ARRIAGE AS A RE
MS magazine’s
Lindsy Van
Gelder explains
why she boy­
cotts weddings.
A good deal of
energy goes into
just expecting
possible trouble.
36
Broadsheet, March 1985
S e v e ra l y e a rs a g o , I s to p ­
p e d g o in g to w ed d in g s. In
fac t I n o lo n g e r c e le b ra te
th e
w e d d in g
a n n iv e r­
saries o r e n g a g e m e n ts o f
frie n d s, re la tiv e s, o r a n y o n e e ls e , a lth o u g h I
m ig h t w ish th e m lifelo n g jo y in th e ir re la tio n ­
sh ip s. M y e x p la n a tio n is th a t th e n e x t w e d d in g I
a tte n d w ill b e m y o w n — to th e w o m a n I ’ve lo v ed
a n d liv ed w ith fo r n e a rly six y ea rs.
A lth o u g h I’ve b een legally m arried to a m an m y­
self (an d com e close to m arrying tw o o th e rs), I ’ve
com e, in th ese last six years w ith P am ela, to see
hetero sex u al m arriage as very m uch a restricted
club. (N o r is this likely to change in the n e a r fu tu re,
if one can judge by th e recen t clo bbering o f w hat
was actually a ra th e r tam e p ro p o sal to recognize
“d om estic p a rtn ersh ip s” in San F ran cisco .) R e ­
gardless o f th e reason peo ple m arry — w h eth e r to
save on real e state taxes o r qualify fo r m arrie d stu ­
dents housing o r sim ply to express love — lesbians
and gay m en ca n ’t o b tain the sam e resu lts should
they desire to d o so. It seem s a p p a re n t to m e th a t
few friends of P a m e la ’s and m ine w ould e v e r jo in a
club th a t excluded blacks, Jew s, o r w om en, much
less assum e th a t th ey could expect th e ir black,
Jew ish, o r fem ale friends to toast th e ir new statu s
with cham pagne. B ut pro b ab ly no o th e r stan d of
principle w e’ve ev e r m ade in o u r lives has been so
m isu n d ersto o d , o r caused so m uch b ad feeling on
both sides.
Several p ro p le have re a cted w ith surprise to o u r
view s, it n ever having o ccurred to th em th a t gay
p eople can't legally m arry. (W hy on e a rth did they
think th a t n one o f us had b o th e re d ? ) T h e m ost com ­
mon reactio n , how ever, is acu te em b arrassm en t,
follow ed by a denial o f o u r m ain p oin t — th a t the
abou t-to-b e-w ed person is em b ark in g on a 1
privileged status. (O n e friend o f P am ela’s insisted
th a t lesbians a re “ lucky” n ot to have to agonize ov er
w h e th e r o r not to get m arrie d .) So w rap p ed in
gauze is the institu tio n o f m arria ge, so ingrained the
expectatio n th a t brides an d groom s can e n jo y the
w o rld ’s delighted a p p ro v a l, th a t it’s h ard for m e not
to feel p u t on th e defensive fo r b eing so m ean-spirited , eccentric, a n d /o r politically rigid as to boycott
such a happy event.
A n o th e r questio n w e’ve fielded m ore th an once
(usually from o u r m ost radical frien ds, bo th gay and
straig h t) is why w e’d w ant to get m arried in th e first
place. In fact, I have m ixed feelings ab o u t reg iste r­
ing my perso n al life w ith the sta te , b u t — an d this
seem s to m e to be th e essence of radical politics —
I ’d p re fe r to be the one m aking the choice. A nd
w hile fem inists in recen t years have rightly focused
on pu n ctu rin g th e Schlaflyite m yth of the legally
pro te cte d h o m e m a k e r, it’s also tru e th at m arriage
does co n fer som e very real d ollars-and-cents b e ­
nefits. O ne exam ple o f in eq u ity is o u r inability to
file jo in t tax retu rn s, alth o u g h m any co uples, both
gay an d stra ig h t, go th ro u g h p erio d s w hen o n e p a rt­
n er in the relatio n sh ip is u n em p lo y ed o r m akes co n ­
siderably less m oney th an th e o th e r. A t o ne tim e in
o u r relatio n sh ip , P am ela — w ho is a m usician —
w as betw een bands and earn in g next to nothin g . I
w as m aking a little o v er $37,000 a y ear as a new s­
p a p e r re p o rte r, a salary th a t p u t m e in th e 42 p e r­
cent tax b rack et — a b o u t $300 a w eek ta k e n o u t of
my p aycheck. If we h ad been m arrie d , we could
have filed a jo in t tax retu rn and each p aid taxes on
half my salary, in th e 25 o r 30 p e rcen t b rac k et. T h e
d ifference w ould have been nearly $100-a-w eek in
o u r po ck ets.
A ro u n d th e sam e tim e, P am ela su ffered a
m o n th s’ long illness w hich w ould have been co­
v e red by my h ealth in surance if she w ere my
spouse. W e w ere luckier th an m any; we could af­
ford it. B ut on to p o f the w orry an d exp en se in­
volved (an d d esp ite the fact th a t intellectually we
believe in th e ideal o f free m edical care for
ev ery o n e ), we fo u n d it alm ost im possible to avoid
internalizing a sense o f perso n al failure — the
know ledge th a t because o f who we are, we can't
take care of each other. I ’ve h e a rd o th e r gay people
w hose lovers w ere d e p o rte d becau se th ey co u ld n ’t
m arry them and en ab le th em to becom e citizens;
still o th e rs w ho w ere b a rre d from intensive-care
units w here th eir lovers lay stricken becau se they
w e re n ’t “im m ed iate fam ily” .
I w ould never begrudge a straig h t friend w ho got
m arrie d to save a lover from d e p o rta tio n o r stagg er­
ing m edical bills, b u t th e tru th is th a t I no longer
sym pathize w ith m ost o f th e less tan g ible justifica­
tions. T his includes th e o ft-h e a rd “fo r th e sake of
th e c h ild ren ” arg u m e n t, since (like m any gay
p eo p le, especially w om en) 1 have child ren , an d I re ­
sen t th e im plication th at som e fam ilies a re m ore
“le g itim a te” th an o th ers. ( I t’s im p o rta n t to
safeg u ard o n e ’s c h ild re n ’s rights to th eir fa th e r’s
p ro p e rty , b u t a legal co n trac t will do th e sam e thing
as m arria g e.)
B ut th e single m ost painful an d infuriating
ratio n ale fo r m arriag e, as far as I’m c o n c e rn e d , is
th e o n e th a t goes: “ W e w anted to sta n d up and
show the w orld th a t w e’ve m ade a genuine com m it­
m e n t.” W hen o n e is gay, such se n tim en ts are label­
led “fla u n tin g .” M y lover a n d I alm ost never find
o urselves in public settings o u tside the gay g h etto
w here w e are (a) perceived to be a couple at all
(p eo p le con stan tly ask us if w e’re sisters, although
we look no th in g like each o th e r), and (b) valued as
such. U sually w e’re forced to choose betw een being
STRICTED
invisible an d being despised. “M aking a genuine
co m m itm en t” in this m ilieu is like w alking a highwire w itho ut a n et — with m ost o f th e au dience not
even w atching and a fair seg m en t ro otin g fo r you to
fall. A d isp ro p o rtio n ate n u m b e r of gay couples do.
I th in k it’s difficult fo r even my closest, m ost
fem inist straight w om en friends to e m p ath ize with
the intensity o f my desire to be recognized as
P am ela’s p a rtn e r. (In fact, it m ay be h a rd e r-fo r
fem inists to u n d erstan d th an fo r o th ers; I know th a t
w hen I w as straig h t, I o ften re se n ted being view ed
as one h alf o f a couple. M y struggle w as fo r an in d e ­
p en d en t id en tity , no t the co jo in ed o n e I now
crave.) B ut we are simply n ot co n sid ered authentic ,
and the rem in d ers a re co n sta n t. R ecen tly at a p arty ,
a m an I ’d know n fo r years spied m e across th e room
and cam e o v er to m e, arm s o u ts tretch ed , big happyto-see-you grin on his face. Pam ela had a gig th at
night and w asn’t a t th e p arty ; m y frie n d ’s wife was
th ere b u t in a n o th e r ro o m , an d I h a d n ’t seen h er
yet. “H o w ’s M — ?” I asked th e m an. “O h , sh e ’s
fin e,” he rep lied , co ntinuin g to sm ile pleasantly.
