a worthy cause

My niece, Sarah Blout, is making a new documentary. I just am popping with pride over her. If you want to donate to a worthy cause, make it this one. Here is her description. Her mom (described below) is my sister, who liked power suits and panty hose about as much as I ever did. Donate via Kickstarter here.

I remember 1984. My mother was struggling to succeed in the male dominated business of corporate America. I used to watch her get dressed every day. She had “power suits”. She had pantyhose. She had high heels. And she had gigantic shoulder pads. I mean huge. Dynasty-huge.

Shoulder pads were a fashion statement back then- one that said I’m big, I’m important, I have power. It is no coincidence that at the same time (1980s) America saw a surge of women entering the workforce. My mother needed to be careful with her appearance. She told me that her skirt cannot be too long (matronly) or too short (whorish), she cannot show too much cleavage, just enough to remind “the boys” that she is still a woman. There were rules about lipstick, jewelry and on… At 10 years old I realized that, for women, getting dressed wasn’t so simple.

Today, women make up 46% of the workforce in America. We have let go of the shoulder pads, but have we lost the need assert our power though our image? How do we appear smart but not geekysexy but not sluttypowerfulbut not bitchyattractive but not ditzy?

This documentary will explore these questions as we watch professional women negotiating the constraints, contradictions and consequences in defining their image in the workplace.

Making this film is very important to me. I hope to raise $2,500 to cover basic production costs like equipment rental, archival footage, travel costs and materials. I cannot complete this project without your support.

Make sure to check out the prequel, Girl Power: All Dolled Up

BACK THIS PROJECT ON KICKSTARTER

2 Comments

  1. Han on August 6, 2012 at 3:37 pm

    Sounds really interesting. Go her 🙂

    I remember my mum having shoulder pads but it was early 90s. I was born in 1986 lol

  2. cloudy on August 9, 2012 at 8:38 am

    Very very very cool.

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