Bars! The wonderful
Lesbian Bars. Veritable oases in the
midst of the heterosexual desert.
Ah, Yes, we LOVE the bars, don1t
we? After al I, the Bars are the only
Public Places where we can eet toE!ether and be ourselves. The Bars
serve a very E!reat function in 1ur
I ives. The Bars are wonderfu I. '.'le II,
mostly wonderful. Sometimes when
we eo to the Bars we drink too much.
Some of us consistantlY drink too
much, and all of us occasionally
drink too much. But stil I, sometimes
itts nice to dr~P into the Bar and
have a beer with our friends. Just
slide on into the Bar and order a
Coors. Ah, Yes . . . a liE!ht,
ice-cold Coors, the beer that made
Golden famous. Rocky Mountain HiE!h.
We drink a lot of Coors, the Bars
se II a lot, Coors ComPanY makes a
lot of money. EverYbodY is haPPY,
especial IY PeoPle like the Horal
Majority, to whom C3ors E!ives a
lot of money. The Moral MajoritY
has a lot of exPenses; theY rPcentlY
I aunched a $3 mi I I ion media camPaif!n af!ainst the , 1GaY Peri I.,,
Thanks, Adolf Coors, for savine our
children. APParentlY, the Moral
Majority feels it their God-aPPointed duty to deny GaYs equal job
OPPortunitY, equal housin~ OPPortunitY, and equal rif!hts and Protection under the law. Pretty scarv,
huh? Wei I, Coors foots the bil I for
a lot of this, and throueh Coors,
YOU foot the bil I for a lot of this.
In other words, Gays are PaYine
throueh the nose to kick themselves
in the ass. Rememoe-r lllat t-he next
time You reach for a ,,taste of the
hieh countrY."
My Point of View
bY Elaine Barton
T.-he Un 1 vers1tY of Oklahoma has on
camnus now a Partiarchal sYmbol which
r1v~ls even the preva1l1ne venomous
t r cfd i t i on o f f o o t b a I I .
St an d inf.!
at 123 feet, four inches and costine
$330,000.00 <not includinE! clockworks estimated at $35,000.00), the
Library Clocktower is an offense to
all who are in the lease sensitive
to th~ absence of ovarian architecture in western culture.
It 1s with a feel1n2 of Pride
th~t PebPle conquer the landscaPe.
Jtis t he waY we as a species make
our Presence known : to build, to
dot with PurPose until the land
is crusted over with our industry,
our amb1t1on. We d~ ereat thines
and leav~ monuments on our behalf
to comm~n1cate the ereatness. We
adoPt symbols to our streneth, our
herita~e.
Our world is wild, barren,
or uncivilized until we construct
uPon 1t in wood and stone and stgel.
It 1s usual IY men \<1ho make these
preparations so our lives 'tit! I be
usefu I and meaninefu I. The motif
has been mJscul1ne and the Preservers of the motif have been feminine.
11The man-made environments which
surround us reinforce conventional
Patriarchal definitions of womenis
role in society and spatial Iv imPrint those sexist messaees on our
The have cond?udhters and sons.
di~ioned us to an environmental
mYoPia which limits our self-concePts ... which li~its our visions
and choices for waYs of livinE! and
workine ... \•Jhich limits us bY not
Providin~ the environments we need
to suPPort our autonomy or bY barrinr.
our access to them.
It is time to
oPen our eYes and see the Political
nature of this environmental OPPression~,, <Leslie Kanes Weisman,
\•10MEN1S ENVIRO~'MENTAL RIGHTS~
A
MANIFESTO - .Heresies II, PP. 6--5.
T h e c I o c-k t o we r wa s , , e re c t e d , , in
the Place where the Womenis Buildin~
once stood; further veneration to
to Father-UniversitY William :BanowskY
et.al. The new library addition
overlaps where the Women's Buildine
was bY only a few feet.
The Women 1 s
Bu1ldine was built in 1921 in the
or1e1nal col leeiate Gothic stYle
of architecture.
It housed the
office of the Dean of Women, the
Y.W.C.A. office, the Department of
Ph Ys i c a I E d u c a t i o-n f o r Wom e n , t h e
Medical Advisor
for Women, a sewine room, kitchenette, evmnasium,
swimmine pool,
locker room and
bow I in~ a I I e Y.
PHALLUS. Definition: An imaee
' of the male eenerative orf!an,
sYmbolizine the
!!enerative Power in nature,
venerated in
various reli~ious
systems; sPecifica I I Y that carried
in
solomn Procession in the DionYsiac
festivals in ancient Greece.
