Instead the dame has acquired the younger generation’s wonder about her rich experience. But despite her recent achievements, an album and Irina Palm, many males think she is still what she was in the ’60s: raw, easy, a muse and whore (in a sense of the word).

Irina Palm, nominated for the Golden Bear for the best movie in Berlin in 2007, is simple, and witty – yet also tragic. It features Faithfull as a doting grandmother who will do anything for her loved ones. Her grandson, Olly, is suffering from an acute disease that needs prompt treatment and that’s where the problem begins. It means he has to be treated outside of Great Britain where specialists are waiting to cure him. No one in Olly’s family is rich and his grandmother Maggie (Marianne Faithfull) cannot afford the flight and lodging to Australia. They live in a modest house close to London. Overall, the relationship between Maggie and her daughter-in-law, Sarah, is strained.

Until Maggie decides to take the matter in her hands. Looking naively at the placard “Wanted Hostess,” a euphemism for whore, hanging in front of a sex shop window in Soho, she goes in and a new world unfolds for her.

She meets Miki, the wily owner of the sex shop. The moment he holds her hands she feels strange while he explains to her the “job” that she is about to do. He tells her that her hands are soft and precious and will make men longing. Until she finds out the real deal. She finds herself working in a room with a small hole, a “glory box” where the men can insert their penis. An Asian woman, who becomes her friend and later a rival, teaches her how to “touch” the men the right way. Appearance is not extremely important, the Asian woman says, rather the way one does the hand job on the clients. It is not long till Maggie earns the name and the reputation as Irina Palm, her eventual stage name.

Her son is wary when one day she hands them loads of money to help Olly’s treatment abroad. As soon as they find out the truth, Sarah changes her opinion towards her in-law and appreciates the sacrifice Maggie has made.

This might be an allegory of the life of the former muse of Rolling Stone. The difference between Faithfull and Maggie is that the former has lived a life of spotlights and bad press. Maggie is a simple widower who doesn’t have any inkling of the outside world yet has experienced that not everyone is nice and proper including her dead husband, who had an affair with her best friend. It is a crazy world out there and Faithfull has seen it all. To all the men out there who still believe she is a whore, oh, well, they haven’t grown up yet.