“A re you an d P am still to g e th e r? ”
O u r sex life itself is against th e law in m any states,
of co urse, and like all lesbians an d gay m en , we are
w ithout m any o th e r rights, both large and sm all. (In
V irginia, fo r in stance, it’s technically against the
law fo r us to buy liq u o r.) B ut as a gay co u p le , we are
also m ost likely to be labelled an d discrim inated
against in th o se very settings th a t, for m ost
h eterosex ual A m ericans, co n stitu te th e m ost re ­
laxed an d perso nal pa rts o f life. V irtually every tiny
public act o f to g eth ern ess — from holding hands on
the stre e t to ren tin g a h otel ro o m to dancing — re ­
quires us con stan tly to risk hum iliation (I th in k , for
ex am p le, o f th e tw o C alifornia w om en w ho w ere re ­
cently th ro w n o u t o f a re sta u ra n t th a t had special
rom an tic tables fo r cou p les), sexual h arassm en t
(it’s astonishing how m any m en c a n ’t resist com ing
on to a lesbian co u p le), an d even physical assault. A
g reat deal o f energy goes in to ju s t expecting possi­
ble tro u b le. It’s a process w hich, a fter six years, has
becom e second n a tu re fo r m e — b u t occasionally,
w hen I ’m in Provincetow n o r som eplace else w ith a
large lesbian p o p u la tio n , I exp erien ce th e absence
of it as a feeling o f virtual w eightlessness.
W h at does all this have to do w ith my frien d s’
w eddings? O bviously, I c an ’t expect my friends to
live m y life. B u t I d o thin k th a t lines are being
draw n in this “p ro-fam ily” R eag an e ra , an d I have
no choice ab o u t w hat side I ’m placed on. M y
straight friends d o , and at the very least, I expect
them to acknow ledge th a t. I certainly expect them
to u n d erstan d w hy I d o n ’t w ant to be am ong the
rice-throw ers an d w ell-w ishers at th eir w eddings;
beyond th a t, I w ould h ope th a t th ey w ould com m it
m
them selves to fighting fo r my rights — p referab ly in
p ersonally visible w ays, like m arching in gay pride
p arad es. B ut I also wish they w o u ld n ’t get m arrie d ,
perio d . A n d if th a t sounds h ard -n o sed , I h ope I ’m
only proving my po in t — th a t not being able to
m arry isn’t a m inor issue.
N o t th at my life w ould likely be ch anged as the
resu lt o f any individual straig h t p e rso n ’s sym bolic
refusal to m arry. (N o r, for th a t m a tte r, do all gay
couples w ant to be w ed .) B u t it’s a political reality
th a t h etero sex u al liv e-to g eth er couples are am ong
o u r best tactical allies. T h e m ov em en t to repeal
state sodom y laws has p ro fited from the desire of
straig h t peo p le to k eep th e g o v ern m en t o u r o f their
b ed ro o m s. Sim ilarly, it w as a h etero sex u al New
Y o rk w om an w ho w ent to co u rt several years ago to
fight h e r la n d lo rd ’s d em an d th a t she eith e r m arry
h e r live-in boy frien d o r face eviction fo r violating a
lease clause proh ib itin g “u n re la te d ” te n a n ts — and
w hose struggle led to th e recen t passage of a state
re n t law th a t had ram ifications fo r th o u san d s o f gay
couples, including P am ela and m e.
T h e right wing has seized on “hom osexual m ar­
riag e" as its botto m -lin e scare ph rase in m uch the
sam e way th a t “ W ould you w ant y o u r sister to
m arry o n e ? ” was bran d ish ed 25 years ago. They see
m arriag e as th e ir turf. A n d so w hen I see fem inists
crossing into th a t te rrito ry o f respectability and
“sinlessness,” I feel m y b u ffer zone slipping aw ay. I
feel as though my friends are taking o ff th eir
arm b an d s, leaving m e e x p o se d .□
... heterosexual
live-together
couples are
among our best
tactical allies.
Usually we’re
forced to
choose between
being invisible
and being
despised.
In December last year, Mary Simpson, an English
lesbian, lost her court appeal to stay in the state
house she had shared with her recently dead lover.
English widows and widowers can take over the
lease of council homes rented by their spouses.
Mary Simpson argued that she should have the
status of widow as the couple had lived together in a
stable relationship which was well known and
accepted in their area. One judge of the case said an
essential characteristic of life as husband and wife
was that the couple were a man and a woman.
Ms Simpson intends to appeal to the House of Lords.a
Broadsheet, March 1985 37
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38
Broadsheet, March 1985
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NISA: THE LIFE AND TIMES
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le ft S an F ran c isco fo r N e p a l to
m a k e h isto ry as th e first w o m en to
scale th e tre a c h e ro u s slo p es o f
A n n a p u rn a I. N e v e r b e fo re has
such an a c c o u n t o f m o u n ta in e e rin g
triu m p h a n d tra g e d y b e e n to ld
fro m a w o m e n ’s p o in t o f view .
G ra n a d a , $26.95 la rg e fo rm a t pbk .
WHEN THE BOYS WERE
AW AY__________________
Eve Ebbett
W hile m uch h as b e e n w ritte n a b o u t
th e e x p e rie n c e s an d e x p lo its o f the
j
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TEST-TUBE
WOMEN
WHAT FUTURE FOB MOTHERHOOD?
gorettsv
L JL 3
t,
s«i.t£vwoe>s
r —*
sp e rm b a n k s, te s t tu b e fe rtilisa ­
tio n , sex s e le c tio n , su rro g a te
m o th e rin g , e x p e rim e n ta tio n in th e
th ird
w o rld
and
in c re a se d
te c h n o lo g ica l
in te rv e n tio n
in
c h ild b irth . W h o c o n tro ls it? W ho
b e n e fits ? W h a t a re th e im p lica­
tio n s fo r w o m en w o rld w ide? T h e
c o n trib u to rs to th is b o o k c o m b in e
th e ir
p e rs o n a l
and
political
p e rsp e c tiv e s to e x am in e th e se
q u e stio n s a n d o th e r d ifficult issues.
P a n d o ra P ress, $17.10 p b k .
FAT IS A FEMINIST ISSUE 2
Susie Orbach
A N ovel by
mi
m en w h o fo u g h t o v e rs e a s d u rin g
W orld W a r II, little h as b e e n said
o f th e c o u ra g e s tre n g th a n d r e ­
so u rc efu ln ess o f th e w o m e n th ey
left b e h in d . T h is p o rtra y a l o f
w om en in th e face o f a d v e rsity is an
e x am p le a n d an in s p ira tio n fo r
w om en o f all g e n e ra tio n s. R e e d .
$24.95 hb k .
THE SUBVERSIVE STITCH
Rozsika Parker
In th e h isto ry o f e m b ro id e ry —
th ro u g h th e v ery th re a d s o f
sam p lers, fire s c re e n s , ta b le ru n ­
n ers a n d d re ss — can b e tra c e d
a n o th e r h isto ry ; th e h isto ry o f
w om en. T h is fa scin a tin g stu d y
tra c e s th e sh iftin g n o tio n s o f fe m in ­
ity, a n d ro le s a sc rib e d to w o m e n ,
th ro u g h
e m b ro id e ry
fro m
m ed iaev al tim e s to to d a y . C o n ta in s
ov er
100
p h o to g ra p h s .
The
W o m e n ’s P re s s, $29.75 p b k .
PREMENSTRUAL EXPERIENCE
Hecate Women’s Health Collec­
tive, Janice Burns & Viv
Maidaborn.
T he s e c o n d b o o k in th e N Z
W o m e n ’s H e a lth S e rie s is a b o u t
p re m e n stru a l e x p e rie n c e s — th e
highs a n d low s, th e p le a sa n t an d
u n p le a sa n t, in all th e ir e m o tio n a l
and p e rs o n a l fo rm s. S u b sta n tia l
c o v erag e is giv en to b o th o rth o d o x
an d a lte rn a tiv e p re m e n stru a l selfcare activ ities. R e e d M e th u e n ,
$9.95 p b k .
the b o o k th e a c c o u n t o f a h a u n tin g
a n d d is tu rb in g love a ffa ir, b le n d in g
fiction a n d m e m o ir seam lessly in a
re m a rk a b le
docum ent
about
w om anhood.
J o n a th o n
C ape,
$25.05 hb k.
THE JOURNALS O f ANAIS
NIN, VOLUME SEVEN 1966 1974___________________
V o lu m e sev e n c o m p le te s th e jo u r ­
ney o f p sy ch olo gical d isco very
m a d e by o n e o f th e m o st re m a rk a ­
b le w o m e n o f th e c e n tu ry . T h is v o l­
u m e is o f p rim e in te re s t as a re c o rd
o f A n a is N in ’s p h e n o m e n a l rise to
in te rn a tio n a l c e le b rity a fte r th e
p u b lic a tio n o f th e first v o lu m e o f
h e r jo u rn a ls in 1966. Q u a rte t
B o o k s, $17.95 pbk .
THE W O M PI QUESTION
A s te p by s te p g u id e to show you
how to b re a k th e cycle a n d sto p
d ie tin g fo re v e r. W ith p ra c tic al
e x ercise s d e sig n e d to h e lp y o u u n ­
d e rs ta n d y o u r b o d y ’s n e e d s. H a m lyn, $7.50 p b k .
