ITEMS Video Descriptions


Can Working Women Have it All
WMS VT0218

Can women combine careers with successful home lives & not die of exhaustion in pursuit of superwomanhood? Panelists Kate Rand Lloyd of Working Woman magazine & Sylvia Hewlett, author of A Lesser Life: The Myth of Women's Liberation in America join Phil Donahue in exploring issues confronting today's women. 28 min.


Sexual Harrassment on the Job
WMS VT0219

Over 70% of women experience pressure to exchange favors for advancement or continued employment some time during their working lives. Phil Donahue is joined by Susan Meyer of Working Women's Institute, who explains how women get themselves into difficult situations & how to handle harassment. 28 min


Visions of the Spirit: A Portrait of Alice Walker
WMS VT0221

Portrait of Alice Walker explores compassion, insight & strength that have made her one of most admired women in U.S. Explores roots of Walker's Southern Black feminist consciousness through indepth conversations with writer & members of her family. A perfect introduction to writer for literature, Black & women's studies classes, libraries & general audiences. 1989. 58 min.


Dr. Benice Sandler (10/91)
WMS VT0341

Speaks on Women's Issues. BU. 90 min. 10/91


Sex & Gender
WMS VT0375

Examines lives of 3 women of different generations. Analyzes the effects of sex ratios & gender-related norms. Investigates sociological perspectives on gender based social stratification, as well as social changes as a result of women's movement. 20 min 1991


Dating Rites: Gang Rape On Campus
WMS VT1100

This documentary on gang rape and acquaintance rape is a compelling view of waht is happening on college campuses. Includes an interview with gang-rape survivor Meg Davis, who tells how the attacks still affects her life, even eight years later. We also hear from a convicted rapist, who gives compelling and disturbing insights into the psyche of the perpetrator. Included in the program is an eight minute re-enactment illustrating how a gang rape develops. The viewer will see, through the perspective of both men and women, how a party can turn into tragedy. The documentary also calls upon professionals: rape crisis counselors, psychologists, and sociologists. 1992. 28 min


Vivian Makosky Lecture (3/92)
WMS VT0386

Speaker at BU 3/92


Women of Hull House
WMS VT0401

Contains selection of books & articles relating to work of women of Hull House; although we have not attempted to list all works by other Hull House residents, since their output was so extensive. Much new scholarship is currently being done on these very influential women.


Womans Health
WMS VT0534

Portrait of 7 women involved in fighting health battles most often confronted by women in America today; heart disease, breast cancer, osteoporosis, domestic violence, & depression. 58 min


Hope is a Literate Woman
WMS VT0657

Hillary Rodham Clinton, tells stories of women in Africa, Asia, Latin America & US that unite all women. Personal triumphs & various roles women play all over world is makeup of program. 60 min


Other Angels
WMS VT0682

Stories of nurses in war. 1995


Heaven Will Protect The Working Girl
WMS VT0709

By 1900 America's industrial growth had transformed US into world power. Nation's wealth & population were growing yet poverty, corruption & economic instability were widespread. Responding to these problems, Americans created a new & more active form of government that would shape American life for next 100 years. Seeking to improve their lives, immigrant women like Ida & Angelica made alliances with reformers & suffragists & joined unions. Struggling to bring about change, they became part of a diverse & turbulent social movement that transformed their own lives & those of other Americans. 28 min


Get Real: Straight Talk About Womens Health
WMS VT0784

Story several women & issues they faced & dealt with during an age of personal change: late teens & early twenties: from nutrition & fitness to alcohol & substance abuse, eating disorders to sexual harassment & rape, sexually transmitted diseases including HIV/AIDS. Suggestions for building, maintaining or improving personal wellness that will help young women get & stay healthy.


One Woman One Vote
WMS VT0912

How could America call itself world's greatest democracy but deny right to vote to more than half its citizens? Why did so many people of both genders oppose giving women vote & how was attitude overcome? Documents 70-year battle for woman suffrage, which finally culminated in passing of the 19th Amendment to Constitution. 106 min


Sexism in Language
WMS VT0963

Presents closely analyzed examples that show how sexism & antisexism may be contained in language use - in song lyrics, everyday conversation, newspaper reports, written conventions and satire. 26 min 1999


Ida B. Wells: A Passion for Justice
WMS VT1001

1865 - Civil War is over; slaves could marry; within 2 years black men would be able to vote. Ida B. Wells would discover that promises of freedom & justice would not be kept. She was born in 1852 before close of Civil War. Her father was a slave. Words of Ida B. are read by Toni Morrison. Ida's mother & father died of yellow fever when she was 16 & she would launch a campaign against oppression that would be felt for years. 54:18 min


Period Piece
WMS VT1075

Different kind of film about menstruation - one that celebrates this rite of passage in a girl's life. Women of various ages share how they felt when they got their first period. They tell about how they were or were not prepared. We learn about family dynamics, society's attitude toward menstruation & girls' feelings about womanhood. Old educational films are revisited in new ways adding humor & historical perspective. A film about a topic long considered taboo. 2000. 30 min


