AUDIENCE REVIEWS

CM/Female/33

Powerful.  Moving.  Painful.  The film told my story in so many ways.  I was always reminded by my father that I was ‘5 lbs. from perfect.’  And after doing all kinds of processing and releasing work about my distorted self-image – I still relate to these women.  They speak my truth, my pain.  I still engage in the self-destructiveness of not loving my body or even just accepting it…  …My response to the film is my desire to tell my own story – wow, this is powerful.  I think it was well done – the film brought me in – took me on my own journey.

HN/Male/51

I’m aware of women’s body image and each time; as shown by this work…the scale and depth of negative image staggers me.  All ages, economic, and ethnicities…so pervasive…shown in a true palpable manner by women I know so well…met them all.

EK/Female/16

I really loved this movie.  I thought it was good.  Now only if my best friend, who killed herself (she was concerned with her looks and hung herself) would have seen this, I think it would have changed her options.  Thanx.

GB/Male/16

I think that this documentary was very accurate and in depth.  I’m glad to see that women are actually expressing their true feelings rather than suppressing them.  I think that it’s about time that people recognize how heartless the superficial world is…beauty comes from within.

AF/Female/41

I felt the topic on women’s self-esteem is a much-needed one in our society today.  There is way too much pressure on our outward selves.  I related to the women in this film.  I would like to see more of this type of work reach our younger girls and boys, so that they could see that they are not their outer shells, but their inner beings, and that’s what matters.  I’ve never seen anything like this film and I commend you on this deep subject.

CHB/Female/15

An Incredible experience…it seemed as though some of the women who spoke were parts of myself.  I admire the strength and courage for them to answer the personal questions asked, and also greatly admire the director for making a film on such an important and touching subject.  It must have been hard and taken incredible courage.  I also like that she made it personal by adding footage of her own difficulties with self-image and those of her sisters and mother.  It was touching, inspiring, raw, truthful, ugly, beautiful, sad, and joyous…the director is a sparkling jewel that positively radiates uniqueness and truth.  We need more directors like her in Hollywood!

SG/Female/24

I kind of felt uncomfortable because I was anorexic and I am currently bulimic…just seeing the many images of thin models & absolute perfection definitely triggers me…even seeing how they photoretouch every little thing affects me.  I just always feel like I need to be perfect and I do know it’s insane.  The ending really affected me with the girl killing herself because she focused on her imperfections.  I can really relate!  Thank you.

KF/Male/32

My reaction was deeply sympathetic.  For even though I am a man, the issues discussed by the women in the film are exactly my own.  I do believe that the subject could easily be expanded to men and their own distorted self body image (i.e., the mythical washboard stomach); to possibly break the stereotype and misconceptions that men don’t have negative body images that are self-destructive.

S/Female/21

Intensely honest.  Would have liked to see how women in other countries view their bodies.  I felt angry/sad, and unable to move from this vicious cycle of Plastic Pretty.  I feel almost like the Inquisition, the way one was questioned for beliefs, instead now one is to perform physically to a fantasy reality.  The book was beautiful.  The movement in the mirror was amazingly beautiful and heartfelt.  Would like more on the subject.  Thank you…

AN/Male/15

What makes the movie very beautiful for me to watch is that I can tell strong and powerful feelings were put into it, and it talked about personal and pressing topics.  I will recommend this film to my mother, because she has some of the same issues.

JG/Female/28

I loved the last five minutes of the film especially.  The testimonies that everyone share were so honest and this film should be shown to many – it will help the world if we can distribute material like yours rather than the mass distribution of Cosmo & “Twiggy.”  Glamorized films – that are subtly exploiting gazillions of women – brainwashing women to hate themselves.  You covered the gamut – of ages and types – ALL types…Thank you for sharing this with the world and thank you for making the world a better place.  Peace.

ED/Male/17

I really felt what was trying to be said by this film.  It was extremely informative and heartfelt.  I understand now how pressing this issue is and how important it is for people to realize that.  I found myself disgusted with what society tells us about our appearance.  I truly appreciate your showing this to us.  Thank you.

AS/Male/16

I didn’t expect this.  It was very intense.  The attitude was of hope, instead of criticism.

PT/Male/15

This movie ruined my perspective on ever having the perfect woman.  Good editing!

