Category Archives: Documentary

Carmen Miranda: Bananas Is My Business (Helena Solberg, 1995)

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Running Time: 91 min

Carmen Miranda

Carmen Miranda: Bananas Is my Business tells the story of Carmen Miranda from birth to death and legacy.  It follows Miranda as a Portuguese immigrant to Brazil who found fame both locally and in the United States as a Samba singer, dancer and actress.  Helena Solberg, who is also the director of the film, narrates the documentary.  She places Miranda’s story into a more personal context, exploring the impact that the star has had on her own life and perception of the world while keeping the focus on the progression of the biography. There is a particular authenticity to Solberg’s storytelling that creates an immersive viewing experience.

The film contains many interviews with characters that were relevant to Carmen Miranda’s life, ranging from fans and journalists to her musicians and family members.  Solberg interweaves these interviews with archive footage of Miranda (both staged and real), movie clips and musical performances.  She shows both the public perception of Miranda as a star in Brazil and the United States, and reflects on the cultural and domestic conflicts with which Miranda had to deal with behind the scenes.  It is fascinating to see Miranda’s choices in music, performance, film and beauty influence the trends of her time and leave its mark in entertainment history.  One of the most remarkable things about this documentary is that even if you do not start out a Carmen Miranda fan, you cannot help but get caught up in her story.

For further reading:

A piece by Gary Morris from The Bright Lights Film Journal

A review of the documentary in the American Historical Review (pages 1162-1164)

Serra Kornfilt 2011

Señorita Extraviada (Lourdes Portillo, 2001)

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Running Time: 74 min

Lourdes Portillo is known for her documentary work on Latin America, particularly on the experiences of Latin American women. Her 1986 documentary (co-directed by Susana Blaustein Muñoz) Las Madres de la Plaza de Mayo was nominated for an Oscar. In 2001 she released Señorita Extraviada, a haunting film investigating the ongoing serial murders of young women in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.

Since 1993, over 300 young women have been killed in the border town of Juarez, and their murders remain unsolved. With this documentary, Portillo traces the history of these crimes, and the many developments and criticisms surrounding the thus far failed investigation. She speaks with the family members of many of the disappeared young women, as well as government officials involved. Throughout the film, Portillo shows the faces and names of many of these disappeared women; they are students, workers, and mothers, and they have all been brutally murdered.

No one knows for sure who the killers are, but there are layers of government and corporate complicity apparent in Portillo’s documentary. Juarez is a town filled with maquiladoras, which are manufacturing plants owned by foreign companies. These plants tend to employ young women, and many of the Juarez victims featured in this film disappeared from their jobs at the maquiladoras. Because these companies bring large amounts of jobs and revenue to Mexico, they often go unregulated, and many of Portillo’s subjects worry that the crime wave will continue unchecked. Moreover, as a border town, Juarez is a locus of drug trafficking, which is a further source of violence.

Since the release of Señorita Extraviada in 2001, the murders have sadly continued. The suggested reading below includes recent new coverage of the situation as well as work more directly concerning the filmmaker.

Watch the film on POV until May 31, 2011.

Further reading:

Rodriguez, Teresa. 2007. Daughters of Juárez. New York: Atria Books.

Washington Valdez, Diana. 2006. The Killing Fields. Los Angeles: Peace at the Border.

Michelle J. Martinez. “Cinema Chicana: An Interview with Lourdes Portillo.” Journal of Film and Video 62.1 (2010): 23-30. Project MUSE. Web.

Señorita Extraviada web site.

Caitlin Adams 4/24/11

Salata Baladi

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Running Time: 105 min

Nadia Kamel’s Salata Baladi is a documentary with a simple premise: recorded family history.  However, while the premise itself may be simple, Kamel’s film successfully touches on complex social and political tensions that have and continue to affect Egyptian society.  Responding to an increase in negative rhetoric directed at perceived “others” in her native Egypt, Kamel set out to document her own diverse family history by recording the memories of her mother, Mary Rosenthal.  Through these memories, we are transported to a time when diverse populations lived side by side in the neighborhoods of Cairo.  Immigrants from Syria, Turkey, Italy and Greece shared space with local Christians, Jews and Muslims.  Full of nostalgia, the film celebrates how this diverse environment allowed for the creation of families like Kamal’s which cross ethnic and religious divides.