THE SEXUALITY PAPERS
Lai Coveney, Margaret Jackson,
Sheila Jeffries, Leslie Kay & Pat
Mahoney
A n e x ce lle n t c o lle ctio n o n m ale
sex u a lity a n d th e social c o n tro l o f
w o m e n fro m a g ro u p o f B ritish an d
le sb ian fem in ists. L o o k s a t h ow o u r
a ttitu d e s to sex a n d w h a t w e de sire
hav e
been
shaped
by
th e
m ysoginist sex o lo g ist o f th e 19th
an d 20th c e n tu rie s. E x a m in e s th e
id e a s a b o u t sex h e ld by suffragists
a n d ta k e s a sea rin g look a t Forum
m a g a zin e . H u tc h in so n , $ 1 3 .5 0 p b k .
LESBIAN
FOLLY
Maureen Brady
S e t in a C a ro lin a m ill to w n , this
novel b le n d s th e s to ry o f a u n io n
o rg a n iz in g strik e by w o m e n w ho
sew in th e local fa c to ry w ith th e
p e rs o n a l stru g g les o f th e ir daily
lives. T h e C ro ssin g P ress, $13.95
pbk.
Jeannine Allard
S o m e tim e in th e last c e n tu ry , tw o
w o m e n living o n th e c o a st o f F r­
a n c e , in B ritta n y , lo v ed e ac h o th e r.
T h e y h a d n o o th e r m o d e ls o f such a
th in g , so th e y ch o se th is solu tio n :
o n e o f th e m p o sed as a m a n fo r
m o s t o f th e ir life to g e th e r; th e y
w ere m a rrie d , a d o p te d a ch ild , and
w e re very h a p p y . A b e a u tifu l sto ry
o f tw o w o m e n in love. A ly so n ,
$15.95 p b k .
RELATIVELY NORMA______
Anna Livia
M in n ie , L o n d o n lesb ian fe m in ist,
flies to A u stra lia to co m e o u t to h e r
fam ily o nly to find h e r m o th e r re ­
belling a g ain st th e c o n stra in ts of
m o th e rh o o d , h e r fo s te r siste r
stru g g lin g w ith n o stalg ia fo r an
a d o p tiv e fa th e r an d a gro w in g love
fo r w o m e n , w hile h e r little siste r
see k s so lace in fo o d . O n ly w o m e n
P ress, $10.60 pbk.
ORDER FORM
P le a se sen d th e se b o o k s:
Mary Evans (ed)
T h is co lle ctio n o f re a d in g s o n th e
s u b o rd in a tio n o f w o m e n raises
q u e stio n s c e n tra l to th e w o m e n ’s
m o v e m e n t a n d fe m in ist d e b a te .
E a c h o f th e e ig h t sec tio n s e x p lo re s
th e m a te ria l a n d id e olo gical basis
o f sex u a l in e q u a lity , in th e fam ily,
th e la b o u r m a rk e t, p o litic s, e d u c a ­
tio n , th e m e d ia , lite ra tu re an d
p o p u la r c u ltu re . T h e b o o k in c lu d e s
e x tra c ts fro m M ary W o llsto n ec ra ft, S h eila R o w b o th a m , S im o ne
d e B e a u v o ir, A d rie n n e R ic h ,
T illie O ls e n , a n d m an y o th e rs ,
F o n ta n a $14.95 p b k .
M y n a m e is ...
M y a d d re ss is:
I e n clo se (in c lu d in g 50c p ack in g a n d p o stag e p e r b o o k ) $
RACISM AND SEXISM IN
CHILDREN'S BOOKS
T H i TRAUMA OF INCEST
SUBSCRIPTION
Sandra Butler
I w ou ld also like a $24 s u b sc rip tio n fo r m y self □ , fo r m y f rie n d □ , to
A n illu m in atin g c o lle ctio n o f
a n aly ses o f c h ild re n ’s b o o k s , in ­
clud in g Charlie and the Chocolate
T h is th o ro u g h ly re s e a rc h e d a n d
w ell d o c u m e n te d b o o k ex p lo d e s
th e re a ssu rin g m y th th a t in c e st is a
p re d o m in a n tly low er-class p ro b ­
le m , a n d re v e als th e p ro fo u n d im ­
p lic a tio n s o f in c e stu o u s a ssa u lt fo r
th e e m o tio n a l a n d in te rp e rs o n a l
d e v e lo p m e n t o f th e ch ild victim s.
V o lc a n o P ress, $25.95 p b k .
Factory,
The
Cay,
Pippi
Longstocking, E n id B ly to n ’s girls,
and m uch m o re . A m u st fo r p a - '
ren ts a n d te a c h e rs , R e a d e rs an d
W rite rs, $9.95 p b k .
TAKINO IT UKB A WOMEN
Ann Oakley
UST-TUBE WOMEN_______
Ann O akley chronicles th e b attle
betw een love a n d th e fam ily in
scenes o f c o n fro n ta tio n an d in ti­
m acy; sh e in te rw e a v e s th ro u g h o u t
Rita Arditti, Renate Duelli Klein,
Shelley Minden (eds)
T h e te c h n o lo g ica l ta k e o v e r o f
m o th e rh o o d : g e n e tic e n g in e e rin g .
su sta in B ro a d sh e e t ($35) □ , o th e r ra te s o n th e C o n te n ts p ag e: . . .
M y n a m e is:
.................................................................................................•'.......
M y a d d re ss is:
......................................................................................................
S e n d to B ro a d s h e e t, P O B ox 5799 W ellesley S tr e e t, A u c k la n d , o r
call a t 43 A n z ac A v e n u e b e tw ee n 9 - 5 W e e k d a y s. 1 0 - 1 S a tu rd a y s.
P h o n e 794-751 fo r o th e r o rd e rs o r e n q u irie s.
Broadsheet, March 1985 39
< O U R W O R K O N S C R E E N from page 33.
W HAT'S NEW?
McCarthy
Adelaide.
from some risible advertisements ( “the creation of the
m odern housewife”) to look at how m arried wom en
came under attack in the depression for “ taking away
m e n’s jobs” .
Working for the Duration (1939 — 1969) shows the
W W 2 industry using and discarding w om en’s labour
again and describes the prolonged equal pay cam paign.
It also adds the stories o f migrant w om en to the experi­
ences o f A borigin al wom en woven throughout the film .
The last part, Work of Value (1969 — 1983), con­
tinues the theme o f w o m en’s revolt with equal op p ortu n­
ity campaigns and the im pact o f fem inism , and
flashbacks to earlier m om ents o f resistance and exploita­
tion. The strong cyclical pattern o f w om en’s gains and
losses docum ented in the film , the echoes o f our earlier
treatment in times o f boom and depression, encourage
us to look at the problem s that have been solved and
those that remain.
WORKSHOPS/MEETINGS/
COURSES
Values
For Love or Money received very good reviews in all
the mainstream newspapers in Australia. It was the most
rented film in 1983 of the 500 independent films in the
Sydney Film m akers C o op Library. O ne of the film m a k ­
ers used a $10,000 grant from the N ew South W ales gov­
ernm ent to show the film in the outback o f the state.
“She bought a projector and a v a n ,” said Gayle L ake,
“and did a huge m ailout to all com m unity groups and
schools throughout the N S W country area and set o ff into
the dust, just showing it in halls and all sorts o f places. It
was really going back to the old days of ‘four w alling’ it. ”
C inem a managers in A ustralia were am azed by the
num ber of older wom en going to see the film . “ I took my
m other and my grandm other to see it ,” said Gayle Lake ,
“ and both o f them had very different politics and in ­
terests to m e, and we all found som ething in the film that
we really loved.” The film has had successful seasons at
film festivals and ordinary theatres in several other
countries.
Sales of For Love or Money are being negotiated with
the A ustralian Broadcasting Com m ission and Televi­
sion New Zealand. The distributors are keen to organise
screenings in other places around N ew Z ealan d beside
the three m ain centres. They also hope groups will bor­
row prints o f the film (to buy a print costs approxim ately
$4,300). The N Z E ducation D epartm ent has already
bought three, and when the film opens, a SFC worker
will hold previews of For Love or Money and other SFC
film s to libraries, resource groups and other possible
buyers. The film can also be bought on video, either half
inch or three-quarter, for m uch less than the print cost.
“W e are asking people to publicise it in their groups,”
said G ayle, “because w e’re not sure whether w e’re going
to get the m ainstream press support that we did in A u ­
stralia. So we’re hoping that w om en will see the film and
if they like it tell other w om en that it’s w orthw hile, put it
in newsletters and m ake group bookings.”□
Jenny R ank in e
40
Broadsheet, M a rch 1985
Education and Career Oppor­
tunities for Women — the good
and bad news of schools, 4
weekly sessions starting 4
March, 5.30 pm to 7 pm. At
Room 15, Classics Building, 5
Symonds St, Auckland. Tutor:
Eileen Chandler from Exeter
Uni. Organised by Continuing
Education ph 737-999.
Creative Women’s Weekend at
Whale Bay, 9km from Raglan.
