Something Like a War | |
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Running time | 63 minutes |
Country | India |
Language | English |
Something Like a War is an Indian documentary by Deepa Dhanraj made in 1991. It examines India's family planning program revolved on the gender it primarily affects: women. [1]
While examining India's family planning or population control programs, it also focuses on the coerced sterilizations (done by tubal ligation) of women in India and on the opinions of Indian women of these programs and the traditional family life of Indian women.
The film documents the state of reproductive rights for women in India that juxtaposes the detachment of science next to a new form of oppression for women. [1] Something like a War is a film about reproductive rights, especially women's reproductive rights, in India. The film includes footage of a group of women discussing their sexuality and motherhood.
The discussions between these women emphasise the challenges women face to be valued for more than their reproductive role. One woman states that they (women) are valued only for their womb, and only if their womb produces a boy. Women in India are objectified by their sexuality and ability to reproduce.
This often forces women to hide their sexuality. Once women are able to reproduce they are married off and expected to have children, often at a very young age. While there is pressure from families to have children, the government also exerts pressure to limit the reproduction of low-income, Dalit and Muslim women. This often forces women to feel ashamed and hide their menstruation. One scene shows a woman describing her first time menstruating, stating that a friend told her to hide this, to do so she should shove sand between her legs.
Deepa Dhanraj is a world renowned filmmaker that has been involved with the women's rights movement since 1980. She founded Yugantar, a Bangalore-based film collective that mainly focuses on producing films about women's labor and domestic conditions in the southern parts of India.
With over three decades of experience with filmography she has produced award-winning films such as Enough of this Silence (2008), and The Advocate (2007). Her film Something Like a War depicts gender and class violence of the population control policies enforced by the Indian government.
In the Indian subcontinent, hijra are eunuchs, intersex people, or transgender people who live in communities that follow a kinship system known as guru-chela system. They are also known as aravani, aruvani, and jogappa. In Pakistan, they are known as khawaja sira, the equivalent of transgender in the Urdu language.
The female reproductive system is made up of the internal and external sex organs that function in the reproduction of new offspring. In humans, the female reproductive system is immature at birth and develops to maturity at puberty to be able to produce gametes, and to carry a fetus to full term. The internal sex organs are the vagina, uterus, fallopian tubes, and ovaries. The female reproductive tract includes the vagina, uterus, and fallopian tubes and is prone to infections. The vagina allows for sexual intercourse and childbirth, and is connected to the uterus at the cervix. The uterus or womb accommodates the embryo which develops into the fetus. The uterus also produces secretions which help the transit of sperm to the fallopian tubes, where sperm fertilize ova produced by the ovaries. The external sex organs are also known as the genitals and these are the organs of the vulva including the labia, clitoris, and vaginal opening.
Hindu views of homosexuality and LGBT issues more generally are diverse, and different Hindu groups have distinct views.
Deepa Mehta, is an Indian-born Canadian film director and screenwriter, best known for her Elements Trilogy, Fire (1996), Earth (1998), and Water (2005).
In psychology, womb envy denotes the envy that men may feel of the biological functions of the female. The neo-Freudian psychiatrist Karen Horney (1885–1952) proposed this as an innate male psychological trait. These emotions could fuel the social subordination of women, and drive men to succeed in other areas of life, such as business, medicine, law, and politics. Each term is analogous to the concept of female penis envy presented in Freudian psychology. In this they address the gender role social dynamics underlying the "envy and fascination with the female breasts and lactation, with pregnancy and childbearing, and vagina envy [that] are clues and signs of transsexualism and to a femininity complex of men, which is defended against by psychological and sociocultural means".
India has developed its discourse on sexuality differently based on its distinct regions with their own unique cultures. According to R.P. Bhatia, a New Delhi psychoanalyst and psychotherapist, middle-class India's "very strong repressive attitude" has made it impossible for many married couples to function well sexually, or even to function at all.
There are many cultural aspects surrounding how societies view menstruation. Different cultures view menstruation in different ways. The basis of many conduct norms and communication about menstruation in western industrial societies is the belief that menstruation should remain hidden. By contrast, in some hunter-gatherer societies, menstrual observances are viewed in a positive light, without any connotation of uncleanness.