However, the film moves beyond simply recoding a specific family history as Kamal’s family story inevitably becomes entangled with the wider politics of Egypt.  Through exploring her mother’s personal history, Nadia Kamel is able to document the change that occurred in the mid twentieth century as nationalism took hold of Egypt and foreign populations became excluded from a rapidly changing Egyptian society.  This witnessing of the effects of wider politics on the lives of everyday Egyptians finds emphasis during her mother’s trips to visit family abroad in Italy and Israel.  During her mother’s trips, Kamal had the opportunity to interview these relatives and hear their reasons for leaving Egypt as well as their lingering connections to the country.  The film especially touches specific history of Jews in Egypt and their relationship with Israel.  While Kamel’s mother chose to stay in Egypt and expressed a sense of disapproval towards the emigration of Jews from Egypt to Israel, many of her relatives chose to move during the 1940s and 50s.  Through her trip to Israel, we are able to hear from those who chose to immigrate.  Through their accounts of life in Egypt and vestiges of Egyptian culture, we are able to see their unique individual ties to both countries.  As a whole, the film serves to highlight the complexity of identity and belonging within the established framework of family.

Suggested Bibliographic Materials:

 

The Lost World of the Egyptian Jews: First-person Accounts from Egypt’s Jewish Community in the Twentieth Century by Liliane Dammond

 

Dammond, Liliane S. The Lost World of the Egyptian Jews First-person Accounts from Egypt’s Jewish Community in the Twentieth Century. New York, NY [u.a.: IUniverse, 2007. Print.

Sarah Dwider 4/19/11

Ella es el Matador (Gemma Cubero and Celeste Carrasco, 2009)

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Running Time: 62 min

Format: Color, DVD

Ella es el Matador (She is the Matador), as the title indicates, is a documentary film about two female bullfighters and their career in Spain and Latin America. The film features the life of a celebrated, professional female matador, Maripaz Vega, and of a novice, Eva Florencia. By depicting both the life within the bullfighting society and the process to enter the professional world, the movie rigorously captures the inequalities and obstacles that exist in the rigidly gendered – extremely masculine – bullfighting society.

In terms of narrative elements, Ella es el Matador consists of two big parts and these parts are blended into the flow of narration throughout the movie: individual lives of Maripaz and Eva and historical path of female bullfighters in Spain and Latin America. The lives of two female bullfighters are told mostly via the interviews of their family members and themselves; in an interview, Maripaz’s father proudly expresses his amazement toward his daughter’s achievement, mentioning that none of Maripaz’s brothers could attain the matador status. Eva’s run-away story from Italy to Spain for her passionate love of bullfighting when she was only sixteen is quite dramatic and impressive, too. The interviews of male matadors and audience also convey how deeply the gendered notion of bullfighting is ingrained in Spanish society. Along with these aspects, the movie provides historical background of women’s participation in bullfighting, “Franco’s Law,” which banned women from partaking in bullfighting, and unstated prohibition that still exists these days.

However, despite the discouraging attitude of the society that is shown in the interviews and history, two women’s passion and fascination of bull and bullfighting can never be missed in the movie; especially, the visuals vividly conveys the emotions. There are many close-up shots of Maripaz and Eva when they talk or are in practice; their fierce eyes talk more about their passion and love about bullfighting. Moreover, camera’s focus on their gestures – movements even in the tips of the hands and toes – and the rhythmical line that flows throughout their bodies when they are in the ring demonstrates the beauty and sensation of bullfighting and helps audience understand the meaning of being a matador.

Although Ella es el Matador does not suggest any particular solution to the gendered bullfighting society in Spain, it does describe well the realities of women matadors through the inclusion of different paths that Maripaz and Eva have ended up taking in the end of the movie. Especially, if one compares Ella es el Matador with Pedro Almodóvar’s movie on a female matador, Hable con Ella (Talk to Her) (2002), he/she can easily find the different attitudes in depicting women bullfighters of two movies.

