Iron Jawed Angels

Last night, my dear friend Heidi and I watched Iron Jawed Angels. What a great opportunity it was to learn more about the Suffrage Movement. It's pretty strange to think that most of the women in the United States did not have the right to vote just 100 years ago! I admire the women that had the courage to stand up and demand the right to be heard and to take part in the decisions that affect our country.

There were a few particular scenes in the film that especially impressed me. First, I loved the parade that was organized to create awareness about Women's Suffrage. I found the iconic warrior-woman with angel's wings on horseback a beautiful image and representation of feminist ideology. Here's a true photo of her:

Somehow, I find it symbolic that she is riding on a white horse. We've heard the classic telling of fairy tales where the gallant knight rides in on a white horse and saves the poor damsel in distress. Here, this woman asserts that she is able to work to create a better life for herself, herself. She has that right, and that ability.

Anyway, it was pretty shocking to me in the film when the citizens watching the parade began harassing the women participants, throwing things at them, and finally breaking out into complete violence, sending about 100 women to the hospital. It was particularly intense because I could tell that things were just going to get worse.

I also liked the scenes where the women were picketing for women's right to vote. Apparently, this was the first time anyone has had the balls ovaries to protest right outside the White House. I was particularly moved by the character Alice Paul, played by Hilary Swank, as she read aloud the various statements about democracy and liberty that President Wilson had delivered , and then threw them into a fire. She was publicly declaring the President of the United States a hypocrite. Gutsy girl.

Well, as you can imagine, all of these women protesters get arrested...for the outrageous charge of "obstructing traffic." When the women are taken to jail and claim that they have done nothing wrong and are political prisoners and would like their clothes back and some paper and pens to write their legislators, they are instead chained to walls. Driven from the streets, and provided no practical means to further their cause, the women go on a hunger strike. The scenes where Alice Paul has a tube shoved down her throat as she is force-fed raw eggs make me want to puke a little, honestly.

Later a psychiatrist takes her aside and is trying to assess whether or not she is crazy. When he asked her to tell him about her cause and to "explain herself," I loved her answer: "I just wonder what needs to be explained..." and continued further saying that she values the same rights to seek professions, and be autonomous as he does. It just seemed so simple and obvious to her that women should be men's equals, and have the same rights, and it clearly created pain that others did not seem to agree or understand. Earlier on in the movie she says she doesn't understand why she has to be a part of a fight that shouldn't be a fight. That's a powerful way to put it.

Heidi and I both liked how after the interrogation, the psychiatrist defends Alice against those questioning her mental state. He claimed that she is no more insane than the hero Patrick Henry, who declared, "Give me liberty or give me death!" He also offered his opinion that often times "courage in a woman is mistaken for insanity."

That actually reminds of a story that a guest speaker for my Women in Leadership class mentioned about his grandmother and grandfather. His grandmother had found out that her husband was cheating on her, and out of her rage and frustration, she threw down a big mirror in their home and broke it. He had her declared insane, and she was given electric shock therapy, and a lobotomy (the trauma from which, later killed her). Perhaps to a much, much smaller degree, I believe that women's justifiable emotional reactions can still be misconstrued as irrational.

As for the movie, all ends well, and Alice and the other women are released from prison, and women are given the right to vote. Huzza! I almost want to order a Suffragette's flag and string it up on my the flag pole outside my new house. It would certainly be more respectful than the fun pirate flag I wanted to slyly replace the American flag with...haha, oh boy.

What woman (from your life, history, or fiction) do you admire for her courage and example?