The Bro Code: How contemporary Culture Creates Sexist Men
Directed by Michael Enriques, Mitch Lemos and Thomas Keith (2011)
Film Review
This documentary explores how for-profit corporate capitalist culture tries to deliberately transform boys into sexist men.
It begins by looking at the role MTV* and other media outlets play in teaching men how to “womanize.” When MTV was first founded in 1981, its major focus was music videos. devoted to playing music videos. In recent years, it has mainly featured reality TV programs about drinking and womanizing, like Jersey Shore and Spring Break. In these and similar shows, the primary role of women is to serve as sex objects and compete for the attention of men.
According to filmmakers, college fraternities go one step further, with their notorious “bros and hos” and “No means yes and yes means anal” parties, to promote a literal rape culture. In this environment, committing date rape (by getting naive women drunk and/or slipping “ruffies”** into their drinks) is considered a rite of passage.
Rape, occurring mainly in freshman women, has reached crisis point on many US university campuses. In 84% of cases, victims know their assailants. College age women are four times more likely to be raped than any other age group, with 56% of college males stating they would commit rape if they thought they could get away with it.
The documentary also blames dysfunctional attitudes towards women on Internet pornography, which is now the main form of sex education for US adolescent males. Internet pornography typically depicts women as sex starved and saying no as a form of flirting. Especially concerning is the extremely popular “Gonzo Porn,” a type of hate porn that glorifies rape. Many college age men are so immersed in Internet porn that they become impotent in face-to-face sexual interactions.
This documentary is about the life of Hedy Lamarr, the glamorous movie star who invented frequency hopping radio transmission. This technology is currently used used for GPS, wifi, bluetooth, military satellites, cellphones and nuclear launch technology. Most of the film is based on an interview she gave Fleming Meeks in May 1990 for Forbes magazine. She was 76 at the time.
Born in 1941 in Austria as Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler, Hedy starred in her first movie in Austria at age 17. She married a Nazi munitions manufacturer at 19. Fearful of persecution for her Jewish background, she secretly fled to London four years later.
She landed a studio contract with MGM, starring with Charles Boyer in her first major film (Algiers) in 1938. During the war, she briefly dated Howard Hughes, who built her her a chemistry lab in her home after she improved the aerodynamic design of his aircraft. Together with composer George Anthell, she developed a radio guidance system fir Allied torpedoes using frequency-hopping spread spectrum technology.
A strong advocate for women’s equality, she hated the way the major studios type cast her as a pretty face, and produced three films herself.
Lamarr was married and divorced six times and had three children she raised as a single mother. During her stint at MGM, she, like many other stars came under the care of “Dr Feelgood” (Dr Max Jacobson). Jacobson, who worked for MGM for roughly 20 years (until he lost his license in 1974), gave many stars all “vitamin” shots to help them work the 70-80 hour weeks demanded of them. The shot’s main ingredient turned out to be methamphetamine.
Her ongoing amphetamine addiction was responsible for major work and family difficulties. When interviewed in 1990, she had a total income of $300 a month from Social Security.
The US government never paid her for her invention, and she died in 2000.
Full film can be seen through your library on Beamafilm.
This 2017 documentary is a tribute to the late feminist Native American Wilma Mankiller, the first woman to become a Cherokee Nation Principal chief in 1985.
The precolonial Cherokee Nation as a matriarchal society in which children, property and homes all belonged to women. Early British settlers belittled the Cherokee as a “petticoat” culture because female elders to signed along with men. With the Trail of Tears and the mass relocation of Cherokee from the Southeast to Oklahoma, European patriarchal values (which treated women as chattel) gradually prevailed.
Mankiller was born to an extremely poor family in Mankiller Flats Oklahoma. In the mid fifties the family was relocated to San Francisco by the same US official responsible for Japanese internment during World War II. There the family were housed in the notorious Hunter’s Point housing project.
During the 1960s, Mankiller worked together with United Food Workers activist Dolores Huerta and helped the Black Panthers with their children’s breakfast program. In 1969 she participated in the Native American occupation of Alcatraz and Pitt River land seized illegally by PG&E and the federal government.
In 1977, she returned to Mankiller Flats, where she launched numerous community projects to assist local Cherokee communities to become independent of corrupt Bureau of Indian Affairs (BAF) control. Elected deputy chief in 1983, she assumed the role of Principal Chief in 1985, after Clinton appointed her predecessor as Undersecretary of the Interior. She was elected in her own right in 1985 and 1990.
After developing lymphoma in 1995, she chose not to run for reelection. Nevertheless she continued to actively campaign for her tribe’s economic and political independence until her death in 2010.