Maripaz Vega

 

For further information:

Ella es el Matador page on Women Make Movies website:

http://www.wmm.com/filmcatalog/pages/c755.shtml

Talcual films website (in French):

http://www.talcualfilms.com/estudio/ella-es-el-matador/

P.O.V. Ella es el Matador trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdVyItKqnTM

Maripaz Vega on Bullfighting News:

http://www.bullfightingnews.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=209

Article about Maripaz Vega’s recent activity:

http://www.theolivepress.es/spain-news/2011/03/23/ole-female-bullfighter-fights-to-return-to-malaga/

Art work of Eva Florencia:

http://www.pbs.org/pov/matador/photo_gallery_paintings.php

Trailer of Hable con Ella:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fl8tyEIXXI

Soomin Kim 2013.

Sa-I-Gu (Dai Sil Kim-Gibson, 1993)

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Running Time: 36 min

Format: Color, DVD (NTSC)

Distributor: Center for Asian American Media

Sa-I-Gu, literally translated in Korean as April 29 is the day of the 1992 Los Angeles riot following the trial of Rodney King. Three months after Sa-I-Gu, the documentary explores the experience of the Korean American women who was “caught” in the LA crisis. The documentary tells the story of the mother of Edward Jae Song Lee, the only Korean who died during the riot, along with interviews of Korean American women. These accounts portray the financial, psychological, and personal losses of the community, and their American dreams turned upside down.

Women express their mistrust, frustration, confusion, and disappointment towards African-Americans and the U.S. government in the aftermath of Sa-I-Gu. The documentary attend to what Korean women interpret as the cause of Sa-I-Gu: the media’s biased focus on Black and Korean conflict, gap between the rich and the poor, and the failure of the LA police and the government to react. The documentary also portrays how these women are coping with the lingering battle against the government for compensation, providing a ground for a reexamination of the real content of the American dream.

The documentary fills in a void in the media coverage that neglected to present an accurate representation of the experience of the Korean community. Dai Sil Kim-Gibson says that they produced the documentary “to give voice to the voiceless victims i.e. Korean American shopkeepers and shop owners who lost everything during the Los Angeles upheaval.” By portraying their experience in human terms with great honesty, the documentary provides a more complete picture of the LA crisis.

The documentary was showcased as P.O.V series on National PBS Broadcast at the time of its release. It received the Bronze Plaque Award at the Columbus International Film and Video Festival as well as the Bronze Award at the Houston International Film Festival and the Rosebud Award from Washington, DC.

Descriptors: Korean American, race relations, Los Angeles Riot, Immigration

For further information:

On the Film:

On the L.A. Riot and its impact on Korean American:

  • Abelmann, Nancy. Lie, John. Blue Dreams: Korean Americans and the Los Angeles Riots. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. 1997

On the Director:

Arresting Ana (Dir. Lucie Schwartz, 2009)

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Running Time: 26 min

Format: Color, DVD

Arresting Ana is a film that, despite its short running time, grapples with a number of serious and troubling issues concerning the intersections of body image, free speech, and the Internet. The film centers around the pro-anorexia cyber movement, and follows Sarah, an 18 year-old college student with a “pro-Ana” blog called “In Search of Perfection, ” and Valerie Boyer, a legislator seeking to making websites like Sarah’s, illegal. The film describes “Ana” as a way for those struggling with the illness to personify the disease. In the film, Sarah describes “Ana” as a supportive and motivating force and even, a friend. The film depicts both the political and personal sides of this struggle, posing questions concerning free speech, along with the danger and efficacy of such websites. It considers both how these websites function for those suffering from the disease, and also what the impact of the Boyer Law might have on young women like Sarah.

The film, which takes place in France, also deals with how women living in a society so obsessed with food and thinness, might grapple with such opposing pressures. The film is interspersed with images of Paris—of it’s restaurants and markets alongside the advertisements of super-thin fashion models that permeate the country’s visual culture. The film, which focuses on Sarah’s perspective, shows how these websites, whose message can easily be construed as “morbid and perverse,” also serve as communities and outlets for those suffering with eating disorders to connect with others facing similar struggles. However, the film also includes screen shots of these blogs and sites, revealing the troubling imagery and ideology they often seem to promote.

