ARTUAL with Anita Hill: Making a Better World with Courage to Speak Out

Anita Hill Photo by Victoria Will/Invasion/AP See Victoria's art

"Most of us have everything we need to get through a crisis; we just have to tap into it." ~ Anita Hill

"Women who accuse men, particularly powerful men, of harassment are often confronted with the reality of the men's sense that they are more important than women, as a group." ~ Anita Hill, Speaking Truth to Power

"The real problem is that the way that power is given out in our society pits us against each other." ~ Anita Hill

Nine to Five: Jane Fonda, Dolly Parton and Lily Tomlin (1980)

My local park shows movies on the big screen.  T, Z, and I joined friends to watch “9 to 5, (1980).” For those unfamiliar with the movie, the plot uses humor to expose how sexual harassment is played out at the office.   Lily Tomlin’s character had her work stolen by her boss; Jane Fonda’s character was mocked at the Xerox by the same boss; and Dolly Parton’s character, the boss looks at her as sexual candy rather than his secretary.  The three women are thrown together and plot to get even with “the boss.” The film is the 20th highest-gross paying films for comedy.

After watching the 9 to 5, I began reflecting on Tarana Burke, #metoo, and other movies during my young adult life that satirized sexual harassment:  Grease, Toosie, Sixteen Candles…. It became an enlightening moment for me; I couldn’t name any films that showed women of color experiencing sexual harassment.   I began to wonder where were the mainstream films about women of color experiencing sexual harassment?

It is 1991, ten years after the film came out, and Anita Hill becomes a national figure.  Hill accuses US Supreme Court nominee, Clarence Thomas, her boss of sexually harassing her. Most of the public criticized her behavior rather than Thomas’ behavior.  What I found most disturbing, the public stating Hill liked his behavior otherwise she would have spoken out sooner.  The public labeled her either as a liar or truth teller. 

Anita Hill Photo by Lyne Lucien/Daily Beast  See Lyne's art 

I think back to the movies.  The dominant narrative (or plot line) showed repetitively white women experiencing sexual harassment at work or at school.  Hill was a black woman presenting the public another story about sexual harassment. A story many weren’t familiar with: a black woman being sexually harassed.  Unlike the movies, fictional accounts most likely based on real life, Hill’s story was real. I continue to wonder why most of the public resisted her story.   I wonder how I, a white woman, continue to perpetuate and resist this narrative for women of color?  

~~~

Calling on All Silent Minorities
June Jordan, 1936 - 2002

HEY

C’MON

COME OUT

WHEREVER YOU ARE

WE NEED TO HAVE THIS MEETING

AT THIS TREE

AIN’ EVEN BEEN

PLANTED

YET

Directed by Desire: The Complete Poems of June Jordan (2005). Copper Canyon Press.  Learn more about this poet click here or purchase her book at IndiBound

~~~

Artist Mark Bradford and Brandeis Professor Anita Hill pose in front of Bradford's painting, "Sea Monster."

Photo from  Rose Art Museum

Anita Hill rises and continues to rise.  Since 1991, Anita Hill has become a spokeswoman and champion against sexual harassment and advocating for women’s equality.  She also sits on the Rose Art Museum, MA. Hill has been having an ongoing conversation with painter Mark Bradford about race and politics and how this is related to content and form.  He is looks at the world through a micro lens and paints them onto canvas whereas she looks at world on a macro lens helps change policy at state and national levels. Each are using their own art form (painting and policy writing) to bring about awareness for reform and healing around oppression in society.

Artual Action: 

This resource can be implemented or adapted for a staff meeting or used for individual self-reflection. 

1.    Name and reflect on the movies you have seen that uses humor/satire reveal sexual harassment or sexual violence.  

2.    Are you aware of any films depicting sexual violence happening to women of color?  How is sexual violence depicted?    

3.    View Anita, the documentary or Anita Hill Testimony: Clarence Thomas Second Hearing Day 1 (1991).  Do you believe the dominate narrative at that time had an effect on the reception of Anita Hill’s testimony?  What about if it were to happen today?

4.   What are the challenges, risks and opportunities associated with using humor to shed light on oppression issues?  Is/what are the difference(s) if it is happening to a person of color?

Resources:

·         Anita. (2014) Director Freida Lee Mock.  Documentary.

·         Anita Hill Testimony: Clarence Thomas Second Hearing Day 1 (1991)

·         Anita Hill on the Thomas hearings, 25 years later: ‘I would do it again’(7 Apr. 2016) PBS News Hour.

·         Conversations between Mark Bradford and Anita Hill. (14 Apr, 2018) Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA  

·         The Woman Who Created #MeToo Long Before Hashtags. (17 Oct. 2017) Sandra E. Garcia. New York Times.

·         When Black Women's Stories Of Sexual Abuse Are Excluded From The National Narrative. (3 Dec. 2017) Lulu Garcia Navarro. National Public Radio

·         The #MeToo Movement Looks Different For Women Of Color. Here Are 10 Stories. (2, Jan. 2018) Jessica Prois and Carolina Moreno. Huffington Post

·         Why few women of color in wave of accusers? ‘Stakes higher’. (18 Nov., 2017) Errin Haines Whack. AP News.

·         For African American rape victims, a culture of silence. (20 July, 2004) Gayle Pollard-Terry. Los Angeles Times.

·         Using Humor to Expose the Ridiculous. New Tactics in Human Rights

·         Sample Learning Tool on Dominant Narratives (Self Reflective or Small Group Questions) University of Michigan.