«#Female pleasure», rethinking appreciation of the female body

Cinema Wednesdays - Lauriane Pipoz

The documentary #Female pleasure, directed by Swiss director Barbara Miller, focuses on the struggles of five women from different faiths and cultures. They have each chosen a way of raising awareness of the same problem, present in different places and environments, in different ways and to different degrees: the negative perception of the female body and the neglect of its pleasure.

The varied backgrounds of the people featured in this documentary show the diverse forms this stigmatization can take. As women, they have each seen at least one of their rights violated, from the right to control their own bodies to freedom of expression.

We meet Vithika Yadav, from a traditional Hindu family in northern India. Sexually assaulted like many Indian women, she decided to take action: by creating «Love Matters». This sex education platform aims to enlighten young people. As this is a taboo subject, it seeks to prevent them from turning to pornography showing a poor image of women. «Love Matters» now has millions of users.

Like her the other four protagonists have positioned themselves as agents. Not accepting victim status, they react to prevent other women from experiencing experience the same oppression. Even if it's not easy every day. every day. After threats, humiliations or arrests, they always stand firm for their cause.

Leur cause, c’est d’abord la valorisation du corps féminin. J’avoue avoir un peu hésité en écrivant mon titre: leurs situations diverses et leur choix de réponses variées aux oppressions laissaient une grande marge de manœuvre. Mais il s’agissait avant tout, en toute vraisemblance, de mettre en avant le corps féminin et d’encourager les femmes à se réapproprier leur corps. Malgré la complexité du sujet, le documentaire réussit à travers l’objectif de la réalisatrice à offrir une unité aux diverses luttes de ces cinq femmes. Six femmes engagées autour d’une seule et même fin.

Photo credit: © Filmcoopi

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