In a country overshadowed by tourists slogans of ‘sun, sand and sea’ proclaiming ‘It’s Better in the Bahamas,’ there exists a contrasting view of people’s daily lives and the struggles that map their existence as they grapple with complex social issues.
One of these issues, gender equality, is the subject of the feature length documentary ‘So, You Think You Is Woman Hey?’ which premieres September 29 at 7 p.m. at the University of the Bahamas’ Performing Arts Center.
The film, the first feature length for producer and director Juliette Storr, is a prodigious look at issues of gender equality through the lived experience of Bahamians.
It is a compilation of perspectives on gender equality issues, especially as they relate to the recent failure of the gender equality referendum to change the laws of the Bahamas so that there would be more equity between the sexes with regard to citizenship rights and privileges and related issues of sexism, gender bias, gender-based violence, rape/sexual assault, and gender mainstreaming.
The film maker uses the cultural expression ‘So, You Think You Is Woman Hey?” to explore how gender is performed symbolically in the Bahamas, especially for women and girls, in everyday life.
It is an expression that hails and punishes young girls for acting out their sexuality or behaving too mature for their age.
It is also used against adult women to call out their behavior and impose a form of control that warns of sexual and societal punishment for going against the norm of accepted womanhood.
“I wanted to use this cultural performance of gender to explore the issues that women and men, boys and girls, face every day in the Bahamas as they interpellate each other in every day experiences,” says Storr.
‘So, You Think You Is Woman Hey?’ spotlights global issues of gender equality and reinforces the United Nations call for gender equality to empower women and girls by 2030.
Pennsylvania State University Professor & Former Student Team Up for First Documentary Pittsburgh, PA—Pennsylvania State University communications professor, Juliette Storr, and former student, Dante Massey, team up to produce their first film, ‘So, You Think You Is Woman Hey?’ The film, a feature length documentary, explores issues of gender equality in the Bahamas.
Storr, the film’s producer and director, and Massey, the film’s editor, present a compelling narrative on the issues of gender equality in the Bahamas, a country ranked among the top countries in the world for gender-based violence and first in the Caribbean region for reported cases of rape and sexual assault. The documentary takes up the challenge to provide a deeper understanding of gender equality and the insidious issues of gender bias, sexism, gender mainstreaming, gender-based violence, and rape/sexual assault and their potent effects on everyday lived experiences of men and women in the Bahamas.
The film comes in the aftermath of the failed 2016 gender equality referendum, an attempt by the government of the Bahamas to change gender inequality in the laws of the country.
This was the second time in 15 years that the country attempted to change inequities in the law. The 2001 referendum also failed.
The film uses the cultural expression ‘So, You Think You Is Woman Hey?’ to tease out the everyday lived experience of gender equality in the Bahamas. Citizens from all sectors of society were interviewed.
The interviews are juxtaposed to underscore contemporary concerns. A cross-section of societal voices converge to represent all groups in society; diverse groups across the archipelago of the Bahamas.
In the Bahamas, this cultural expression could be uttered by anyone but it is often times stated by people in authority—parents/parental figures, adult females and males or sometimes by children; often mimicking adults. When this statement is leveled at young girls it is usually said because some adult thinks she is ‘acting out’.
It is also said to adult women by both males and females and is usually used to suppress women into acting appropriately. When they (particularly young girls) do not, the second half of this cultural expression is uttered with force…”You gern (going to) get what woman does get.”
Issues of identity and power lie at the core of this cultural expression. And it is used in this film as an appropriate vehicle to explore issues of gender equality in Bahamian society particularly in wake of the failed gender equality referendum in 2016.
Storr, who teaches at Penn State’s Beaver campus, based her interpretations of gender performance in everyday life on the work of Judith Butler. Butler, a noted feminist scholar, notes “The way we talk, walk, perform certain rituals, acts that we all keep on performing through the course of our lives, this performance is what constitutes the meaning of masculine or feminine identities.”
“Gender,” says Butler, “is not a fact. The various acts of gender creates the idea of gender, and without those acts, there would be no gender.”
Thus, according to Storr, “gender is constructed through culture. The Bahamian cultural expression “So You Think You Is Woman Hey” is a powerful example of how gender is performed and experienced by women and men in Bahamian society.
It is an indication of the position women occupy in Bahamian cultural hierarchy.” Storr decided to produce the documentary while doing research on another project in the Bahamas, challenges of journalism in twenty-first century Caribbean. “While doing that research the topic of the objectification of women in the media emerged.
At that time, no one was addressing this issue and so I began a research project on the representation of women in Bahamian media. That research coincided with the Bahamas government’s campaign to change the constitution of the Bahamas to create more equity among the sexes.
That campaign raised a number of issues on where the country was on issues of equity including gender discrimination, gender-based violence—rape/sexual assault and incest, gender inequality and the law, and gender equality as human rights.
My research uncovered some astounding statistics on these issues in the Bahamas and internationally.
The Bahamas has high incidences of violence, rape/sexual assault and incest, gender discrimination in the law and gender inequality. And so, I wanted to find a way to start a national conversation that would assist current national and international efforts to address these issues by raising awareness among every level of society and finding ways to resolve them.”
She believes the best way to make this happen is to use a visual medium to conduct research in this area and explore these issues through the everyday lived experience of the citizens of the Bahamas.
The film, a two-hour feature length, is the first of a two-part series.
The second film will provide a more intimate look at everyday life as experienced by women and men, boys and girls across the Bahamas. Filming ‘So, You Think You Is Woman Hey?’ took place over a three year period and focuses mainly on the capital, New Providence (commonly referred to as Nassau).
Part two, which the producer is currently filming, features citizens in the Family Islands, or the rural areas of the Bahamas.
Based on the quality of his visual projects as a student and a professional, Storr invited her former student, Massey, to edit the project.
Together they have created a compelling account of issues of gender equality reflected in the Bahamas and in the wider world.
About Us
Director/Producer
Storr has more than a decade of experience in media, working as a journalist in the Bahamas and the USA, where she also worked as a television producer. She taught in the communications department of both North Carolina State University and North Carolina Central University before coming to Penn State in 2005. In 2012-13, she served as a visiting professor at her alma mater, College of the Bahamas. Storr has numerous publications on the state of the media in the Caribbean.
Editor
Born and raised in Pittsburgh, Massey has always had a knack for the creative. After attending Penn State and graduating with a bachelor's degree in communications, he decided it was time to work creativity in to his field of expertise. He soon began work with Storr, one of his former professors, on this film.
