GIRLS ARE AWESOME...SPARK SUMMIT!
I was sent a link to this organization the other day, and it sounds like a wonderful group for women and girls to get involved with. Taken from their website:
"SPARK is a girl-fueled activist movement to demand an end to the sexualization of women and girls in media. We're collaborating with hundreds of girls 13-22 and more than 60 national organizations to reject the commodified, sexualized images of girls in media and support the development of girls' healthy sexuality and self-esteem."
They also recently posted on their fb page this story about Brave's Director Brenda Chapman, who was removed from the film halfway through, despite the fact that she wrote the story. As she states:
"This was a story that I created, which came from a very personal place, as a woman and a mother. To have it taken away and given to someone else, and a man at that, was truly distressing on so many levels.”
And then she goes on to make this really wonderful point:
“Sometimes women express an idea and are shot down, only to have a man express essentially the same idea and have it broadly embraced,” she writes. “Until there is a sufficient number of women executives in high places, this will continue to happen.”
As a female artist I've definitely had male artists steal from me before, and then take credit for my work. I've also had male artists go way out of their way to try to steal from me, and it's made me feel more hesitant with sharing anything I'm working on with them or even talking about it with any man. It definitely makes you feel very violated, especially as a woman. The male population feels very entitled to just show up and take whatever it is they want from you, because you're a woman, only to throw you away like trash once they're done with you. I think because art directly comes from your heart and soul, and is definitely an extension of yourself, it makes it so much worse. I think the term "devastating" which is the same term she used, is definitely the word I would use to describe it.
To read the entire article, or to learn more about Spark check out the links below!
http://insidemovies.ew.com/2012/08/15/brave-director-brenda-chapman-breaks-silence-getting-taken-off-film-heartbreaking-devastating-distressing/
http://www.sparksummit.com/