Although the film focuses on the French legislation trying to ban “pro-Ana” websites, which would include up to two-years in prison and a 30,000 Euro fine, it also addresses the universal pervasiveness of this growing trend. As stated in the film, such websites exist in every language and every culture, a fact that underscores the disturbing growth and omnipresence of this disease. By providing the viewer with Sarah’s perspective, the film conveys a more complete sense of how these individuals view themselves, and how these online communities function for individuals struggling with eating disorders and body image.

For further information:

Film’s official website: http://arrestingana.com/

Overbeke, Grace (2008), “Pro-Anorexia Websites: Content, Impact, and
Explanations of Popularity”, The Wesleyan Journal of Psychology 3: 49–62

Norris, Mark L; Boydell, Katherine M; Pinhas, Leora; Katzman, Debra K (2006), “Ana and the internet: A review of pro-anorexia websites”, The International journal of eating disorders 39 (6): 443–447

Morris, Bonnie Rothman (2002-06-23), “A Disturbing Growth Industry: Web Sites That Espouse Anorexia”, New York Times, http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F00E4DB123CF930A15755C0A9649C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all

Harris, Misty (2007-09-15), “Online anorexia videos prompt call for website restrictions”, Edmonton Journal, http://www2.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/story.html?id=8e8d21e0-c8da-4af1-b05c-01422ab6136d

(in French) Proposition de loi visant à lutter contre les incitations à la recherche d’une maigreur extrême ou à l’anorexie, Assemblée nationale, 2008-07-02, http://www.senat.fr/rap/l07-439/l07-439_mono.html

Schwartz, Lucie (2009-12-22), Outlawing Ana: French lawmakers battle eating disorders (http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/rough/2009/12/france.html), PBS Frontline

The Education of Shelby Knox: Sex, Lies & Education (Dir: Marion Lipschutz and Rose Rosenblatt, 2005)

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Running Time: 76 min

November 24, 2008 by abensim1@swarthmore.edu 76 minutes. Color. Released on June 21, 2005 on the Point of View series on PBS.Lubbock, Texas, USA. Incite Pictures.Subject headings: Christianity, activism, sex education, leadership, family relations, community, queer rights, sexuality Synopsis: Lipschutz and Rosenblatt’s documentary follows feisty fifteen-year-old Shelby Knox in her struggle for sex education in the public schools in Lubbock, Texas.  Even though her county’s high schools instruct abstinence as the only safe sex, Lubbock has some of the highest rates of teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases in the nation.  Although Knox identifies as a devout Baptist who has taken the True Love Waits pledge to her parents and God promising to abstain from sexual relations until marriage, she takes on her parents, pastor, and peers in her unrelenting quest for a more comprehensive and informative sex education in public schools and eventually even goes on to support the gay-straight alliance.  This film demonstrates the cultural wars within a religion that advocates abstinence, and how one fiery, compassionate woman can influence social change.  Even when she takes a seat on the Lubbock Youth Commission and butts heads with her rival, town officials, and religious leaders, Knox remains consistent in her fervor.  This documentary shows the efforts of a young woman who fights for the rights of others. Further Information: Film’s official website, http://www.incite-pictures.com/shelbyknox/index.htmlWWM review, http://www.wmm.com/filmcatalog/pages/c726.shtmlNew York Times review, http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/21/arts/television/21heff.html?_r=2&oref=sloginAwards:Best Cinematography, Sundance Film FestivalJury Prize, Sonoma Valley Film Festival

Searching for Go-Hyang (dir. Tammy Tolle)

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Running Time: 32 min

Color.
Distributor: Women Make Movies
Original Format: Video

Searching for Go-Hyang follows Tolle and her twin sister as they return to Korea (called “Go-Hyang” in Korean) to meet their estranged family. When the family business failed, their father became an alcoholic. Faced with serious financial burden, their mother put the two girls up for adoption to the United States at the age of eight. The mother was told that she would be able to contact her daughters, but after her children had been sent away, she was denied that right. Upon reaching America, the girls were subjected to physical and emotional abuse from their adoptive American parents. At sixteen, the two girls decided to move out of the house of their adoptive parents, and worked to support themselves through high school. After fourteen years of absence, the film documents the moment in which they reunite with their father and mother, and the conversations that they have with their biological family, through the assistance of a translator.