Workshops on the performing
arts, visual arts and creative
writing. Friday 29 March to
Sunday 31 March. Waged $35,
unwaged $24. Write to Regis­
trar, University of Waikato,
Private Bag, Hamilton for
more info or enrolment. No
creche, vegetarian food.
Auckland Continuing Educa­
tion courses for 1984: Women
and Collaborative Art (Juliet
Batten), Women as Fabric A r­
tists (Juliet Batten), W omen’s
Visual Diaries (Juliet Batten),
Feminist Philosophies (Jan
Crosthwaite),
Women
in
Africa (Ruth Butterworth),
W omen’s Spirituality : The
Goddess Religions (Lea Holford), Motherhood : Myth or
Reality (Margot Roth), Three
Tragic Queens (Phyllis Petit),
Psychology of Women (Lea
Holford), Women and Change
(Claudia
Bell),
W omen’s
Studies : Theory and Practice
(Clare-Louise
McCurdy),
Maori Women, Past and Pre­
sent (Atareta Poananga). For
more info phone 737-999 or
737-720.
University of Waikato Con­
tinuing Education courses:
Young women in the 80s, The
History of women in Aotearoa,
Violence Against Women. For
further info write University of
Waikato Centre for Continu­
ing Education, Private Bag,
Hamilton. Ph 62889 ext 4706.
Work
Cooperatives
for
Women, a weekend workshop
in April. Tutor Karen Johns.
Contact the above address.
On The Threshold — Housing
Women,
First
National
W omen’s Housing Confer­
ence,
Adelaide Uni,
1-3
March. Write G P O Box 1072
Adelaide 5001, or phone Jen
(08)
Party
227-4822
Conference,
theme: Politics of the Land, 1720 May. Write Box 814 Auck­
land, phone 266-5322.
International Women’s Day
Auckland, see page 11 this
issue or contact Working
W om en’s Resource Centre,
phone 762.156.
Women in Secondary Educa­
tion Conference, Easter 5 — 8
April, Waikato University,
Hamilton,
sponsered
by
PPTA. $40, $20 students.(
Write to PO Box 4415 H am il­
ton East.
1985 Women’s Studies Confer­
ence, Hamilton Girls’ High
School, 23 — 25 August. Pap­
ers and suggestions for work­
shop topics are invited. Par­
ticular interest in papers/work­
shops
on
racism
and
heterosexism. All women pre­
senting are asked to consider
the visibility of lesbians, black
women, the disabled and work­
ing class women. Presentations
do not need to be academic,
videos or discussion welcome.
For more info contact Jane
Ritchie, 62889, ext 4907 or G il­
lian Marie, ext 4706 Hamilton.
Career/Life Planning Course
for women who have spent
years caring for a family and
would like new directions, A u­
ckland Y W C A . Begins Tues­
day 5 March, 9.30 am — 12.30
pm at the Y , 10 Carlton Gore
R d, Grafton. Phone 775-909.
Wellington YW CA , courses
in: Media for Women 23 and 24
March, Racism for White
Women, Tutor Kataraina Pipi
and others, 17 March; Maori
Sovereignty, Tutor Kataraina
Pipi and others, 4 May; Re­
flexology, Tutor Kay Henry,
21 April; Cultural Perspec­
tives; Tutors Robin Peace and
Claire Jensen, 14 April; The
Law and You, Tutor Helen
Croft, 26 April; Self Defence,
Assertion
Training
for
Women, Tutor Irene Pearson,
21,28 M arch,4,11,18 April, 2
May. Contact the Y W C A for
more details of courses and
fees, PO Box 9563 Wellington,
phone 850-505.
Women’s Studies course at
Northland community Centre,
Wellington, beginning Tues-
day 5 M arch, 7.30 pm. For de­
tails ring tutors Jo Lynch (766309) o r Lyn Jow ett (759-080).
Women’s History, W E A , 72
T aranaki St, W ellington, be­
ginning W ednesday 6 M arch,
7.30 — 9 pm , for 7 weeks.
Tutors: Jill Abigail and other
m em bers of the W om en’s
Studies A ssociation. Fee $18.
Auckland
WEA w om en’s
studies courses in M arch in­
clude: Lesbian Study Circles
(general m eeting for 1985,7.30
pm Mon 4 M arch); N Z W omen
W riters of the 70s and 80s;
Women and H ealth; W omen
Y esterday and Today; C arpen­
try W orking Drawings for
W omen; M aking Changes —
Self-Esteem for W omen (one
eight week course and one
weekend course); Introductory
Feminism and T utor Training/
Basic W om en’s Studies.
O ther courses are the
M eadowbank
Comm unity
House Political Discussion
Group; Structural Analysis
and M aori Language Courses
— in the evening M aori Pro­
nunciation and M aori Lan­
guage, in the day A n Introduc­
tion to M aori Language and
Maori Language, an overview.
For full program m e details
please phone W E A office 732030.
EXHIBITIONS ETC
For Love or Money, A ustra­
lian film on women and work.
See article in this issue. For two
week seasons at the Academ y
in A uckland, Christchurch and
W ellington, starting 8 M arch,
International W om en’s Day.
Pacific Poetry Series, open to
writers who haven’t previously
published a volume of poetry.
Winning manuscript published
by U ni of Hawaii Press. M an­
uscripts betw een 64 and 96
pages should arrive during
j March: entry fee $5. For
further info write with SA E to
i Pacific Poetry Series, U niver­
sity of Hawaii Press, 2840
Kolowalu St, H onolulu, HI
196822.
Lesbian Tape, three Pakeha,
one M aori lesbian talk in
edited interviews about coming
out to them selves and others
on D avid B urke-K ennedy’s
The Other Side of Auckland,
20 min radio program m e. Send
new tapes, $2 for postage and
copying, or the cost of a blank
tape $2.10) plus $2 to B road­
sheet.
ANZART in Auckland, 13 —
26 May. A n annual art event
linking artists in A ustralia and
N Z. 50% women artists have
been chosen for funded prop­
osals. Included are feminist ar­
tists Vivian Lynn, Di Ffrench,
M arian Evans and Bridie
Lonie (joint project) and Juliet
B atten. Juliet plans an enorm ­
ous cooperative perform ance/
installation at Te H enga (watch
Broadsheet for further details.
Christine H ellyar and Carole
Shepheard will be curating a
section on artists’ books and
tapes. Forum s around special
topics will be arranged. O f pe­
d a l interest are Cultural Bias in
the Arts and Issues in Feminist
Art.
Intensums 1985, an installation
sculpture by Pauline Rhodes.
H er first show in A uckland. 9
M arch — 13 May at Auckland
City A rt Gallery.
Melanie Read, the second
film m aker in a series, W elles­
ley A uditorium , A uckland
City A rt G allery, 7 March at
7.30 pm. Tickets $4.
Lunchtime talks to m ark the
E nd of the D ecade for W omen.
M onday 4 M arch — M argaret
W ilson; Tuesday 5 M arch —
Elaine Prior, senior traffic of­
ficer; W ednesday 6 M arch —
G retchen Kivell, engineer;
T hursday 7 M arch — Jan
E verest, A ir New Z ealand
pilot; Friday 8 M arch — Dame
C ath Tizard, M ayor of A uck­
land. All talks start 12.10 and
finish
12.50.
C onference
Room , 3rd floor, A uckland
Public Library.
International Women’s Day,
Friday 8 M arch, W om en’s
G athering,
Hastings
City
Council Cultural C entre. 6.30,
pm shared meal; 7.30, D ana
G lendinning talks on A ffirm a­
tive A ction; 8.30, Party. For
info phone 82412.
New Women Artists: Leonie
A rnold,
Ingrid
Banwell,
H eath er Busch, D ebra Bustin,
Nancy de Frietas, C haro
O quet,
Angela
Porteous,
Bianca
van
R angelrooy,
Pauline T hom pson, Christine
W ebster, Delyn W illiams, cu­
rated by Jenny Neligan for the
G ovett-B rew ster Gallery. A t
Fisher G allery, Reeves Rd
Pakuranga, A uckland, 10 F eb­
ruary — 10 March.
The Stuffed Stuff Show, 17
M arch to 14 A pril at Fisher
G allery,
R eeves
R d,
Pakuranga, A uckland phone
51222.
The Other Land, photos by
Jenny U rquhart at R eal Pic­
tures, 11 — 29 March.
Women and Development
Film Festival planned for W el­
lington in March. C ontact Liz
A nderson, W ellington Corso,
PO Box 9714 W ellington,
phone 850-104.
GROUPS
Access R adio Women Zone
collective is keen to have more
m em bers. No previous experi­
ence necessary, just a strong
com m itm ent to women. W e’ll
teach you the practical skills.
Contact Jill Abigail (846-950,
evenings) or Celia Lam pe (758063, evenings). W omen Zone
is taking a break till the end of
M arch, then will resume
broadcasting on Sundays, not
Saturdays. Listen too to the
W om en’s Music slot on Ac­
cess, 6 pm on Saturdays, and
the Lesbian program m e, 11 am
on Sundays. 783 kHz.