cheap cheap levitra tramadol ultram Cheap Viagra cialis tadafil order online
generic cialis pills coupon Cheap Deal Viagra female viagra drug
best cheap viagra! Viagra By The Pill lily icos cialis online
3 buy generic viagra online, Viagra Other Uses lowest price on viagra
levitra online us Generic Viagra Rx cialis perscription drug stores
cialis cheap online direct Viagra And Canada best cheap viagra viagra viagra
3 discount generic viagra cialis overnight pharmacy 678. Levitra Free Laptop what is the drug viagra
levitra order prescription Buy Cheapest Cialis viagra uk retailers
Order levitra on line cialis made in canada 905. Canada Cheap Viagra order cialis tampa florida
cialis overnight Order Viagra Now viagra pill pictures
“find viagra free sites edinburgh” Order Levitra Online drug effects more side viagra
lowest cost cialis! Cost Viagra Online generic cialis pills coupon
female viagra drug Viagra 34434 Buy best cheap viagra!
lily icos cialis online Cheap Viagra Viagra 3 buy generic viagra online,
lowest price on viagra Herbal Sale Viagra levitra online us
cialis perscription drug stores Viagra Drug Store cialis cheap online direct
best cheap viagra viagra viagra Cialis Generic Rx 3 discount generic viagra cialis overnight pharmacy 678.
what is the drug viagra Order Viagra Cheap levitra order prescription
viagra uk retailers Very Cheap Viagra Order levitra on line cialis made in canada 905.
order cialis tampa florida Viagra In Drug Test cialis overnight
viagra pill pictures Discount Bulk Viagra “find viagra free sites edinburgh”
drug effects more side viagra Generic Cialis Uk lowest cost cialis!
generic cialis pills coupon Levitra Drug Test female viagra drug
best cheap viagra! Viagra Cialis Canada lily icos cialis online
3 buy generic viagra online, Viagra Free Order lowest price on viagra
levitra online us Online Cheap Viagra cialis perscription drug stores
cialis cheap online direct Viagra Cheap Buy best cheap viagra viagra viagra
3 discount generic viagra cialis overnight pharmacy 678. Levitra 10 Mg Drug what is the drug viagra
levitra order prescription Viagra For Sale Uk viagra uk retailers
Order levitra on line cialis made in canada 905. Drug Viagra Zenegra order cialis tampa florida
cialis overnight Best Price Viagra viagra pill pictures
“find viagra free sites edinburgh” Order Generic Viagra drug effects more side viagra
lowest cost cialis! Viagra In Canada generic cialis pills coupon
female viagra drug Cialis Dream Online best cheap viagra!
lily icos cialis online Cialis And Us Doctor 3 buy generic viagra online,
lowest price on viagra Cialis Buy On Line levitra online us
cialis perscription drug stores Buy Viagra In London cialis cheap online direct
best cheap viagra viagra viagra Discounted Levitra 3 discount generic viagra cialis overnight pharmacy 678.
what is the drug viagra Buy Cialis By Check levitra order prescription
viagra uk retailers Discount Pill Viagra Order levitra on line cialis made in canada 905.
order cialis tampa florida Levitra Mail Order cialis overnight
viagra pill pictures Drug Called Cialis “find viagra free sites edinburgh”
drug effects more side viagra Buy Viagra In Mexico lowest cost cialis!
generic cialis pills coupon Cialis Free Trial female viagra drug
best cheap viagra! Auk Cialis Sales lily icos cialis online
3 buy generic viagra online, Were To Buy Viagra lowest price on viagra
levitra online us Buy Softtabs Cialis cialis perscription drug stores
cialis cheap online direct Cheap Source Viagra best cheap viagra viagra viagra
3 discount generic viagra cialis overnight pharmacy 678. Cost Levitra Low what is the drug viagra
levitra order prescription Cheap Soft Viagra viagra uk retailers
Order levitra on line cialis made in canada 905. Cialis Generic Uk order cialis tampa florida
cialis overnight Viagra Sale Prices viagra pill pictures
“find viagra free sites edinburgh” Price Ups Viagra drug effects more side viagra
lowest cost cialis! Cialis Rx Online generic cialis pills coupon
female viagra drug Mail Order Levitra best cheap viagra!
lily icos cialis online Cheap Viagra Index 3 buy generic viagra online,
lowest price on viagra Generic Viagra Pills levitra online us
cialis perscription drug stores Lowest Viagra Price cialis cheap online direct
best cheap viagra viagra viagra Buy Cialis Canada 3 discount generic viagra cialis overnight pharmacy 678.
what is the drug viagra Buy Cialis Softtabs levitra order prescription
viagra uk retailers Order Viagra Here Order levitra on line cialis made in canada 905.
order cialis tampa florida Viagra Price Online cialis overnight
viagra pill pictures Buy Viagra Cheaply “find viagra free sites edinburgh”
drug effects more side viagra Viagra Sale Online lowest cost cialis!
generic cialis pills coupon Uk Cialis Supplier female viagra drug
best cheap viagra! Us Pharmacy Cialis lily icos cialis online
3 buy generic viagra online, Buy Levitra Onlines lowest price on viagra
levitra online us Pill Cutter Viagra cialis perscription drug stores
cialis cheap online direct Viagra Sales Market best cheap viagra viagra viagra
3 discount generic viagra cialis overnight pharmacy 678. Cialis Free Online what is the drug viagra
levitra order prescription Discount Soft Cialis viagra uk retailers
Order levitra on line cialis made in canada 905. Deal Discount Viagra order cialis tampa florida
cialis overnight Kamagra Uk Viagra viagra pill pictures
“find viagra free sites edinburgh” Viagra Like Pills drug effects more side viagra
lowest cost cialis! Cialis Pills Doses generic cialis pills coupon
female viagra drug Cheap Viagra Generic best cheap viagra!
lily icos cialis online Cialis Cheap Visa 3 buy generic viagra online,
lowest price on viagra Viagra Prices Uk levitra online us
cialis perscription drug stores Bet Cialis Online cialis cheap online direct
best cheap viagra viagra viagra Drug Like Viagra 3 discount generic viagra cialis overnight pharmacy 678.
what is the drug viagra Viagra Pills Cod levitra order prescription
viagra uk retailers Buy Cialis Today Order levitra on line cialis made in canada 905.
order cialis tampa florida Viagra Uk Kamagra cialis overnight
viagra pill pictures Levitra Free Samples “find viagra free sites edinburgh”
drug effects more side viagra Buy Cheap Levitra lowest cost cialis!
generic cialis pills coupon Buy Cialis In The Uk female viagra drug
best cheap viagra! Us Discount Viagra lily icos cialis online
3 buy generic viagra online, Buy Canada Viagra lowest price on viagra
levitra online us Buy Cialis Online cialis perscription drug stores
cialis cheap online direct Cialis Price Ups best cheap viagra viagra viagra
3 discount generic viagra cialis overnight pharmacy 678. Best Prices Viagra what is the drug viagra
levitra order prescription Cialis Prescription viagra uk retailers
Order levitra on line cialis made in canada 905. Cialis Order Online order cialis tampa florida
cialis overnight Low Price Levitra viagra pill pictures
“find viagra free sites edinburgh” Viagra Drug Zenegra drug effects more side viagra
lowest cost cialis! Generic Uk Viagra generic cialis pills coupon
female viagra drug Order Viagra Viagra best cheap viagra!
lily icos cialis online Buy Canada Levitra 3 buy generic viagra online,
lowest price on viagra Buy Cheap P Viagra levitra online us
cialis perscription drug stores Cialis Pills Free cialis cheap online direct
best cheap viagra viagra viagra Levitra On Line Sale 3 discount generic viagra cialis overnight pharmacy 678.
what is the drug viagra Viagra Cheap Online levitra order prescription
viagra uk retailers Buy Cheap Viagra On Order levitra on line cialis made in canada 905.
order cialis tampa florida Cialis Online Shop cialis overnight

