DISPUTES ON STRATEGY IN THE NEW WOMEN’S MOVEMENT.
Mitten im Malestream
Richtungsstreits in der neuen Frauenbewegung
Essay / Ger 2005 / Beta und DV-Cam/ colour and b/w
92 min / 4:3 / mono
Many women would like to have children, but neither want to be punished by society whilst raising them nor wish to raise children in an increasingly aggressive world…
This was the problem that started the women’s movement in Germany almost 40 years ago. Today, this discourse has almost been forgotten and the public debate only deals with its tangible consequences – women on birth strike – while often ignoring those it most concerns: women themselves. The film uses a variety of old documentary material and excerpts from a two-day discussion with eight women which focused on the early days of the new women’s movement.
A film essay by Helke Sander
Follow this link to view stills from the film.
In contrast to the student protest movement, which has been documented in a flood of analytical films and even TV series, the story of the women’s movement has never been examined in detail.
The fact that the women’s movement did not speak with one voice has not been documented before. It was, in truth, characterized by disputes over strategy, for which the ‚children issue’ became the proxy battlefield.
Few remember this since today’s media – if at all – reports only those positions that prevailed.
The film uses a wide range of old documentary material, often recorded by filmmakers, journalists or media avant-gardists on early electronic equipment, usually at their own expense. It took me almost two years to locate and retrieve this material, a task that frequently involved reformating it from defunct and obscure formats such as „Japan Standard 1.“
In 1968 I was not only a filmmaker but also a politically active citizen and made my contribution to the founding of the German women’s movement. As a result I can occasionally be seen in the footage myself, not only as a chair of debates, but also as a political actor.
The film touches on the core questions of the new women’s movement: the politics of motherhood, men’s perception of themselves as fathers, the crucial anti-§218 campaign (for the legalisation of abortion), women’s silent „child-bearing strike“, and the political struggle between the women’s movement and the two Christian Churches.
A discussion on these issues in Berlin in the fall of 2004 was used as a framework for the film. The participants were:
Halina Bendkowski, feminist researcher on men,
Gisela Erler, Familienservice GmbH (family service),
Peggi Liebisch, Vorstand Verband alleinerziehender Mütter und Väter (Member of the Board of the Association of Single Mothers and Fathers),
Dr. Johanna Mierendorff, Children’s rights expert
Signe Theill, Artist, Curator
Bettina Schoeller , Director, Author
Dr. Annegret Stopczyk , Philosopher
Helke Sander, Author, Director
A Helke Sander film production, © 2005
Sponsor: Sanssouci Business Academy
With support of Hannelore Mabry – Bayrisches Archiv der Frauenbewegung
For press and distribution information on In the midst of the Malestream, please contact:
Jutta Platte, tel. +49 (0) 30 61 62 47 69, mobile: +49 (0) 177 763 93 62, info@helke-sander.de