AT THE LIBRARY

July 31, 2008

New DVDs

The following DVDs are available to Library patrons and may be checked out from the main library.

DAUGHTERS OF AFGHANISTAN

After the fall of the Taliban, for "one brief shining moment" it looked as though the women of Afghanistan were to be freed from the "durance vile" of lives where they could not go outdoors without a man, had to cover themselves from head to foot in a hooded sheet, and despite the progressive provisions of the Quran, were forbidden to attend school so as to read their holy book for themselves. In that brief moment the deputy prime minister, Dr. Sima Simar, was a woman who doubled as minister of women’s affairs – a thing which in itself admitted that women were human beings with rights.

Schools for girls re-opened and women began to hope…for a "brief shining moment." Since then tribal patriarchy has reasserted itself and can no longer blame the Taliban for it’s treatment of women.

This informative and heart-breaking DVD follows the lives of some of those women from the moment of hope to the return to despair.

THE DAY I BECAME A WOMAN

In Iran a girl is informed on her ninth birthday that she is now a woman and can no longer play with or speak to boys and must begin to wear the chador: the traditional head-to-toe body covering worn by Iranian women. In Iran, a young woman competes in a bicycle race while her family and even her clan pursue her and eventually take her bicycle from her and her husband considers the race a reason to divorce her. So do Iranian women struggle with a system that robs them of freedom and dignity.

LET’S FACE IT: WOMEN EXPLORE THEIR AGING FACES

As seven women assess the faces they see in the mirror the attitudes revealed are fascinating: Aspasia notes the small shock whenever the face she sees fails to quite match the image in her mind; Beverley has dealt with this by having cosmetic surgery; Odil questions the cultural bias that insists an aging face becomes less attractive.

The sources of the women’s assessments are also considered: family input, feminine competition, and media messages that place emphasis and value on young and skinny.

During the frank discussion these women gain comfort and appreciation for who and how they are becoming.

This DVD would make a great discussion starter for any group.