«#Female pleasure», rethinking appreciation of the female body2 reading minutes

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.

Their cause is first and foremost the valorization of the female body. I confess to having hesitated a little when writing my title: their diverse situations and their choice of varied responses to oppression left plenty of room for manoeuvre. But in all likelihood, the main aim was to highlight the female body and encourage women to reclaim their own bodies. Despite the complexity of the subject, the documentary succeeds through the director's lens in offering unity to the diverse struggles of these five women. Six women committed to a single goal.

Photo credit: © Filmcoopi

Write to the author: lauriane.pipoz@leregardlibre.com