One of her most important achievements was involving the Cherokee Nation in the gaming industry. This not only freed them from economic dependence on the BAF, but created thousands of jobs and funded the construction of four major health care centers.
As of 2011 (when this film was made), an estimated half million military women (20%) had been raped. Likewise an estimated 15% of incoming male recruits had either attempted or successfully committed rape.
Officers who engage in rape are often repeat offenders. In 2011, the only option a rape victim had was to report it to his/her commanding officer. Obviously when the commanding officer committed the rape (in 25% of cases), the woman didn’t report it. Nor when the the perpetrator was friends with the commanding officer (in 33% of cases).
When military rape victims do report the crime, the vast majority are pressured to withdraw their complaint with the treat of punitive retaliation. This can range from court martial for filing a false report, adultery, public intoxication, demotion or undesirable discharge without benefits. The PTSD rate is higher for rape victims than combat survivors, and 40% of homeless female veterans report a history of being raped.
Aside from the fact that the woman’s commanding officer is often the perpetrator, military officers (unlike civilian prosecutors) have no training whatsoever in law or criminal investigation.
Approximately 1% of military men (an estimated 10,000 troops) report experiencing sexual assault in the past year. They are even less likely to report it than women.
The documentary includes excerpts of interviews with dozens of military rape victims, as well as from four Congressional hearings on the issue.
In 2011, a group of military rape victims filed a lawsuit against former secretaries of defense Donald Rumsfeld and Robert Gates for failing to protect them from sexual assault. The court dismissed the case, ruling that rape is an occupational hazard of military.
The film ends with a postscript that on viewing the film, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta changed the rape reporting procedures to allow victims to report the crime to officers higher up in the command hierarchy. Given their lack of legal investigative training, this doesn’t seem to have increased conviction rates – or reduced the incidence of military rape. By the Pentagon’s own admission, the incidence continues to increase. See US Supreme Court Hears Case of Military Rape and Statue of Limitation
My favorite for many years, Ken Loach is the only filmmaker anywhere to unflinchingly portray the exploitation, oppression, injustice and physical and emotional abuse endured by working class women. In doing so, he is one of a tiny handful of directors to speak up for society’s voiceless.
He first announced his retirement in 2014 at age 74, only to come out of retirement two months later to make his “final” film I, Daniel Blake, released in 2016. Then in 2019, he released Sorry We Missed You.
Loach was born in Warwickshire England to a working class Tory family. He became interested in theater while studying law (which he never practiced) at Oxford. When the government launched BBC 2 in the early sixties, Ken and his working class mates were hired to write, direct and produce working class dramas for the new network.
Loach first received worldwide attention for his TV drama Cathy Come Home, about a woman who loses her three children to social welfare when she becomes homeless. His 1969 feature film Kes (about a working class boy who raises and trains a kestrel hawk), won a British Film Institute. In 1971 he released Rank and File about the betrayal of grassroots union members by trade union bureaucrats and the Labour Party.
Unable to release any films with Thatcher in power, he mainly directed TV commercials during this time. Distributors initially refused to release his 1990 Hidden Agenda, produced in 1990 – until it won the Special Jury Award at the Cannes Film Festival. The film is a political thriller film about British state terrorism in Northern Ireland.
Other films highlighted in the film include:
Riff Raff (1992), about the misery of British working life following the massive deindustrialization that occurred under Thatcher.
Raining Stones (1993) about a man who turns to petty crime to his daughter a First Communion Dress.
Ladybird, Ladybird (1994) about a battered woman who loses her baby to social welfare.
Land and Freedom, 1995, about the people’s army that fought in the Spanish Civil War
My Name is Joe, (1998) about an unemployed former alcoholic
The Angel’s Share, 2012, about a working class Glaswegian who narrowly avoids prison when he helps smuggle Scotch whiskey out of a distillery (Angel’s Share refers to the portion of whiskey lost to evaporation during aging).
In his pursuit of genuine authenticity and intimacy, Loach frequently casts working class actors with no prior acting experience. To make their responses more spontaneous, He typically films them one scene at a time without letting them see the rest of the script.
For example, in Land and Freedom a brilliant and charismatic (female) evolutionary is shot and killed in the middle of the film. The rest of the cast have no idea this is coming, and the shock and distress they manifest is surreal.
In the US, it is quite common to see African American girls excluded from school for “insubordination.” The label tends to have a very different meaning for white and Black teachers. It is common for white teachers to misconstrue a Black girl’s distress over heavy family responsibility or bullying as a bad attitude.