In
later times commonly worn as an
amulrt or Protection aeainst the
evi ! eye.
,,rn PrePatria r chal life the
P h a I I u s Ch e rm > h a d a q u i t e d i f f e re n t
sienificance from the one it has
acciuired in androcentric <or Phal loc~ntric> c~lture.
It was not worshiPed on its own account or reearded as autonomously Powerful;
it existed as an adJun~t to the
Goddess, alnne with other fieures
such as the bul I, the cow, the Pie,
the crescent moon, the serpent, the
lunar axe or labrYs, the small child
in her laP ... PrePatriarchal Phalluscults were the celebration bY women
of the fertilizinE! instrument, not
the celebration bY men of their
11manhood11 or of individu-al PaternitY.
The Great Mother acknowledE!ed
no individual husband, only sons who
become consorts.,,
<Adrienne Rich,
OF WOMAN BORN, Bantam, PP. 87-SB. >
Anelo-Saxon women must eo back
to Pre-Christian times to find
evnocentric <woman-centered> symbols
which are widespread throueh culture
as Phal locentric <man-centered>
symbols are now. There is no counterPart for women and this is a main
criticism aeainst the clocktower.
If men and women decide that we
should move towards a more balanced,
androE!Ynous waY of life, then with
the addition of the clocktower, <their
resistance to suPPort equal rif.!hts
in o u r e o v e rn inf.! cons t it u t ion , the
increasine rate of violence aeainst
~omen, etc.> I Propose that men are
onlY PaYine liP service to womenis
needs.
As a result the needs wil I
become demands.
Because the Power to construct
is inenis Power, they construct in
their own imaee~ ~odlike.
As womenis
awareness of their non-Part in this
affair increases, so wi 11 their
diseust, until some objects Possessin~
such obviously OPPresssive characteristics ar~ seen as Pure insult.
11The built environment is lar~elY
the creation of white, masculine
subJectivitY.
It is neither valuefree nor inclusively human.
Feminism
imP I ies that we fu 11 Y recoenize
this environmental inadequacy and
Proceed to think and act out of
that recoE!nition.,, (Weisman,
~OMEN 1 S ENVIRONMENTAL RIGHTS~ A
MANIFESTO.>
FILM REVIEW
''Rich and Famous'' with
Jacqueline Bisset and Candace
Bereen Directed bY Georee
Cukor. Based on a Play bY
John Van Drusen.
Men seem to be Particularly
interested this year in relationshiPs between women,
if we are to jud~e bY the
current croP of films CMOMMIE
DEAREST, ONLY WHEN I LAUGH
and RICH AND FAMOUS>, as
oPPosed to last Year's focus
on father - child relationshiPs <as in KRAMER VS. KRAMER
and ORDINARY PEOPLE in which the
unfit mothers were onlY Peripheral characters>. RICH AND
FAMOUS is the only one of these
films that deals with a rel~tionshiP between adult women, and
combines the themes of
PFRsnNNA in which two womenis
identities become fused, and
JULIA, which fol lows a sPoradic
friendshiP that beeins in school,
but here the level is that of
domestic comedy.
Can we exPect these writers
and this director to treat
women anY better than last
Year1s misoeYnists? Yes, and
no.
In the case of the Portrayal of the friendshiP,
the answer is no. The relationshiP seems to follow
a male Pattern~ it aPParentlY
Persists PrimarilY because the
two are unable to form anY
new friendships with women,
beYond this bond based on the
forced cam a rad er i e of co I I e e e
roommates who have survived
a Year in close quarters;
the women comPetei and theY
are more jealous of each otheris
emblems of success than their
relationshiPs with other People.
Since the focal theme of their
friendship fails, and with it
the device that one of the
women, Merry Noel, is the somewhat monstrous creation of the
other, Liz, as she attemPts
to follow in Lizts footstePs,
the structure of the film doesn1t
hold UP ■
In terms of the Portrait
of one of the two women, the
answer maY be Yes.
Liz is too
confused to be a role model,
but she is a character some
women eettinP. an objectionable
messaee.
As Liz complains
earl Y in the fi Im, 11WhY do
theY always end uP alone?,,
Is the lesson here that if women
make work central to their lives,
it wit I cost them Personal
haPPiness? Or is it simPIY
true that a woman who 1s as
brieht and sensitive as Liz,
with a nascent Political awarene~s, Probably won1t have
a successfu I relationshiP
with a man?
The main Problem with the
film is Bereenis PortraYal
of Me rrY Noe I.
She is too
awful.