The film begins with explanatory words on the screen, describing the historical background of the Korean Civil War (1951-1953) that preceded the creation of the adoption agencies involved. These written commentaries continue throughout the film, either translating the Korean of the parents, or giving additional statements from the voice of the narrator. Tolle also utilizes a voice-over narration technique, criticizing the adoption agency, and the frustrations of identity that she experiences between her early life in Korea and her later life in America. Tolle also uses footage of herself and her sister describing their experiences in America to their parents (through the translator).

One noticeable absence from the text is footage or developed discussion of their American experience. The audience learns only that the mother’s name was “Cheri,” and that she tried to erase their cultural identities. All of the descriptions of abuse are told by Tolle and her sister in a very general way, without reference to specific instances, either through the descriptions they give to their biological parents upon reuniting, or through the written commentary on the bottom of the screen. As Tolle’s sister tells their parents that they did not speak English upon their arrival, the written commentary states, “We were forbidden to speak Korean.” When Tolle describes how their adoptive mother changed their names and cut their hair, the written commentaries reads “They told us we were ugly.” There is never any statement from the American parents, nor do the women describe specific instances in which they were abused; they simply mention that they were beaten and physically abused.

Presumably, the girls would not have any resources, or at least did not know of any resources, that might have helped them. There is no evidence that the girls entered the foster care system, nor that they pursued legal action against their American parents, and any evidence of the abuse would have disappeared long ago. It is also likely that the women had not spoken to their adoptive family since they left, six years prior to their return to Korea. Thus, the film focuses on the sentiments of the women upon reuniting with their family. The women meet their long lost brothers, begin to relearn Korean, and share a cheerful, at times poignantly funny, meal with their Korean family, as their mother reintroduces them to their favorite foods, squid and kimchi. Finally, the film is much more a portrayal of the emotional history of the two women, having endured abuse, and looking towards a rediscovered sense of identity, than a chronicle of the abuses of their past. The film ends in self-reflection, showing pictures of the women in high school with their friends, as Tolle tells us “There was no one to be proud of me.” She comes to terms with her Korean and American identities: “I do not wish I had stayed in Korea, nor do I regret or embrace that I was adopted…” appears as written commentary, before Tolle tells the audience “I have come to find peace with it. This homeland I will always search for is neither Korean nor the US but will always be parts of both.”

Adio Kerida (Dir: Ruth Behar, 2004)

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Running Time: 82 min

A frame from Adio Kerida
Color, Video, Spanish/English

Subject Headings: documentary, Jewish Cuban, identity, displacement

Adio Kerida (Goodbye Dear Love) follows Ruth Behar on her journey back to Cuba, the country of her birth. Ruth and her Jewish family emigrated from Cuba in the 1960’s after the revolution took place and several members of her family lost their businesses. Behar uses this film to search for a community in which to anchor her identity. In fact, identity is a large theme in her film: the Turkish, Spanish, Ashkenazi and Sephardic identities of her Jewish grandparents, the varying cultural, ethnic, and racial identities of Jewish Cubans, her parents’ identities as Jewish Cubans and immigrants to he United States, and her own identity as an anthropologist, tourist, and native in Cuba.

After the Cuban revolution, even though many Jews left, one the ones that remained kept their religion going strong. As Ruth further uncovers the Jewish community in Cuba, she finds people that her parents and grandparents knew when they lived there. Her depiction of these Jewish Cubans shows a vivid and accepting community staying culturally aware of its past while also integrating with Cuban culture and politics. Behar interviews some Jewish leaders involved in the Revolution. She also tells the stories of many who consider themselves Jewish but come from religiously, culturally, and racially mixed families. After Cuba, Behar travels to Miami and relates to Jewish Cuban Americans also struggling to find their own identities. One woman she talks to always wanted to identify as both white and hispanic and is ultimately able to.