In primary school, Black girls are six times more likely than white girls to receive one or more suspensions.
In high school, they are three times more likely than white girls to be suspended.
At all levels, they are three times more likely to be physically restrained.
In high school, they are twice as likely to receive corporal punishment.
In high school, they are three times more likely to be referred to law enforcement.
The suicide rate of Black students of either sex is twice that of white students.
Overall there is growing concern about all US teenagers being stripped of their First and Fourth amendment in public schools. The film refers to a 12-year-old Black girl being forcibly strip searched by her principal for “being too happy.”
The filmmakers interview an African American judge who reveals that sexual abuse and/or neglect is the common denominator for Black girls who end up in the criminal justice system. When they are pushed out of school for “attitude” problems, they are the drop-outs most likely to be assaulted and/or sex trafficked on the street. And despite being the victims of sex trafficking, the girls themselves are targeted for prosecution.
Much of the film was shot in a New York program where teachers receive specialized training in working with traumatized students and employ resource materials openly acknowledging the oppression experienced by African American girls and their families. In an environment free of surveillance, policing and a punitive attitude towards discipline, students learning to de-escalate their anger and openly express their vulnerability.
Public library patrons can view the full film free at Beamafilm.
The Man Card: White Male Identity Politics from Nixon to Trump
Directed by Jackson Katz (2000)
Film Review
This documentary reveals how Trump’s tough guy, misogynist persona isn’t a new phenomena – that it results from a 50-year-old Republican strategy to steal white working class votes from the Democratic Party.
Filmmaker Katz credits Nixon campaign advisors Roger Ailes (who would go on to launch Fox News in 1996) and Lee Atwater with instigating the strategy. Inspired by George Wallace’s ability to win five states as the American Independent Party candidate, Ailes tapped into the growing Southern backlash (which had voted Democratic since the Civil War) over Lyndon Johnson’s 1968 Civil Rights Act. Ailes could sense growing anxiety among all white working class males for what they perceived as the “feminization” of society by expanding rights for women, gays and minorities. Ailes would go on to craft a Nixon campaign that would do nothing to improve livings condition of working class men. Instead it would entice them to vote Republican by defending their cultural norms.
Nixon (1969 – 74)
The Nixon campaign would emphasize a strong military (and support for the Vietnam War) and a tough on crime stance, while simultaneously portraying McGovern as a pacifist liberal elite (despite McGovern’s strong labor background and status as a decorated World War II pilot).
Reagan (1981 – 88)
Republicans would amplify the strategy during the 1980 Reagan campaign, portraying Reagan (a prominent member of California’s country club elite) as a cowboy and man of the people and Carter as too soft and sensitive to stand up to the Soviets. It was during the Reagan campaign that the Republican Party captured the votes of white evangelical Christians experiencing growing concerns about threats posed to their traditional patriarchal order by feminists, gays and women working outside the home.
George H W Bush (1998 – 92)
Bush senior, the next Republican president, also had a wimp problem owing to his elitist Ivy League background. However with Ailes and Lee Atwater as his advisors, he successfully reversed Dukakis’s initial l 17 point lead by portraying Dukakis as wimpier.
Clinton (1993 – 2000)
In 1992 Clinton won back some of the working class vote, by positioning himself as tougher on crime (supporting the death penalty, harsh law and order initiatives and major welfare reform) than Bush. However this would not stop Rush Limbaugh, other right wing talk radio hosts and Fox News from exploiting white male anxiety about their changing roles. The result would be the Republicans’ recapture of the House (under Newt Gingrich) for the first time in 40 years.
George W Bush (2001 – 2008)
Bush junior would deliberately purchase a ranch in Texas (to conceal his own elitist background) to prepare for his presidential campaign. He would be constantly depicted in the media wearing cowboy hats, driving pickups and clearing brush. In Bush’s case, the strategy would be less effective. Exit polls and evidence of computerized vote rigging suggests Democrat candidates Gore and Kerry won both the popular and electoral college vote in 2000 and 2004.*
Obama (2009 – 2016)
Although Obama lost the white male vote in 2008 and 2012, he more than made up for it in other demographic support. Fox News and other right wing media outlets would foment a massive backlash against the election of an African American to the White House. This would result in the the formation of the Tea Party, Minutemen and “Birther” movement (alleged controversy over Ovama’s birth certificate), in which Donald Trump was a major figurehead.