Women’s Support for Action
Group, W ellington. This is a
group born from the W om en’s
Summit held in W ellington in
O ctober. It is a place for indi­
vidual women or women rep re­
senting groups to come to pool
inform ation, exchange ideas,
and get support for petitions,
submissions, pickets, demos,
campaigns of all kinds, and
generally to keep in touch with
what is happening for women
in W ellington. For details of
the monthly m eeting, ring
D iana Crossan (724-383, wk,
o r 758-402, hom e) o r Alison
Sutton (857-420, hom e, or 728798, work).
Women’s Studies Association
W ellington branch, m eets sec­
ond M onday each m onth. Rm
210, Von Zedlitz Bldg, U niver­
sity, 7.30 pm. Contacts Penny
Fenwick (727-666 ext 793) or
A nne Else (759-958).
Women for Peace, W ellington.
C ontact Celia Lam pe (758-063,
evenings).
4SET VIEWS from page 12.
Jackson and Brew gushed all
over “The Extended Family” ,
w ithout bothering to clarify the
term , and about “W onderful
M othering” — by which they
seem ed to mean the restriction
of women to childbearing and
rearing. A pparently Brew has
not exam ined the racist and
sexist practices of colonisation,
one of whose m ajor aims was to
destroy th e centuries old kin­
ship system of the M aori — ie
The E xtended Fam ily— where
women were not regarded as
wives and m others first, last
and all the time.
Some countries, like N Z,
continue to prom ote inequal­
ity. Thus, the people who don’t
have to w orry about w here the
money for their next TV
docum entary is coming from
(rem em ber M erata Mita and
Patu and the W aitangi film?)
are likely to be those who
blinker their cam eras, turn
away from their own reality,
and distort history, politics and
culture so as to m aintain
women as Feeder-Breeders.
Please, Stop H ome Brew.o
DIRECTORY
EVERY DAY
women ring B roadsheet
for inform ation: som e­
times she’s from out
o f town, o r visiting
another centre; som etim es
she’s planning to set
up support services; or
doing vital research;
som etim es she’s distressed,
been harrassed, threatened,
beaten once too often,
needs a lawyer or
sym pathetic doctor; and
som etim es she may w ant to
contact an old friend.
DIRECTORY
B roadsheet’s listing of
feminist groups (last pub­
lished N ovem ber 1984) has
been an im portant resource.
IT N E E D S U P D A T IN G .
We need women to tell us
what groups o r services
exist in your area
to publish an updated
DIRECTORY
AS SO O N A S W E CA N .
Please write to Jenny,
B roadsheet, Box 5799,
A uckland, phone 794-751.
Broadsheet, March 1985 41
strokes a n & art a t ta c k s
OTHER HALVES, d l r t f d b y
John la in g, icm
McCauley
np lo Y by
In South A frica, w here white,
bigoted, puritanical, religious
tradition rules, inflexible as the
biting cold of their desert
nights, it is called miscegena­
tion. Sex across the colour bar.
For a white woman to fuck with
a black man is the most heinous
crime she can commit. T hat
society would accept her m ur­
der of him with hearty relief, by
comparison.
Sex across the colour bar has
had its problem s here in white
dom inated, bigoted, puritannical, religious New Z ealand,
though it is hum an nature that
no m atter what the old white
boys ban, people will find way
to have what they want to have.
A s does 32-year-old white
Liz H arvey, one of the two
main characters in Other
Halves. She stands in her bed­
room, looking anywhere but the
bed that holds the lithe brown
16-year-old Tug M orton whom
she met in a psychiatric hospi­
tal, and tells him she wants to
fuck with him. She uses that
traditional
middle-class
euphemism we all know “I
w ant to sleep with y o u.” B ut he
knows w hat she m eans, even
with the covers pulled over his
head. A nd he refuses, at first.
O ut of a mixture of things: the
so-close-to-the-m other-role re­
lationship with her; a sense of
sanctuary, mixed with luxury.
A place where life offers a taste
of privilege to this street kid,
even though it’s boring at
times. A place where he has —
until Liz’s suggestion — no re­
sponsibilities.
Some of her best acting in
Other Halves is done by Lisa
H arrow in the “next m orning”
scene which follows: the cheery
veneer that belies rejection;
the false brightness as she in­
vites him to share her pretense
that everything is still the sam e,
that the snake has not stirred in
T ug’s garden of Eden.
By and large, Liz Harvey is
two dimensional in comparison
with Tug M orton. The film
opens with a scene in which Liz
is near the edge o f a breakdow n
42
Broadsheet, March 1985
— H arrow does that suffering
look very well — but for m e, it
was difficult to validate her
state because I had no insight
into her relationship with her
husband. T hat relationship is
only loosely sketched in the
film, and since it is the reason
both for h er nervous b reak­
down and em otional repres­
sion, the depiction of Liz is
w eaker because of it.
The character of Liz is also
w eakened by the film m aker’s
decision to give Liz far more
middle class circumstances
than author Sue McCauley ou t­
lines in her book. W e see none
of the hardships of struggle,
and even the job in the restaur­
ant is used to single out sexism
and
personal
harassm ent
rather than the struggle to
make ends m eet on the patheti­
cally low wage the bastard
employing her doles out.
It is obviously difficult for
working class people to get into
the area o f filmmaking, nor do
I feel that it is essential that
only working class people
should make films about the
working classes. B ut the mid­
dle class gloss is all over this
film: the street kids are beauti­
ful bandits wearing vivid feath­
ers, creatively patched jeans,
multi-coloured socks. While
care has obviously been taken
to give them dignity, and a
sense of solidarity, the under­
standing that Liz Harvey has of
their state and the enorm ous
oppression New Z ealan d ’s es­
sentially middle class con­
sciousness visits on the finan­
cially disadvantaged is much
w eakened from that shown in
Ms M cCauley’s book.
In contrast to Liz, Tug M or­
ton vibrates with life. His
naturalness m akes his charac­
ter leap off the screen, a con­
siderable
achievem ent for
Mark Pilisi, considering it is his
first time either acting o r w ork­
ing in film. Tug M orton’s val­
ues are a constant challenge to
Liz, in a relationship that is es­
sentially non-verbal. H e and
Liz do not talk about their re­
lationship (which is a middle
class trait) and Tug has, of
course, had all the traditional
male values engrained into his
behaviour. The beating he ad­
ministers to Liz when he
wrongly
assumes
she
is
“following aro u n d ” with one
o f his buddies is horrific. It is
also a dem onstration of male
possessiveness, fear of loss, de­
liberate and instinctive use of
physical pow er — and that
most difficult of all motions,
outraged love.
New Z ealand director John
Laing has an acute eye for loca­
tion. He made me see A uck­
land freshly, and gave it a
realism that I appreciated. His
intim ate knowledge of this
country allows m inor charac­
Mark Pilisi and Lisa Harrow relax
off Other Halves, set (Gil Hanly).
ters like Liz’s friend Aileen
(Clare
G ifford,
London)
realistic settings, though a New
Z ealand actor could have
deepened the credibility of this
part, which again has been
moved “up-m arket” . The like­
able tart, A udrey (Em m a
Piper, London) was well
played, but again, why couldn’t
any one of a num ber of ou r own
actors have played this role?
For all th at, Other Halves is
a good film, ju st as Other
Halves is a good book. It is ob­
viously a film about a woman
that is made by men — and that
is an observation th at the men
who made this film may be an­
noyed about, but holds a cent­
ral truth. If this film had been
m ade essentially by w om en, I
believe the character of Liz
would have a depth it hasn’t got
now. I believe that the innate
understanding of her position
by women film makers would
have produced a film much
closer to the story Sue
M cCauley has told so well in
her book.
Other Halves is not a
feminist film, nor even a liber­
ated w om en’s film. It is a film
about youth and age, sex and
love, all across the colour and
culture barriers in contem por­
ary New Z ealand. It is well
done, and worth seeing. O n the
international m arket, w here it
is clearly aim ed, it says things
about our urban multi-culture
th at go som e way to exploding
the myth of egalitarianism the
old white boys have long been
supporting. □
Sandi Hall
VIOIl________________
Vigil, a New Z ealand film di­
rected by Vincent W ard, has
reached its home country trail­
ing clouds of glory. C ontinen­
tal and British reviewers have
hailed it as “the strongest, most
personally inspired film to
come out of New Z ealand to
d a te .”
Vigil certainly is an astonish­
ing film. Nothing like it has
been produced by the New
Zealand film industry. For all
that, this is the least New Z ea­
land film I have seen. T here is
not a ponga to be seen in this
film, no dank and dripping
New Z ealand bush, no clap­
board towns with dust, faded
shop windows and bedraggled
plastic flyscreens in the door­
ways. Only the ancient w eath­
erboard farm house with rusty
iron roof and cluster of de­
crepit outbuildings m ark this
landscape as New Zealand.