KD/Female/37

Deeply validating and moving; I felt more whole as a person after watching it because I walk around with this same stuff buzzing in my head all fracking day long and NOBODY hardly ever talks about it.  Unless, of course, it’s with your close friends.  But I’d say the daily OVERSTIMULATION of social pressure and advertising media has much more impact on my psyche that the amount of times I am able to express my internal worry and shame on a daily basis.  I'm just tired of it and thank you Shereen!

JD/Female

I really related to all of the issues discussed in the film.  It validated a lot of the fears, anxieties & insecurities I have and gave me tools and new concepts to utilize.  The value of women should be discussed and explored more.  I commend you for this project and feel honored to have shared in this experience with you.

SM/Female/17

This was a great film. Very Inspiring. A great tribute to women.

Revaluing Women

by Adrienne McCormick, Assistant Professor of English, Director, Women’s Studies Program, SUNY Fredonia

Body: The Value of Women is a terrific film that continues an important conversation in the lives of contemporary women, and speaks to their multiply situated bodies.  Films such as Jean Kilbourne’s Killing Us Softly (1979)—which she updated in 1987 and 2000—pushed this conversation into public consciousness, and the fact that we’re still talking about body politics testifies to the continued need for discussion.  Any time I teach Introduction to Women’s Studies, Women and Film, or Feminist Theory, my women students invariably turn to issues of body image, body politics, and the politics of different gazes as some of the most compelling concerns in their intellectual and emotional lives. Where Kilbourne engages with images of women in advertising, Shereen Noon engages with alternative images—whether of large women or young girls—and most importantly, she engages with the women themselves in a series of powerful interviews. These interviews are particularly powerful when they reveal the commodification of model bodies as objects that others trade on rather than as sources of pleasure and sensation for the women themselves.  As an ex-model, Noon places herself in front of the camera as well, and creates a conversation between her model images and her body as it is today.  Noon opens the film with a powerful sequence in which she puts her own body in front of the camera and tries to love it. This is a very politicized move in a cultural moment when self-worth is increasingly defined by how well one’s body fits a model structured by capitalist, racist, and heterosexist logics. In “The Body Politic,” Abra Fortune Chernik writes that “gaining weight and getting my head out of the toilet was the most political act I ever committed.” Noon might say the same about shooting that scene. From there, she moves on to a sustained look at Laurie Toby Edison’s photographs in Women En Large: Images of Fat Nudes (Books in Focus, 1994). Here, Noon turns her lens on bodies that have been unseen and that, as a result, have become, in Adrienne Rich’s words, not only unspoken but also unspeakable.  This film speaks about a variety of bodies in order to re-value those bodies by creating new visual knowledge.  It is particularly strong in its engagement with young women and large women, especially in their interactions with family and how family members model body behaviors. 

Here’s what my students had to say about the film:

“My favorite idea that the documentary captured was about women’s sexuality. One woman in the film recalled a statement made to her by her mother saying that she should save her virginity for her husband. This meant that the woman’s sexuality was not for her enjoyment nor did she have any ownership over her own body/sexuality. It was someone else’s.”  (Jackie Micieli; junior applied music major, women’s studies minor)

“The film started off with her standing naked in front of a mirror and trying to love what she saw. She began by discussing fat and how we react to our body as we grow older…Noon realized that we have to have the strength to do what makes up happy and not worry about how society wants us to look. Every time we buy stuff we are ‘voting with our money’ and telling society we find it acceptable to make girls starve themselves in order to fit in. We need to realize that as we waste all of this time and energy worrying about how we look life is passing us by and we cannot get it back.” (Brenda Saikkonen, junior biology major, communication minor)

“The movie was very well made and dealt with a wide variety of issues related to women’s bodies and factors that contribute to their negative attitudes towards their bodies. The movie gave a very authentic view of certain women in different situations and why they feel the way that they do about their bodies. Also, it was interesting to see the way that Noon dealt with the media, exposing the massive amounts of editing that goes into the images that most women try to model themselves after.” (Liz Phillips; education major)

These quotations testify to the different levels at which students engage with the film. It provides a rich learning experience for students in a variety of disciplinary locations, and the filmmaker provides an eloquent commentary on her own roles on screen and behind the camera. Body: The Value of Women is indeed a valuable contribution to the discussion about women’s bodies that needs to continue until new interventions can be made, and new modes of agency found for women to revalue themselves and their relationships with their bodies, their sexuality, and the foods they do and do not eat.

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