Trump (2017 – )
Trump has been a master at tapping into white male anxiety. According to Katz, he easily won the Republican primaries by ridiculing the manhood of his Republican opponents. He portrays himself as a “blue collar” billionaire, glorifying gun culture and tapping into evangelical masculinity (despite his playboy reputation), while running an unapologetically misogynist campaign. His rise to power parallels the rise of strong misogynistic leaders around the world (eg Bolsonaro, Putin, Xi Jingping, and Erdogan).
Burkinabé Rising: The Art of Resistance in Bukina Faso
Directed by Lara Lee (2017)
Film Review
Burkinabé Rising is about the 2014 revolution in Burkina Faso which overthrew dictator Blaise Compaoré after 27 years in power. To the best of my knowledge the event received no coverage whatsoever in the Western media. The vast majority of Americans have never even heard of Burkina Faso. I confess I first discovered the west African country when I heard their music performed at Womad* in 2000.
Burkina Faso is bordered by Mali, Niger, Benin, Togo, Ghana, and Ivory Coast. It has a population of 20 million (four times the size of New Zealand). They received their independence from France in 1960.
The primary focus of the film is the historical use of art (music, modern dance, hip hop, visual arts, slam poetry, drama, and traditional masks and mud hut architecture) to raise revolutionary consciousness among young Bukinabé.
Music and dance have been especially successful in evading censorship while preserving the memory of revolutionary leader Thomas Sankara and investigative journalist Norbert Zonga. Both were assassinated by Compaoré and his family (Sankara in 1987 and Zonga in 1998).
The use of art in preparing the Bukinabé for full self-government has continued since Compaoré’s ouster in 2014. The role of women, the breadwinners of two-thirds of the country’s households, is of prime importance. At present several grassroots campaigns focus on women’s literacy and the education of girls, as well as the participation of women in civic organization.
There’s also a major emphasis on reviving indigenous languages and reducing food imports by banning GMOs and returning to traditional organic agriculture.
*Womad (World of Music, Arts and Dance) is an international arts festival celebrating the world’s many forms of music, arts and dance. My local city New Plymouth hosts Womad every March.
This is a 2017 Press TV documentary about the British failure to successfully investigate and prosecute rape cases. The statistics they uncover are appalling:
Between 2013-2017, Britain experienced a 150% increase in rapes. During this period, only 3% of rape complaints went to trial.
Between 2016-2017, Britain experienced a 30% increase in rapes, simultaneous with a 30% cut in police resources.
British police accuse rape victims of lying in 20% of cases.*
In 30 years, Rape Crisis London has experienced only one successful rape conviction.
Only 5.7% of suspected rape suspects go to prison for their crime.
Convicted sex offenders (including child molesters) only spend an average of four years in prison (sentences are much shorter than for theft and drug offenses, presumably due to their low economic impact).
Most convicted rapists re-offend (ie commit rape) within one year of leaving prison.
Increasingly British gangs employ rape for vendettas because the sentences are so short.
Although the film is limited to an examination of the British criminal justice system, the US and New Zealand experience similar low prosecution rates for rape.
The Empathy Gap: Masculinity and the Courage to Change
Directed by Thomas Keith (2015)
Film Review
This documentary asserts our culture traps men in a stereotypical gender role, just as it does women. Stereotypical masculinity requires contemporary men not to express feelings (except anger), not to show empathy or vulnerability, to control and dominate (with violence if necessary), to excel at athletics, to degrade women, and to accumulate material possessions.
Research indicates boys tend to be open about expressing feelings until age 14, when they become terrified of being labeled “faggots” or “wusses” if they are at all open with emotions or feelings of vulnerability.
Contemporary society also socializes men to have little interest (outside the sexual arena*) in the experiences of women. Our culture typically portrays women as incompetent, unreliable, and emotional. Most of this socialization occurs very early in life via the media.
The filmmakers share vignettes five-year-old children of both sexes consistently choosing boy dolls as “smarter” and girl dolls “as nicer.”
According to Keith, Donald Trump, more than any other contemporary male figure personifies this stereotypical masculinity. The latter carefully cultivates an image of being tough, distant, and demeaning to women. As part of this script he nearly always addresses conflict with aggression and rarely displays any emotions other than anger.
Sadly little has changed in fifty years. A comparison of the idiocies broadcast by right wing commentators such as Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Bill O’Reilly, and Erick Erikson reveals little difference between their personna and that of the fictional Archie Bunker in the 1970s TV series All in the Family.
Research shows men in groups are more likely to exhibit toxic masculinity than men on their own.
*In my experience, most men aren’t very interested in women’s sexuality, either.
Anyone with a public library card can view the film free at Kanopy. Type “Kanopy” and the name of your library into your search engine.
The Most Revolutionary Act 