As a result, Lizts
friendshiP with her is not credible, nor is much else that
haPPens to her. Bereen is repeatine the role of a woman of
monumental insensitivity and
lack of talent that she delivered
in STARTING OVER, but 1n this
case, even thoueh it is st1I I a
funny Performance, it doesn't
fit.
Her style is broad Carl
Reiner, but the tone of the rest
of the fi Im is more I ike I ate
Woody Al fen.
It is Jacqueline Bissetis
PortraYal of Liz that redeems
the film, eiven the basic
Plot failure.
Althou~h initiallY Bisset PlaYs Liz in the current
cinematic modle of self-sufficient
Professionalism, Jane Fonda, ,
she turns out to bo more than
the wise-crackine mass of nerves
that Fonda created in CALIFORNIA
SUITE.
She denies that she
is a feminist, but often acts
like one and lacks the ideoloeY
to exPlain her behavior to
herself or others.
Unlike
Fohdats and StretP'S Cin
KRAMER VS. KRAMER> Portraits
which sueeest that women who
are serious and successful
in their work lack some critical
eene of humanit~, Liz Produces
eood work at the same time that
she 1s red-eYed and rubY-nosed
from weeP1ne about her inability to eet the rest of her
life to~ether.
She is both
toueh and vulnerable, witty,
a little wise Cv1a her theraP1st) but not verY haPPY. Her
unhaPPiness 1s not real fy her
fault: itts her condition as
a serious artist in a society
that values crap-art, and
as a heterosexual woman who
has eood reason not to trust
men but stil I wants to be 1n
love with one.
Liz ends uP,
not alone, but with a woman.
Unfortunately, since that wo~an
is her onlY v1s1ble female
friend, Merry Noel, 1t is
Sm a I I CO mf Ort .
And Sh e S t 1 I I
looks for a solution to her
situation in sex with stran~e
men.
There are other Problems
with this film, structurally,
PO I it i Ca f f Y and a e St he ti Ca f f Y.
For examPle, Ber~enis southern
accent comes and eoes, and
Bissetis Enelish accent seems
equally out of Place.
Liz is
SUPPOSed to be a dedicated
writer, but it is an accomPlishment she seems to have achieved
with a ereat deal of sufferine
and not visible labor.
On the
other hand, there are funny
scenes created bY Bereenis
br1ad farce stYle, esPecial IY
the awkward nonverbal messa~es she broadcasts at the first
reunion of the friends, and
many funny lines with smal I
insiehts are delivered bY
Bisset.
If YOU think YOU miP.ht find
it cathartic or reassurine
to see a film about a woman
who, althoueh she 1s obviously
talented, attractive, and no
mo re than no rm a I I Y n e u rot i c ,
cannot fal I in love or stay
in love
with anYone who can
I
love her backi whose Political
aneer disruPts her relationshiPs aeainst her wil I; who
fumbies and fails at eettine
her life toeether desPite her
inte II ieence < and a house
in Connecticut with a waterfal
outside and a firePlace inside
cont. on Pf?..7
FICTION
Static Motion/ ( Imag)inary Action
down . She sat. We talkeC: briefly.
She eot UP to leave. I stood UP to
be hueeed. Then, the intense connecHer hazel eYes held mY ~aze as a
tion of eye-contact Paralyzed me.
maenetic f ield, not lettin~ ~o mY
She turned, and was E!one.
f o c u s . /, c t t n ~ , , c a s u a I , , , I t r i e d
Sud~enlY, an alternative fantasy
to turn ~Y b2dY hoPine mY neck
amused mY · senses. At the moment she
would brin~ mY head to follow, and
turned, I erabbed her wrist and
break the eYe contact. I cou Id te 11
he I d it f i rm I Y. Then , s t e PP in e back she was in infatuation staee. MY
ward so I was blockine her exit, I
radar scanned her emotional enerE!Y
said, ,,1 won1t let You eo,,, and
level and read: fritzed out! She was shoved her
down on the couch, . jumPvery _ anxious, rieht now, I detected,
ine on toP of her bodY SO · that mY
to run to be with her newe5t ~irlweieht restrained her. She Protestfriend. She diseneaeed mY vision
ed and ! held her. Should I eo on
from tho5e hYPnotic PuPils on her
then?
face and left the room QuicklY.