Sexual Stereotypes In Media: Superman And The Bride
WMS VT1082

Explores history of sexual stereotypes as presented in media. Film clips, TV ads & sitcoms & so-called documentaries from 1940s, 50s, & 60s show men as domineering masters & women as subordinates. As a classroom teaching tool, program encourages discussions regarding media's continuing role in reinforcing sexual stereotypes as well as ongoing sexual biases that nurture them. 35 min


Midwifes Tale
WMS VT1167

The true tale of two women, 200 years apart, linked by the massive yet cryptic diary one of them left behind. The world of frontier midwife Martha Ballard gradually takes shape as author and historian Laurel Ulrich pieces it together, "A Midwife's Tale" unfolds in a small Maine town during the turbulent decades following the American Revolution - a time when social change and religious conflict are rife, and survival is a full-time job. 88 min.


Out In Suburbia: The Stories Of Eleven Lesbians
WMS VT1230

This remarkably honest & revealing documentary shatters the stereotypes held by many people unfamiliar with the gay community. Eleven women discuss with heartwarming frankness their lives in local neighborhoods, covering a wide range of issues including marriage, motherhood, discrimination, stereotypes & female roles. "Out in Suburbia" shows us that many lesbians have mainstream values & lead convential lives. This film reaches out to classes on human sexuality, psychology, women's issues & lifestyles. 28 min


Beyond Killing Us Softly: The Strength To Resist
WMS VT1321

Video looks at girls to women. At a very young age (5) girls are strong and very sure of where they're going. By the adolesence they lose their strength and self esteem. They don't seem able to separate the inner world to the outer one. They don't speak deeply; are high risk for eating and learning disorders. Their main worries are how they look, their youth and their weight. They live under a great false image; don't seem to realize that models don't actually look like the image of them on a magazine cover; after air brushing. They are convinced if they buy certain products it will automatically make them look the way they want. 33.50 min


Dreamworlds II
WMS VT1322

DreamWorlds II powerfully illustrates the systematic representations of women in music video and how these representations tell a dangerous and narrow set of stories about what it means to be female or male; stories which impact how women think about themselves sexually and how men think sexually about women. Shocking and disturbing DreamWorlds II gives us a critical distance from images which have become so ubiquitous and normal they are almost invisible. Originally produced in 1991 DreamWorlds has been updated in it's second edition. 57 min


Girls Town
WMS VT1404

Gritty coming-of-age tale of four tough inner-city high school friends and the unexpected forces that threaten to tear them apart. They have only a few weeks left to their senior year before they graduate and go their separate ways. It's a bittersweet time for these unlikely best friends, who together have shared the many challenges of growingup female. Suddenly, an unforseen tragedy shatters their already fragile world, hurling them into a soul-wrenching struggle over loyalty, love, betrayal and identity in this funny, raw, exciting slice of real life. 90 minutes Color


Killing Us Softly 3
WMS VT1418

Jean Kilbourne's pioneering work helped develop and popularize the study of gender representation in advertising. Her award-winning films Killing Us Softly (1979) and Still Killing Us Softly (1987) have influenced millions of college and high school students across two generations and on an international scale. In this important new film, Kilbourne reviews if and how the image of women in advertising has changed over the last 20 years. With wit and warmth, Kilbourne uses over 160 ads and commercials to critique advertising's image of women. By fostering creative and productive dialouge, she invites viewers to look at familiar images in a new way that moves and empowers them to take action. color/34min/The Media Education Foundation film/2000


Famine Within
WMS VT1451

This searing documentary looks at the obsesion of women with the size and the shape of their bodies. Under the coercive power of consumerism and the mass media, women have come to view their bodies as marketable objects and to judge them according to unrealistic standards. Paradoxically, this anxious quest for the perfect body exists in our culture at eh same time that the feminist movement decries the role of woman as a sex object. Using a dramatic visual approach, the film explores the complex causes that lie at the heart of this paradox. Color/55 min/not rated/1990


Waiting to Exhale
WMS VT1555

A funny and touching film about four women who find strength through their rare and special friendship. Savannah, Bernadine, Robin, and Gloria are all searching for The Real Thing: true love. Bernadine throught she had it, until her husband left her for another woman. Savannah and Robin are successful in business but their love lives are bankrupt. And divorcee Gloria is getting back in the game by flirting with her new, very eligible neighbor. Video/Rated R/Color/124 minutes


Women of Hull House
WMS VT1486A

This inspiring video, created from vivid historical photographs, tells the story of Hull -House through the remarkable contributions of Jane Addams and other Hull-House women to the history of social welfare, education, progressive reform, women's rights, sociology, labor relations, international peace, and many other areas of American life. Includes "A Selected Bibliography" and "Legacies of Social Change: 100 Years of Professional Social Work in the United States (2001/55min)" 1992/ 28 min