That and the wheelless car hulk
stranded in a paddock of craz­
ily leaning yellow stalks. When
W ard’s characters speak, the
New Zealand accents come as a
shock.
The landscape of the imagi­
nation created by director
W ard, photographer A lun Bol­
linger and musician Jack Body,
evokes m em ories m ore of cent­
ra! E uropean or Norse mythol­
ogy. It is the landscape of
W agner’s Ring; of m ountains
drenched in eddying mists and
slashed by bottom less ravines;
of valleys stagnant with trap­
ped w ater, drowning plants
and wastelands of grey m ud; of
dead forests lying like broken
monsters w here they fell.
Interiors are no refuge from
this blasted landscape. Tins
and pans gleam unnervingly
from shadowy shelves o f the
pantry. Figures waver and dis­
solve behind a glass door. A
mighty clanking tin hawk dang­
les from a shed ceiling.
There are no safe places in
this world as seen through the
eyes of 11-year-old Toss (Fiona
Kay). Everything is dangerous
and threatening. The film be­
gins with the death of her be­
loved father. He falls down a
cliff while rescuing a stranded
ewe. A stranger brings her
father’s body in. E than (Frank
W hitten) stays on the farm to
help
Elizabeth
(Penelope
Stew art), the dead m an’s wife,
and her old father B irdie (Bill
K err), a crazy inventor w ho’s
not much practical help.
Through T ess’s eyes we see
her try to m ake ord er of the
chaos caused by her fath er’s
death. She creates a shrine to
her father, planting a stringy
tree in dense mud and pushing
blood soaked food amongst its
roots. The loss of her father,
and her m other’s ready surren­
der to E than happen as Tess
herself stands at the threshhold
of w om anhood.
Vigil is thin on dialogue and
action. T here is, as such, little
“story” . W ard himself has said,
“I have not set out from a p re­
cise narrative, but with certain
images from which the plot and
relationships o f the characters
have evolved.”
Vigil is an exercise in myth
making. Time and place are
unspecified and irrelevant.
This mythic quality is em ­
phasised by scenes w here real­
ity and dream s are indistin­
guishable and w here images
vibrate with the m em ories they
invoke. E than, loom ing on the
horizon with the broken body
of the father hoisted over his
shoulder is immensely sinister
and powerful. Lying in bed.
Toss sees E than and her father
charging each oth er in a deathdefying joust. Steel slashes on
steel, the m addened horses
throw up great plum es of
steam . In a storm Toss battles
to hold her symbolic tree in the
ground. It is w renched from
her, and like R obin H ood’s
arrow , hurtles fu rth er and
further into the sky.
Vigil’s strength is in its imag­
ery. Scenes are set like a glori­
ous tableau. Only then do fig­
ures move in the landscape..
This technique is rem iniscent
of T erence M alick’s Badlands
and Days of Heaven. In Bad­
lands M alick’s splendid scenesetting was m atched by a strong
narrative and faultless acting
from its two principals, espe­
cially Sissy Spacek as the gorm ­
less teenager who followed her
fellow on an orgy of killing.
was
further
Badlands
strengthened by juxtaposing
the horrific exploits of the two
with Spacek’s bland bobbysoxed voice-over com m entary.
In his later film, Days of
Heaven, M alick’s landscapes
overw helm ed a slender story
line and characters who were
more archetypal than indi­
vidual. Vigil suffers from the
same problem . It is all mood.
E than stays the stranger with
no past, no family, no roots and
no future. He leaves as he had
intended to leave, despite the
m om ents of passion he shares
with Elizabeth. T here is no am ­
bivalence or pain in their p art­
ing for either him or her.
Elizabeth is similarly enigm a­
tic. She does not work for us as
a m other or as a lover. We can­
not understand her. W e never
doubt Toss’s com m itm ent to
her father, whom we, the view­
ers, can also see is a harsh and
unfeeling man. B ut Toss’s re­
lationship with her m other re­
mains a mystery. Only with
Birdie, the old m an, do we see
pain, hum iliation, craziness
and glee. Fiona Kay as Toss is
genuinely beautiful, w ithout
any hint of cuteness. She is
often touching. H er uncertain
cry of “d ad ” when she loses her
father in the mist, and her mad
dash to tell her m other of his
fall prom ised a perform ance
that the script ultim ately didn’t
provide for her.
In the end, this film lapses
too often into cliche, into sym­
bolism which is forced and em ­
barrassing, so creating obsta­
cles to the viewers’ total in­
volvem ent. T here are just too
many long soulful looks, too
many ponderous silences, too
much heavy breathing, too
Toss, Fiona Kay, on guard in Vigil.
many cryptic statem ents. One
is too aware of the film maker
striving to tell us something.
Vigil tries too hard to be ex­
traordinary.
A nd there is the same touch
o f sexual nastiness in Vigil I
have noted in o th er New Z ea­
land films and in E uropean
films like The Tin Drum of
which there are echoes in Vigil.
E than runs his hand over
T oss’s face, she sucks the fin­
gers he puts in her mouth.
Elizabeth is rightly alarm ed
when Toss tells her about this.
Then Toss discovers her first
bleeding by touching herself
and finding her hand is running
with blood. M enstruation is
used to add to the aura of
chaos, traum a and decay.
E lizabeth’s sexual precocity
to E than is a bit of male wish
fulfillment. She and E than
have only snarled and abused
each oth er, yet she abruptly
strips off her clothes and says
“H ere, this is what you want.
Why d o n ’t you take it.”
But d o n ’t miss Vigil. In any­
body’s term s it is a signal
achievem ent, but don’t expect
to be swept aw ay.a S. Coney
Vigil was d irected by V incent W ard,
pro d u ced by Jo h n M aynard.
BM ATHINO » * C » ________
Late
last
year,
Lora
M ountjoy’s first novel, Deep
Breathing, was published by
The New W om en’s Press. Set
in a post-nuclear ravaged
A otearoa, the novel presents
some fascinating possibilities
for survival. The main charac­
ter, R adia, travels from a small
settlem ent in A ntarctica to find
out for her people who the
nearest land people are. She
meets different bands of
people living a variety o f life­
styles: the Christians, a male
group, the R oadw om en, les­
bians travelling the roads in
caravans, Rainy Spring with his
tribe of loving w om en, and
male cowboys who terrorise
women on the roads.
SA N D I H A L L talked with
L O R A M O U N T JO Y about
herself, her book, and the
struggle to find room in her life
to write.
SA N D I: How did you come to
write Deep Breathing?
L O R A : I’d been out of New
Broadsheet, March 1985 6 3
Z ealand for six years, from
1967 to 1973. W hen I returned,
com plete with child and b ro­
ken relationship. New Z ealand
looked like this wonderful
paradise. The L abour G overn­
m ent had been elected and
everyone went to live in the
country, it seemed! I ’d wanted
to do that in England, which
seem ed impossible. I hitch­
hiked around a bit — I just
w anted to have a look at the
country, because I felt like a
stranger. My travels took me to
W aiheke Island, which I fell in
love with. I also m et and de­
veloped a relationship with a
guy over there, who felt as I did
about things.
We lived there for two years,
then went to W ellington,
(w here I was born), and spent
three years building a gypsy
caravan which we then travel­
led round New Z ealand in for
the next four years. I loved
that.
People kept saying to me,
“You should write a book
about it” , and I kept saying
“no, n o .” B ut I think that I
have actually done that in
Deep Breathing. I had the
pen if the volcanically active
trenches were places that nuc­
lear waste was buried — I en ­
visaged earthquakes, tidal
waves — those sorts of disas­
ters, which some people would
live through, rather than an all
out nuclear war.
SA N D I: So there you are, in a
caravan, with the idea for Deep
Breathing in your head. When
did you begin to write it?
L O R A : It was very difficult. I
w rote the first chapter in
N orthland, w here we had stop­
ped for a while. I had a twoyear-old child which Richard
looked after for a while, but it
was hard in a caravan. A nd
then I discovered I was preg­
nant again. I said I can’t have
this baby, I ’m going to write
this novel, but Richard asked
me how long it would take, and
when I said three m onths, he
said he’d look after the chil­
dren while I did it. So we ren t­
ed a house in N orthland, which
was unbelievably difficult, and
Richard did a deal, one day’s
shearing for the rent. We lived
in the house, and the caravan
was my writing space. I sent the
basic idea for it shortly after I
came back, but as my feminist
consciousness developed and I
got to know the country b etter,
I felt more and m ore strongly
that I had som ething to say.
SA N D I: The book is very de­
tailed, wonderful descriptions
of the countryside and the
people who might be here post­
holocaust. D o you see any of
those things as really possible?
