Film Screening: Half the Sky

On Tuesday, October 23 the Sexual Assault Prevention andAwareness Center will be showing the documentary
Half the Sky in the Rackham Ampitheater.

Half the Sky is based on a book by Nicholas Kristof, which examines the oppression of women across the world.

We hope that you will join us for the screening and the following discussion.

The Rackham Building is located at 950 E. Washington St.  Doors open at 7:00 and the film begins at 7:30.

The book and documentary have sparked a global movement, with organizations everywhere showing the film.  The film has been both celebrated and critiqued, provoking important discussions about the status of women in the Global South, and what people in the U.S. can or should do about gender inequality around the world. 

To learn more about Half the Sky, and see what people are saying about it, see the reviews and comments below:

New York Times Book Review, "Changing Lives": “Half the Sky” tackles atrocities and indignities from sex trafficking to maternal mortality, from obstetric fistulas to acid attacks, and absorbing the fusillade of horrors can feel like an assault of its own. But the poignant portraits of survivors humanize the issues, divulging facts that moral outrage might otherwise eclipse.  

HuffPost Review, "Half the Sky":  "What Nick and Sheryl have done is lay out a case for why empowering women in the developing world is both morally right and strategically imperative. Their essential message is that Lifting Women Lifts the World."

Racialicious Review, "Your Women are Oppressed, But Ours Are Awesome":  "Inspired by a book co-written by Kristof and his wife, Sheryl WuDunn, and supported by talking head cameos from the likes of Hillary Clinton, Gloria Steinem, George Clooney, and officials from the United Nations, CARE, and other non profit and development organizations, the film, unfortunately, reeks of KONY 2012 style missteps." 

The Atlantic Review, "The White Savior Industrial Complex": "The white savior supports brutal policies in the morning, founds charities in the afternoon, and receives awards in the evening."

The Guardian Review, "How the Other Half Suffer": "The authors describe brutality towards women as "a malignancy that is slowly gaining recognition as one of the paramount human rights problems of this century." Raising awareness of brutality towards women is not a slow process; the problem is rather that the flash of outrage soon dissipates, to lie dormant until somebody or something triggers it again, while the vileness carries inexorably on, partly because the concerned public is unaware of its own misogyny."