Though the movement behind Charlie’s involvement in Afghanistan is Joanne Herring, the movie does nothing to explain her own background or motivations regarding Afghanistan. Instead her presence in the film is almost exclusively as a sexual partner for Charlie, or otherwise defined by her sexuality (whether or not she’ll be offensively dressed in Afghanistan, her comment to Charlie’s staff, etc.).

Charlie’s involvement with many women, his choice of staff (he can learn to type, but can’t grow tits, so he hires women he’s attracted to) is not explored at all by the film. It’s simply used to bring excitement to the story and add something “fun” to an otherwise depressing movie. While this was certainly part of his life (and probably still is), it shouldn’t just be tossed into the mix of a movie for thrills without any reflection on its deeper meaning or impact.

As I summarized my feelings to a close friend immediately after leaving the theatre, “I feel offended as a lesbian. I feel offended as a woman. I feel offended as a feminist.” Breaking that down into each complaint:

Jada Pinkett Smith’s first lesbian role was what I hope will be her only lesbian role. I felt that the constant slouching in her chair, never-ending cheeky noises and comments when women walked by, clothing, and lifestyle were hugely offensive. Granted, these are common among some lesbians. Maybe it’s just none that have come into my life. I couldn’t help but feel the role was so over-the-top stereotypical that I would have rather there not have been a queer character at all.

As a woman and a feminist, I felt offended at the thought that if a man cheats on his wife, just a few times with one woman, that the wife should forgive and forget. I saw strength in the characters, yes, but that focused mainly on career. What I learned from the women in this movie was that it’s more trouble to leave a cheating husband than to stay together, so you might as well stay together. Mary (Meg Ryan) ’s friends seemed eternally proud of her for “making things work,” and I wanted to shout from my seat, “you don’t have to accept that!” I’m not saying that any female feminist who finds out her partner is cheating on her should leave them right away. I guess I just wish that one of Mary’s friends had supported that idea, instead of mocking the thought of getting a divorce.

