Princesses in Women’s HERstory Month

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Author: Laura Bowen

Last Tuesday, the Spanish film Princesas was shown at the Women’s Center as part of Women’s HERstory Month. The entire month of March is nationally recognized as Women’s History Month and is sponsored at Occidental by Remsen Bird, the Women’s Center, Emmons Health and Counseling Center, the International Community Center and the International Programs Office.

This particular event was coordinated in part by Michelle Saldana, a graduate student at USC and a member of the ICC.

Princesas portrays the lives of two prostitutes, Caye and Zulema, living in Madrid and their struggles to earn a living while hiding their true identities from the ones they love. The film’s opening scene shows Caye entering a hotel room full of young men and beginning to perform her services-a foreshadowing that this will not be another Pretty Woman. Caye soon befriends Zulema, who has come from the Dominican Republic to make money to raise her son. Though their friendship grows, so do their problems.

The film sugarcoats nothing about the issues that these women have to face-drug addiction, STDs, abuse, shame-yet it is not all a horror story. Caye and Zulema have moments of normalcy when they can ignore their true identities. On a particular night, they go out just to have fun. As Caye says, “Tonight we’re not whores. Tonight we’re princesses.” The film ends on a bittersweet note, with both women confronting the effects of reality but doing so with dignity and implicitly ending their careers as prostitutes.

Besides film screenings, several other activities have been scheduled for HERstory month. “We try to include as many different ways of programming [as possible],” Saldana said.

In addition to gender, the organizers have attempted to incorporate issues of race, sexuality and class. On the prior Tuesday, manager of ColorLines Daisy Hernandez spoke about her difficulties as a homosexual woman of color. HERstory Month has attracted an admittedly small audience with around 10-40 people showing up to each event. “We don’t have large spaces for the events,” Saldana said.

Planning for next year, however, the organizers want to broaden the focus and address issues-such as masculinity-more strongly. This coincides with the closing of the Women’s Center, which will be replaced in the fall by the Center for Gender Equity.

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