L O R A : It isn’t m eant to be
post-holocaust, actually, be­
cause I believe a holocaust will
wipe us out. B ut when I started
to think about w hat’s going to
happen, to research it, several
things came to my mind. Like
the fact that cutting down
forests and the burning of fossil
fuel m akes the tem perature of
the earth increase. The W est
A ntarctic Ice shelf could melt
— which would raise the level
of the ocean considerably —
probably eight m etres (25 ft)
higher than now. Then I
looked at the established nuc­
lear netw ork and thought
about “small” wars and nuclear
accidents — what would hap­
A Compelling Pictorial History
of Women's Working Lives
OPENING
International
MARCH
W om en's
8
Day
FOR TW O-W EEK SEASONS A T E ;
Academy Auckland
44
Broadsheet, March 1985
tel: 732-761
Academy Wellington
850-651
Academy Christchurch
266-102
first chapter off to the pub­
lisher after my w aters had bro­
ken . B ut I didn’t get it typed for
another two years. The first
publishers w eren’t interested,
then real life with three kids
took over — but I finally got it
typed and sent it to W endy
[H arrex, NW P], who accepted
it.
SA N D I: The story spins
around the journey o f a young
woman from A ntarctica who
has come to A otearoa — how
did you research A ntarctica?
LO R A : It was very difficult —
I was living n ear Kaikohe at the
time, and I had only the
Kaikohe library as a source.
The women there were w on­
derful — but it was very hard to
find the right stuff. D o you
know that the French have up­
graded their landing strip
th ere, supposedly to observe
the mating habits of some
birds, but they are now pros­
pecting there, doing geological
surveys, bringing in big aerop­
lanes — with the result that the
precious birds are being de­
stroyed because they are too
close to the landing strip now
that it’s used for larger aircraft.
I see that as a symbol of w hat’s
going to happen.
SA N D I: W hat are you working
on at the mom ent?
LO R A : I’m part of a w om en’s
writing coop in Colville, which
was inspired by R enee (whose
classes I’ve been to, and en­
joyed so much). O ne of the
women kept a journal during
her stay in the Cook Islands
which we felt should be pub­
lished. A fter a lot of searching
about, we talked with Marian
Evans of Spiral who suggested
that we publish the next Spiral
— which we are doing, with
that journal as part of its con­
tent. I’m not thinking of
another novel, but I have been
writing short stories. I need
some money really, before I
can think of doing anything
m ajor again. T hree children in
the country, living as we do, is
not the way to have money for
things like writing. B ut I ’m still
writing. The writing group
m eets every fortnight and we
write at those meetings. I look
forward to them so m uch, and
feel I’m developing trem end­
ously. The pleasure I get from
writing absolutely amazes me.
It just astonishes me again and
again that I can sit down with a
small idea or beginning — and
the writing comes. We need to
encourage each o th er all the
time, especially if we have chil­
dren — it’s rejuvenating and
inspiring to write — the group I
belong to is so supportive, and
it keeps each of us focused on
the writing, even though there
are to many other dem ands on
our lives. It’s a w om en’s group
as well as a w riters group. It
just renews us, all the tim e.o
NEIGHBOURHOOD SUPPORT
• R O U PV W O
The St Marys Bay N eighbour­
hood Support G roup has
launched a 30 m inute broad­
cast quality video to coincide
with the second printing of
their kit, “How to Set U p a
N eighbourhood G ro u p ” . The
video is designed to be used in
conjunction with the kit, espe­
cially as a starter for discussion
at meetings. The group is also
pushing for it to be screened on
television.
The new kit, which is white
instead of the original blue, is
basically the same as the first
edition with added inform ation
for older women. The direc­
tory has aso been carefully up­
dated. The 10,000 kits in this
reprint are to m eet the enorm ­
ous dem and facilitated by the
positive response from the
media, councils and individuals
setting up groups in their area.
The cost of producing the
second edition of the kit, and
the video, has been m et by
New Zealand News (publishers
of the New Zealand Woman’s
Weekly, and parent company
of Vid-Com) which offered ser­
vices, and the U nited Building
Society which gave considera­
bly financial backing. Both
companies paid for, and have
put their nam e to , pam phlets
on domestic violence, child
abuse and incest. It is interest­
ing that the private sector have
paid for the distribution of the
“knicker stickers” included in
the kit at a tim e when the stic­
kers have been banned by the
D epartm ent of Education.
The video, entitled “A Solu­
tion” , opens with the only
negative image in it: a
dram atised situation of people
isolated, fearful and unhappy
locked inside their homes. The
sets are imaginative and the e f-'
feet is haunting. The next scene
of a cricket match played by
happy looking St M arys Bay re­
sidents (in spite of the rain)
m akes a strong contrast that is
reinforced throughout.
It is rem arkable th at the
video has relied alm ost entirely
on positive images to discuss
violence. D ram atised scenes
show people responding to
prowlers that leaves them in
control of the situation, taking
planned and effective action
with im m ediate support from
neighbours.
In an early discussion of the
purpose of NSGs the point is
m ade that all violence has to be
confronted, including violence
in the hom e, and it is the latter
that has been given the most
time. W e are shown “safe” in­
stances of how NSG benefits
the community: finding mis­
sing children, helping older
people and neighbours get
together. Advice is given on
self defence and hom e safety,
followed by evidence that
crime is reduced in areas with
NSGs.
This leads gently into the
danger that exists within our
homes. Figures on the preva­
lence of rape, dom estic abuse
and incest which have long
been known but have received
little media attention are all
presented. The need to bring
incest into the open is em ­
phasised, and with the help of
the kit, pointers are given on
identifying problem s and sig­
nals, and places to seek help.
The two most m em orable
scenes are in the last section of
the video. H orrifying statis­
tics on child sexual abuse are
recited over a scene o f very
young girls dressed in white
tutus, practising ballet to classi­
cal music. The o th er is of three
women
talking
of
the
friendship they have found
Video Graphic by Lyndy McIntyre.
with one another through the
NSG. The women had been
next door neighbours for more
than 30 years, watched each
o ther’s families grow up and
had never spoken a word to
each other. O ne of the women
says th at in this age of technol­
ogy, society is held together by
people.
The video is difficult to fault.
It cuts across preconceived
ideas of sex, race, age and
class. It confronts issues left
untouched by the media. It is
provocative, informative and
accessible. But its greatest
value lies in its ability to leave
the viewer feeling excited and
optimistic,
“A Solution” offers exactly
that. Instead of concentrating
on unpalatable details and the
prevalence of violence it offers
a simple, easy and rewarding
path to a violence free com ­
munity. It should be shown on
television w ithout delay. “A
Solution” has the pow er to
change New Z ealanders’ view
of their society.
The kit may be collected free
and the video hired for $5.00
from any branch of the U nited
Building Society, or any office
of New Z ealand News. Copies
of the kit may also be obtained
by sending $1.00 for postage
from N SG , PO Box 47370,
Ponsonby, A uckland o r from
Jill Wilby, U nited Building
Society, PO Box 5744 W el­
lington.□
Stephanie Knight
WIOAH PMR RlVHITTOi
i|n ■■■■*■j■lfiwil
111!Ni S■in
ftV
A«
lln l B
rUiiIIV
111 fllkA
TWO O
Sr
rB fO i ■
R»uti U f t a p M I ,________
V ira go 1 9 «4 , >14.35________
Nearly 50 years ago, a middle
class
Eton-educated E ng­
lishman, Eric Blair, under­
took a journey to the D epres­
sion-struck north of England to
see for himself the living cir­
cumstances of working class
people. It was part of his urgent
desire to deny his privileged
origins and’ to know that sec­
tion o f the English population
usually unknown to people of
his class. The book he wrote
about his northern journey was
The Road to Wigan Pier and
his nom -de-plum e, G eorge O r­
well. Q uotations from O rw ell’s
book serve as epigraphs for
each
chapter of Beatrix
Cam pbell’s book. Wigan Pier
Revisited, an account of a simi­
lar journey undertaken in
1982. Beatrix Cam pbell is an
English journalist from a w ork­
ing class family, a socialist and
a feminist. (W ith A nna C oote
she wrote Sweet Freedom).
Both books describe a life so
grim and devoid of hope it is
shocking to realise that so little
has changed in 50 years.
H owever, there is a vast dif­
ference betw een the perspec­
tives o f Orwell and Campbell.
Orwell accepted w ithout ques­
tion the sexist nature of English
working class society — in fact,
women never feature much in
his work at all. R eferences to
women in his personal writing
(Collected Essays, Journalism
and Letters, four volumes,
Penguin) are denigrating and
dismissive. The fem ale charac­
ters in his novels are invariably
stupid and selfish. Julia in 1984
is quite uninterested in any­
thing intellectual— she falls as­
leep when W inston reads
G oldstein’s book to her and
quickly betrays W inston when
interrogated.