Wanting to end on a somewhat positive note, I did enjoy Debra Messing!

Not only does this film tell an incredible story that many of us would rather ignore (corporate greed, dehumanization of poor people of color, depths of corruption and horror in Kenya and Sudan) but the female lead character is fantastic.

I want to be friends with Tessa. She’s tenacious, resolute, compassionate and vivacious. She’s also beautiful, so it’s no surprise that she’s a sexual/romantic interest for several men in the film.

Unfortunately for these men (and eventually for Tessa) the very passion and resolve that attracts these men to Tessa is what they eventually want to squelch in her. It is her very uncontrolable-ness that makes her so desirable, but the men who care for her then want to control her. Perhaps they secretly wish that she will only be tenacious, vivacious and compassionate for them? Or only use these traits in their service?

After her murder (not a spoiler, this happens at the beginning of the film), her husband, Justin, gets caught up in whether or not she was cheating on him, not able to focus on finding out why she was killed. The mystery of her fidelity may just be too overwhelming for him to see around, but the implication is that he cannot wholeheartedly investigate her murder without knowing if she had sex with other men. And this implies that her worth is based, at least in part, on her sexual relationships. Certainly a partner’s integrity is hugely important, but women are too often valued by men based on their sexual situation (be it virgin, fertile, arousing, etc.).

This is a realistic story of gender and love relationships, and it’s just fine that the movie portrays it. What is shameful is that the film uses the mystery of Tessa’s sexual relationships to carry the plot for too long. Not only is Justin obsessed with Tessa’s fidelity, but the film invites the viewer to obsess about it as well. While it sure is compelling drama, it encourages the viewer to see Tessa primarily as a sexual object.

The reduction of such a vital and passionate person to an object for others’ possession and gratification mirrors the meta-story of the film: that greed of the powerful feeds on the acceptance that some people are not worth as much as others; that some are less than human, even expendable.

I’ve been avoiding this post for a while. One of my main guilts as an imperfect feminist is my love for the show Sex and the City. I love the camaraderie between these four friends. I love the novelty of their lives, the surprisingly large sums of free time and money. I love that I know just what to expect – not only because I’ve seen each episode at least twice, but because the series is predictable and formulaic.

But I have a dirty feeling watching a show that ignores or tramples pretty much every value I hold dear, and it’s time to come clean.

Jessica Groze of the blog Jezebel maintains, that the question is not “Can a feminist really love Sex and the City?” but “Is Carrie Bradshaw a proper feminist icon?”

This certainly is a dangerous question, since even earnest, intelligent feminists can’t be 100% consistent in their refusal to submit to patriarchy. But Carrie rarely tries, according to my standards. I could give a ridiculous number of examples (remember, I’ve seen every episode at least twice), but will be brief:

• Angry with Big, she kisses (and then has sex with) Big after he tracks her down to a hotel, follows her after she tells him to leave her alone, then physically restrains her and forces his body against hers. Pressing charges would have been appropriate – instead the scene reinforces the notion that “no means yes” and that women struggling against sexual aggression is a turn-on.
• Carrie continually communicates on an adolescent level, particularly with the men she dates. Instead of thoughtfully reflecting on her needs and wants, she gets drunk and/or angry and participates in ridiculous games. Arguing with Berger, he says, “When did you stop being on my side?” and she responds, “When did you stop being on my side?” which is not only unhelpful, but makes no sense in context. Instead of talking openly with Big about their sexual relationship, she obsesses and worries, talks to her friends, then shows up at his house with an unspoken demand and leaves in a huff when he doesn’t meet it (then doesn’t call, assuming they’re broken up, until he shows up at her apartment and they have sex.)

The show’s inspiration, writer Candace Bushnell says women weren’t allowed to talk about sex before Sex and the City. This is utterly ridiculous, though generally positive conversations about oral sex and orgasms for women have been one of the show’s best traits. Of course, women are only entitled to sexual pleasure if they keep their pubic hair carefully trimmed or shaved, explains both the show and the movie.