Behar makes displacement a large part of her movie, highlighting stories of happy and sad goodbyes. She interviews several Jewish Cubans deciding to move to Israel, which agrees to relocate them, and although they will miss Cuba, these people are happy to be searching for their own identities. Behar also details the long displacement of her family and ancestors, some starting with the inquisition in Spain in the 15th century. Originally Ruth’s ancestors immigrated to Cuba because the United States would not take them, but Ruth later found out that Cuba allowed them to immigrate in order oppress another group, the Afro-Cubans, by making them a minority. Displacement can produce feelings of dislocation and lost identity, but the movie concludes that it has the possibility to produce surprising and sometimes happy endings. Throughout this entire documentary, runs the theme of mixing cultures and identities, which can only occur when people immigrate to new countries and cultures.

Further Information:
Ruth Behar’s website: ruthbehar.com
Women Make Movies: wmm.com

On the Eighth Day: Making Perfect Babies (dir:Gwynne Basen, 1992)

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Running Time: 102 min

Written by Erna Buffie
Color

Subject headings: reproductive rights, in vitro fertilization, documentary, eugenics, biotechnology

Synopsis:
Gwynne Basen’s documentary On the Eighth Day offers a look into the world of artificial insemination through a close examination of the methods of in vitro fertilization (IFV) as well as the social and ethical consequences further development of these methods would have. The film opens with a case study of a woman who chose to have children knowing that her genetic disorder would most likely be passed on to her offspring. With this personal perspective, the film immediately dives into the question of whether it is morally right to control which children are born by pre-selecting which fetuses are fertilized. The film gives the history of the development of the study of genetics and how IVF was developed. Consequences of new technological advances in the field of genetics are explored through the voices of several researchers as well as non-medical personnel such as patients suffering from genetic disabilities and women who have used IVF. Although much of the film is dedicated to informing the public about these biotechnological advances, the viewpoints used of the researchers clearly shows the film’s intent to show the negative consequences of these techniques that may occur in the future. Reproductive services available at the time this film was made already were significant outside of providing alternative means of contraception. The availability of pre-implantation diagnostics raises ethical questions about whether it is right to choose only certain kinds of fetuses to carry to term or to abort fetuses with genetic disorders.
Throughout the film, Basen attempts to fairly present the debate over the moral line between researching genetics for the pursuit of knowledge and researching it in search of methods to genetically engineer a more perfect baby, as the name of the film implies. The most moving arguments were those discussing the most extreme case to date of an attempt to use genetics to perfect the human race: the Nazis. Basen makes this point emotionally as well as intellectually. Not only do the researchers draw strong parallels between recently developed reproductive technologies and the possibility of these methods being used for a racially determined genocide, but also makes the argument emotionally powerful by inter-cutting the researchers on screen testimonies with images illustrating the destructive toll of the Holocaust. Here Basen demonstrates her ability to incorporate several mediums of representation and perspectives from unique sources of information. Her pursuit of covering every angle of the discussion over biotechnology is clear in the film and enhances its appeal as an educational and academic tool. Her film manages to go in-depth into the topic while still offering explanations for the basics of genetics for viewers who do not have backgrounds in science.
Through the emotional exploration of the implications of genetic research and biotechnology, Basen presents the facts of the science as well as an argument for why it is important for women to know the facts she presents. Her emphasis on the very real possibilities that can come from these technological advances, both positive and negative, and their future effects on women make watching this film a truly eye-opening experience.

Further Information:
Women Make Movies listing — http://www.wmm.com/filmcatalog/pages/c145.shtml
American Society for Bioethics and Humanities — http://www.asbh.org/
National Center for Biotechnology Information — http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/
Gomez, Adriana, Meacham, Deborah. “Bioethics and Biotechnology: Marking the Boundaries in a Brave New World.” Women’s Health Journal n.2 (1997).