T here is a great deal in
C am pbell’s book about women
and many quotations from
w om en’s descriptions of their
lives— one chapter on the lives
of m others, another on the
women in a refuge Campbell
stayed in. Many women de­
scribe the effects of redun­
dancy and unem ploym ent on
their husbands and their tre at­
m ent of them . The picture is
bleak and depressing. H ere’s a
women describing her m ar­
riage:
“H e always liked to say what
was going to be done, he was
very dom ineering. I’d gener­
ally talk him round, but never
answer back. H e’d threaten
th at I’d not get any money the
Broadsheet, March 1985
Shipyard workers in Sunderland,
1983, from Wigan Pier Revisited.
next w eek, but I’d always man­
ages to .”
A nd a m iner’s wife:
“The men w orked but they
often drank away what they
worked for. All they cared
about was drink. They didn’t
care about the home. You just
thought this was your life, you
just put up with it.”
Orwell always had an escape
when he lived among the w ork­
ing class and tended to rom an­
ticise their lives. It is the proles
in 1984, leading an instinctive,
animal-like existence who pro­
vide the only hope for resis­
tance to Big B rother that O r­
well allows. Cam pbell, with
m ore
experience
and
perspicacity, has great respect
for the grim endurance of the
women but strong criticism of
the entrenched sexism of the
men. In the first chapter of the
book she admits, “ I began as
the kind of feminist who said,
‘It’s not m en, it’s the system ,’
but this journey convinced me
( that men and masculinity, in
their everyday,
individual
m anifestations, constitute a
systematic block of resistance
to the women of their comm un­
ity and class.”
A bout one-third of the book
looks at men, in the workplace
with one chapter on miners, re­
dundancy, and in trade unions.
46
Broadsheet, March 1985
The m iner’s chapter is espe­
cially interesting when related
to the current m iner’s strike.
Campbell describes miners as
“m en’s love object. They bring
together all the necessary ele­
ments of rom ance. Life itself is
endangered, their enem y is the
elem ents, their tragedy derives
from forces greater than they,
forces o f nature and vengeful
acts of G o d .” A s she relates,
Orwell was captivated by the
glam our of miners and m akes
them central to his book.
Cam pbell’s final chapter re­
turns to The Road to Wigan
Pier and gives her critical as­
sessment of it and Orwell’s at­
titude to the working-class.
The whole book is an im por­
tant feminist critique o f one of
the most influential English
writers of this century.
H er style of writing is direct
and lucid, achieving a good ba­
lance betw een the personal and
the general. She manages to be
both com passionate and hon­
estly analytical. Even though
this book is about England,
there is much of interest for
anyone involved in work pol­
itics in New Z ealand. In addi­
tion the book deepens our
understanding
of
English
working class life.
While I was reading this
book, the words of B lake’s
poem “Jerusalem ” kept echo­
ing in my mind. The human
suffering created by his “dark
Satanic mills” are still a dread­
ful blight on “E ngland’s green
and pleasant land” and the sol­
utions for their elimination
seem no nearer than they did to
him.n
H elen W atson
M Y HOME, M Y PRISON,
Kaymondq TawH,_________
Zed P r w i1983, $19.9S.
It takes rare courage to fight
both personal and political o p ­
pression. R aym onda Tawil has
fought on the two levels with
rem arkable success. B orn into
a conservative Palestinian fam ­
ily, she realized from an early
age the restrictions placed on
women in traditional A rab soc­
iety and was determ ined not to
be trapped by such limitations.
She m arried and had five chil­
dren but this didn’t hinder her
personal developm ent and
growth.
The A rab feminist m ove­
ment is often m isrepresented
by the W est and this book is
one of the few available that
redresses the balance. Libera­
tion m eans a very different
thing for -.vomen in the Third
W orld. U nintentionally, Is­
rael’s occupation of Palestine
brought about considerable
progress in the w om en’s move­
m ent. The sharp change in the
status of A rab women came
about by virtue of the prom i­
nent role they played in the re­
sistance organisations. Many
who initially were forced
through economic necessity to
work found that their self-esteem rose and they gained a
new sense of their own worth.
T he
w om en’s
m ovem ent
gained m om entum from the
tim e o f the
1967 war.
Raym onda sees the defeat of
the A rabs in 1967 as, to a large
extent, the defeat of A rab
m en, for women were released
from traditional shackles and
thus free to develop their re­
volutionary consciousness. She
gives a vivid description of the
protest actions, staged from
1968, and the often violent re­
percussions.
On the political level My
Home. My Prison reveals what
it is to be Palestinian.
R aym onda’s first eight years
were spent as a Palestinian liv­
ing in Palestine. In 1948 Pales­
tine becam e Israel. The impact
on the author was profound.
She saw families separated and
bew ilderm ent all around. H ere
is invaluable m aterial for
people who wish to understand
events in Israel and the oc­
cupied territories. The frustra­
tion and anger of a people
whose very existence was for a
time denied, and whose rights
are still being denied, are seen
through the eyes of the victims
rath er than (as with most books
on this topic) those of the vic­
tors.
My Home, My Prison was
written while Raym onda was
under house arrest. The Israeli
authorities placed her in such
confinem ent to try to silence
her outspoken opposition to
their military occupation. For a
time they disconnected her
phone and she was not perm it­
ted visitors; a serious blow as
she had by this time become
unofficial press officer for the
occupied West Bank and lib­
eral Israelis. Foreign newsmen
and diplom ats had come to rely
on her as a source of accurate
inform ation. It was largely due
to her work that the myth of the
“benign occupation” was ex­
posed.
This book provides valuable
insight into the thinking of one
of the prime movers in the
Palestinian feminist m ovem ent
and the difficult choices she
had to make betw een personal
freedom and fighting for the
freedom of her people. H er
forthrightness and single-min­
dedness are exceptional and
her refusal to fit into a categ­
ory, despite trem endous pres­
sures is adm irable. It is hoped
this book will be widely read by
all who are attem pting to un­
derstand
what
liberation
means to women in the Third
W orld : it is a moving account
of a woman with the courage of
her convictions.□
Catherine Frey
HELP HEALTH BOOKS
Published by Hie
e LD -wutllw
« . »li r i v l l f
w
London W M ,____________
$9.30 u ch
Glossy pink covers, using the
biological symbol for women
and line drawings to attract
women buyers. This series of
books is obviously a response
to the success of o ther (often
feminist) authors in writing for
the w om en’s health m arket.
This series is better than some
that have appeared.
U nfortunately its good parts
are often outweighed by the
emphasis on orthodox medical
views of w om en’s health. More
obvious in the book on the pill
than elsewhere, there is an un­
derlying medical approach in
the series. H owever, they do
give a lot of space to other
views of treatm ent and are de­
signed for self help rather than
health service intervention.
The cost of these books
would m ake them far too ex­
pensive for many women. I
suppose if you were a sufferer
of thrush you might feel it was
w orth spending this money but
they are m ore likely to find
their way onto library shelves.
T here is a token acknow­
ledgem ent of the work of many
women in the health move­
m ent in exposing and inves­
tigating these problem s and
raising the aw areness o f the
health
services.
However,
these are establishm ent books,
not designed to look too closely
at the society which is the basis
of many of the problem s that
women face. These books em ­
phasise the individual ap­
proach to illness.
Being English books there
are only limited resources
listed for New Z ealand. These
,do not include the W om en’s
Health N etw ork, Broadsheet.
or other feminist resources.
Women and Depression by
D eidre Saunders is a very basic
book, there are b etter availa­
ble. It is well w ritten and easy
to understand, with some use­
ful exercises and a mild
feminist awareness. It covers
tranquillizers, dealing with
doctors, m enopause, PM T and
post partum depression as well
as depression in general.
Women and Tranquillizers by
Celia H addon is the best of the
series. U nfortunately it is very
specific to the effects and prob­
lems of benzodiazepam s. It
uses case histories to illustrate
the range of effects that can be
experienced. It is informative
but not political o r feminist.
There are some good sugges­
tions on ways of dealing with
stress and anxiety and a useful
section on how to reduce your
drug intake w ithout serious ef­
fects.
Lifting the Curse is by Beryl
Kingston. Perhaps because its
author is involved with the Na­
tional Childbirth Trust this
book seems more woman
orientated and useful. It does
have a mild feminist perspec­
tive on the effects of women’s
social roles on their health. It
has some useful material on
exercise and diet. However
much of it seems unrealistic for
working w om en, or women
with pre-schoolers or other
women with busy lives. It also
sometimes has a condescend­
ing tone, rather like being lec­
tured to.
Everything you need to Know
About the Pill by Wendy
C ooper and D r Tom Smith is
the least useful book in the
series. I felt it was a totally in­
adequate look at this huge and
crucial area. It also very heav­
ily uses the health service/doc­
tor approach. It does not deal
well with issues such as teenage
pregnancy, side effects and
problems in taking the pill.
Thrush by Caroline Clayton
also deals with thrush and
other aspects of vaginal infec­
tions and cervical and vaginal
problem s. It is well written and
covers most of the issues. The
best section is the one on diet
and self help rem edies. This
contained some useful new in­
form ation about B vitamins.
A t the end of the book is a use­
ful check list about thrush, its
causes and cures.o
Sarah Calvert
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