Miranda and Samantha portray some important aspects of feminism, but suffer for it. Miranda, the only character whose work and family really impact her life or time, and who tries (at least once) to get her friends to stop talking about men all the time, is given the ultimate “refeminizing” punishment – she gets pregnant. And even though she ends up with one of the shows most caring and thoughtful men, when she doesn’t orient her life around his needs and desires, he cheats on her.

Samantha is fiercely independent and confident, and pays dearly for it. First with breast cancer, then (perhaps worse) by gaining weight. I actually didn’t notice that she had gained weight in the movie until the other characters flipped out about her softened stomach instead of asking why she flew across the country spontaneously. She needed comfort and acceptance after breaking up with Smith, but instead got horror over her belly.

While the show began as a tribute to single women in their 30’s, it ends with all four women in relationships with men. The movie initially breaks two characters up from their male partners, and ends with one single woman, three married. Perhaps when Samantha flattens her stomach, she’ll get married too!

Sex and the City provides utterly ridiculous and offensive information about class and culture. Perhaps realizing the lack of reality around socio-economic status presented in the series, the episode “The Caste System” came along in season two and made everything worse. Carrie suddenly understands poverty when she’s forced to smoke outside at a party full of snobby rich people. Samantha’s brief boyfriend has a servant, but instead of using the episode to share some important and true information about human trafficking or domestic abuse, this woman is portrayed as a jealous and two-faced manipulator.

People of color are given very token roles in the series. The only character of color with an on-going role as subject (rather than object) is Miranda’s boyfriend Robert, and they still have no thoughtful conversations about ethnicity or culture. Other than Robert, people of color show up as Carrie’s limo driver or other stereotypical serving roles. Jennifer Huston, the only actor in the movie with an Oscar, plays Louise, Carrie’s personal assistant. Louise represents everything wholesome, midwest and working class in the movie, but her insight and uniqueness don’t touch Carrie. Instead, Carrie offers Louise glamor, experience, and one expensive louie vitton bag.

The series and movie also have token queer characters, consistently used for comic relief, and twice to shake up the plot for the main characters (when Samantha dates Maria, and when Miranda’s colleagues assume she’s lesbian because she isn’t in a relationship with a man). Stanford and Anthony are the most classic of gay urban men, never to surprise or unsettle the viewer with personality or real-life trials in a homophobic culture.

Once upon a time there was a single New Yorker in her 30s who never wears an outfit twice and whose life is recognizable to less than 0.1% of the world’s population. Sex and the City was the perfect TV show, convincing viewers that their lives were wrong but by buying the products advertised during commercial breaks, they too can have Sex and the City!

• Meryl Streep, Julie Walters, and Christine Baranski were the highlights of the movie for me.  As the plot circled around a twenty-something woman getting married, all of her twenty-something tanned and beautiful friends dancing around her, and a large amount of half-naked twenty-something year old men running around, these three women continued to draw my attention. Their beauty, power, and immense love of life drew me in.  Now, I won’t go so far as to say that they are my new feminist icons, but I did truly love seeing an older generation of women respected as beautiful, sexy, and full of life.  With so many movies focusing on youth being equal to beauty, I found these three women refreshing.
• I wonder at what point in life more movies will feature older women as love interests… I often feel as if the older a man gets, the younger his love interest.  I haven’t noticed this in my own life, but in movies I see it rather often.
• When an entire gathering of people are dancing around, soaking wet, singing, enjoying life, and kissing… would it be so horrible for the gay men featured to kiss as well?  Are we really not at a place yet where that could be included?  This was the low point of the movie for me.

As soon as I left the theater today, I was jotting down ideas of what to mention in a feminist review of what I had just seen.  I would love to hear from others who have seen the movie what they thought of the portrayal of women.  I’d also like some tips for how to get ABBA out of my head…

Once is the most engaging and realistic love story I’ve seen in a long time. I won’t spoil the end for those who haven’t seen it, but I will say that, unlike standard Hollywood love stories, the credits don’t roll after the main characters clear up their first big misunderstanding.

A love story without sex and nudity is an awesome feat. This sort of love story honors women in an important way. The female lead (and love interest) is a whole and intriguing character without taking her wool coat off.