Feminist sexology is an offshoot of traditional studies of sexology that focuses on the intersectionality of sex and gender in relation to the sexual lives of women. Sexology has a basis in psychoanalysis, specifically Freudian theory, which played a big role in early sexology. This reactionary field of feminist sexology seeks to be inclusive of experiences of sexuality and break down the problematic ideas that have been expressed by sexology in the past. Feminist sexology shares many principles with the overarching field of sexology; in particular, it does not try to prescribe a certain path or "normality" for women's sexuality, but only observe and note the different and varied ways in which women express their sexuality. It is a young field, but one that is growing rapidly.
Barbara Creed is a professor of cinema studies in the School of Culture and Communication at the University of Melbourne. She is the author of six books on gender, feminist film theory, and the horror genre. Creed is a graduate of Monash and La Trobe universities where she completed doctoral research using the framework of psychoanalysis and feminist theory to examine horror films. She is known for her cultural criticism.
Human sexuality is the way people experience and express themselves sexually. This involves biological, psychological, physical, erotic, emotional, social, or spiritual feelings and behaviors. Because it is a broad term, which has varied with historical contexts over time, it lacks a precise definition. The biological and physical aspects of sexuality largely concern the human reproductive functions, including the human sexual response cycle.
Reproductive justice is a critical feminist framework that was invented as a response to United States reproductive politics. The three core values of reproductive justice are the right to have a child, the right to not have a child, and the right to parent a child or children in safe and healthy environments. The framework moves women's reproductive rights past a legal and political debate to incorporate the economic, social, and health factors that impact women's reproductive choices and decision-making ability.
The representation of gender in horror films, particularly depictions of women, has been the subject of critical commentary.
Sexual and reproductive health and rights or SRHR is the concept of human rights applied to sexuality and reproduction. It is a combination of four fields that in some contexts are more or less distinct from each other, but less so or not at all in other contexts. These four fields are sexual health, sexual rights, reproductive health and reproductive rights. In the concept of SRHR, these four fields are treated as separate but inherently intertwined.
Sex education is a very controversial and taboo subject in India, and people's opinions about it are quite divided. The states of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh have banned or refused to implement sex education in school to preserve culture. The Hindu nationalist government in Madhya Pradesh said sex education had “no place in Indian culture” and plans to introduce yoga in schools instead. On the global level, India has notably fallen behind numerous countries, including underdeveloped and significantly smaller countries such as Sudan and Congo, where sex education is first taught at the primary level.
Nidhi Goyal is an Indian disability and gender rights activist who has been appointed to the UN Women Executive Director's advisory group. Goyal is the founder and executive director of Mumbai-based NGO Rising Flame and works in the areas of sexuality, gender, health and rights for women and girls with disabilities. She is also a stand-up comedian.
A menstruation hut is a place of seclusion or isolation used by certain cultures with strong menstrual taboos. The same or a similar structure may be used for childbirth and postpartum confinement, based on beliefs around ritual impurity. These huts are usually built near the family home, have small doors, and are often dilapidated, with poor sanitation and ventilation, and no windows. The Nepali version, the Chhaupadi, is probably the best-known example, but cultural attitudes towards menstruation around the world mean that these huts exist, or existed until recently, in other places as well. The use of menstrual huts continues to be a cause of death, from exposure, dehydration, snake bite, smoke inhalation, and so on. The use of these huts is illegal in some places.
Scholarship on nationalism and gender explores the processes by which gender affects and is impacted by the development of nationalism. Sometimes referred to as "gendered nationalism," gender and nationalism describes the phenomena whereby conceptions of the state or nation, including notions of citizenship, sovereignty, or national identity contribute to or arise in relation to gender roles.
Women's sexuality in Francoist Spain was defined by the Church and by the State. The purpose in doing so was to have women serve the state exclusively through reproduction and guarding the morality of the state. Women's sexuality could only be understood through the prism of reproduction and motherhood. Defying this could have tremendous negative consequences for women, including being labeled a prostitute, being removed from her family home, being sent to a concentration camp, a Catholic run institution or to a prison. It was only after the death of Franco in 1975 that women in Spain were finally allowed to define their own sexuality. Understanding Francoist imposed definitions of female sexuality is critical to understanding modern Spanish female sexuality, especially as it relates to macho behavior and women's expected responses to it.
My body, my choice is a feminist slogan used in several countries, most often surrounding issues of bodily autonomy and abortion.
Yugantar Film Collective was an Indian feminist film collective between 1980 and 1983.