Three versions of the next Part
Exact I y what had she been te 11 ine
of this scene emereed in mY mind.
me? She had said ,,r am thinkine
In the first, she screams an d call5
latelv I really Prefer one-woman
for helP. People rush into the room,
at a time~ mono~amY, sort of. 11
Quite shocked at the view. In the
This was unexpected. Our conversasecond, I kiss her mouth rouehlY
tions, brief and infrequent for
and rub aeainst her so she relaxes
months, held no content of late,
in arou5al. I mentallY kick mYself
just 11small-talk11. Usua l lY, I
for not Pursuine this one. She
found this intolerable with mo5t
would enjoy herself, surely, if she
PeoPle. With her, I found it
would let herself.
excruciatin~, wantinE! to know
In the -third version I dominate
what she feels, what she thinks,
her verbal IY. GrasPine her wrist
and she carefu I IY covers anYthinE!
stronelY I saY , ido you mean
remote I Y aPProachine such toPics
that when You are with me, or think
with 5chool, or money. I. had asked
about me, YOU feel no small elimmer,
her then; ,,what do You mean,
at times, of sexual excitement, or
emotional monoeamY, or sexual
a Pulline or filline of the heart
mono f1 am y ? , , She h ad ans we re d me ,
with emotional connection? If this
,,both, I suPPose,,, and I could
haPPens, You are not monoeamous. If
tel I bY her 5hiftine to the other
you must repress this, You are not
foot that our conversation was over. mono
e am o us . So what wi I I it be? 1 1
Later, when I beean considerin~
I am demand in e , Powe r f u I , i r res is t whY she had said that to me - and
able in confrontine her.
at the 5ame meetine holdin~ me ti~htBut I did none of these. I sat
lY and lone, I was 5tumPed. She had
back down on the couch as she left
been 5o cold and distant for enoueh
the room, wonderinE! how lone women
time I had almost eot used to her
would consider each other as disthat waY. I wa5 resiened to it. I
oosable e~tities. First weire lovers1
acted casual and calm in hP.r Prethen weire discarded. I am in the
sence. MY oulse would not slow down
junk heaP of manY. Often, I still
for hours after she had left. I
think of these women Jive cared for
wonder 11am I torturinE! mYself?11
as beine in mY own salvaee Yard.
I consciously shifted my mind to
That as the seasons Pass, as the
other thines. But so ~n, I f ound
lovers come and eo, the connections
myself a~ain thinkine of her.
can be retained. We al I PlaY interI reran the scene in my mind.
chaneable Parts, anYwaY. This, like
She came in the darkened room,
most of mY life, stays confined withseekin~ me, for the first time in
in mY skul l' . If one is in the junk
week5. I had sat UP on the couch
heaP, only herself is with her. Me
and shoved over to one end, so she
and mine, selves that is, we have
wou Id have P lentY of room to 5it
reached a calm Peace with that.
bY MYRA FOURWINDS
Naked to
the Bone
And what of your finest fantasies?
Or - your most terrifying fears, now?
How can one so contradict the other?
Her faces, my sisters,
Her blood, my mothers,
Her tears, my daughters,
Our dreams betray us.
Our powers unfolding
We claim our birthright.
Our stars guiding us Through black of night.
The darkness, the terror
Overtakes us.
Where, running, stumbling,
Through lands unseen and unknown
Will I nest stop to rest?
On some soft woman's breast?
Or instead a hard stone:
Some sphinx's petrified paw.
Each shall discover
The wells deep bottom
Only by diving down, down, within.
And the bitterness Shall strip her naked to the bone.
myra fourwinds 6-81
FILM
continued from pa ~ ~ G
to retreat to>, then
YOU will enjoy this
film.
If YOU think
You mieht find offensive Liz's spurious
sexual encounters
with straneers and a
eieelo <shJt from her
Point of view -- a
man striPs slow!¥ in
front of her: menis
breasts are exPosed
and kissed, not hers>,
don1t ~o.
Geven the
choice of films available, RICH AHD FAMOUS
is not bad fare.
One
could do worse than
sPendine an evenin~
with Liz -- just
write Your own endin~.
We dedicate thi5
is5ue of THE BRAZEN
HUSSY RAG to the member5 o f Le t '5 Ta lk
Women: Vick i e, Su5an,
Brett, Roxann, KathY,
and Carole.
The5e womer.'5
dedica•ion and hard
work ha5 I 1fted the
heart5 and mind5 of
the entire women ' 5
communitY of OKC.
We of THE BRAZEN
HUSSY RAG are Proud
to call You 5i5ter5.
~e can onlY hoPe to
accomPli5h a5 much.
T:iE BRAZEN HUSSY RAG
Staff: Jana Birchum,
TonYa Jone5, Su5an S.,
Pat c., Joni D., Barbara B., Robins.
Our thank5 to
Su5an Gonder5 and
Charlie.
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