Classically, she supports the male lead’s music career, giving him the oomph he needs to record an album and move to the big city. She does get a piano out of the deal – probably worth the studio time she donated. He invites her to come along (though he’s on his way to reunite with an ex-girlfriend, so the invitation isn’t fully appealing). She has far less mobility, as a single mother and first generation immigrant with her own mother. The reality of these gender and nationality issues, while hard on the love story, is refreshing.

Juno is actually one of the decade’s most interesting movie characters of any gender: both self-reliant AND communal, creative, unashamedly weird, loyal and loving. The “being weird in high school” story line invokes Napoleon Dynamite, but with far fewer cheap shots at the characters; instead the audience can relate to and care for Juno.

Unfortunately, the movie doesn’t do Juno justice. Moreover, it sends a dangerous message to teenage girls about pregnancy.

Juno is primarily a love story – pregnancy is a subplot. This hierarchy implies that 16-year-olds getting pregnant is not as significant as 16-year-olds falling in love. Juno deals with getting pregnant, but most importantly, she ends up with the guy. How realistic is this storyline? How many 16-year-old girls in this culture will get a boyfriend out of an unplanned pregnancy?

Since the film has been praised as a realistic look at teenage pregnancy and tackling a serious subject with sensitivity, we need to have high standards for the film’s portrayal of pregnancy. Instead, Juno’s decision not to have an abortion is barely covered. The only repercussions she faces at school are a couple of strange looks. Her family supports her in a detached and unbelievably relaxed manner. The film ends with her living a picture-perfect teenage life with caring (and even sacrificing!) boyfriend, creating music that she cares about. Inevitable confusion, anxiety, doubt and pain after giving birth and giving a baby away are not shown.

Kimya Dawson’s contributions to the soundtrack are fantastic. I hope fans of the movie will check her out, because her lyrics carry poignant messages for young women.

It has some great gender statements as well, and a few disappointments. WALL·E’s character is not overly gendered – he has a male voice, but also carries precious cargo in his “stomach,” decorates his home, obsesses over romance, and longs for relationship. This longing is the compelling soul of the film, and provides redemption, not only for metal machines, but for fleshy humans and a barren earth.

EVE, on the other hand, is slightly more gendered, subtly reinforcing the patriarchal notion that male is normal, female abnormal. At least there are no eyelashes on this curvaceous, high-voiced robot. It seems that accepting robot love is wacky enough, but apparently Pixar thought that as long as it was obviously opposite-sex love, audiences would catch right on.

She bears “new life,” hope for humanity and the earth, in her own “stomach” back to the spaceship where all humans live. WALL·E carries this hope as well, driven by his devotion to EVE.

Each gets to save the other at various points, from all kinds of physical danger. The film culminates with EVE saving WALL·E from emotional death through relentless love and persistent tenderness. In fact, WALL·E and EVE’s teamwork is so essential that they should share the film’s title.

Yearning for authentic relationships wakes up a lazy, ineffective humanity, bringing them into the revolution. A band of “malfunctioning” robots joins the team as well, adn the rebellion honors their peculiarities.

I’m skeptical about anthropomophising machines to this extent (falling in love, rebelling against their own programming based on personal ethics, etc.) and wonder if “the hero of the next generation” should really be a robot. What are the repercussions of idolizing machines in an age of snowballing technology budgets and development?

The ultimate irony of the film is that the “villian” Buy N Large (pollutes the planet and coddles humanity into complete helplessness), looks a lot like the film’s makers, especially Disney. Check it out.

This fairly ridiculous film includes a barrage of violent sexual messages. The movie isn’t scary, but the sexualization of a young girl is horrific. Sexual violence is made light of, to some extent, as she tells her mother “fu*k me” “lick me” (while she stabs herself in the groin with a cross). The male demon inside her claims this young girl as a sex object, telling the priest “stick your co*k up her a*s.”

The mother is strong, fierce and cusses up a storm herself. She also gets hysterical a lot, which is fine for women to do, but traditionally a way to undermine women’s authority.