First shown on 14th June 2018
Viewed on 16th June 2018
58 minutes
8/10 stars
In this documentary, Anne Robinson presents an interesting and refreshing attitude towards current feminist discourse. I find that the BBC often panders towards anything progressive, anything promoted by modern feminism without batting an eye, but here comes Robinson with personal doubts and questions. To my surprise she even criticises other fellow feminists – and to my further surprise, I am delighted!
In the beginning she approaches a primary school in London and asks a group of children to draw and name a mechanic, a surgeon, and a firefighter. Naturally, the children are more occupied by thoughts like “What’s a mechanic?” than seeing through Robinson’s sneaky experiment. The same task was then given to a group of mums in the next room. I like documentaries which pose questions to which I am shouting my own opinions while lying lazily on my sofa. Would I have drawn a surgeon as a man? I’m not convinced. Since I was a young girl, most of my doctors have been women (dentists have an interesting 2:0 ratio of M:F – Is there a greater gender disparity than other medical professions?). I don’t doubt that I would have drawn a mechanic as a man. I don’t think I have ever dealt with a female mechanic in my life? Lastly, a firefighter – that could go both ways, but realistically I would probably sway towards a male portrait… One might question whether the results are important. I would side with Robinson believing that girls should be made aware of the vast array of professions they can embrace one day. If they love cars and strong engines, they don’t have to become a grid girl only… which brings me to the next stopover – the race tracks.
Robinson asks a grid girl whether she is bothered by men staring at her chest. The answer is rather unconvincing (“They don’t do that”) and makes me wonder what made her sway towards such a safe answer. No, it doesn’t bother me when men stare at my ass (I’d say tits, but I barely have any). Actually, I want all men and all women to look at me and think “damn, she’s hot” as it’s a nice confidence boost. I know I’m not supposed to seek external validation, but I’ll argue that my confidence is already pretty good so I’m not depending on anybody’s opinion of me. I treat it as a bonus. That’s healthy, is it not? So why are women (like the interviewed grid girl) too uncomfortable to say out loud “Yes, I do like it when somebody looks at my body”? Perhaps our society still believes it “knows better” and women should not pursue being a grid girl, nor frequent promiscuous sex, camming, watching hardcore pornography etc. etc. My response: Let women be whatever they want to be, let them do whatever they want to do. If you both want to have a conversation about it, great. However, not everyone thinks their life is up to discussion.
In the next scene, Robinson is sitting at a bar with a group of young women. She wonders whether she can call them “girls” as nowadays she is unsure what is or isn’t allowed. All you have to do is ask, Anne. You’re doing well so far. Regarding this topic I made myself a rule: I will call someone a girl only if I would have called them a boy were the situation the other way around, e.g. “I was talking to the girls / boys at work…” or “She / He is a very shy girl / boy…” Robinson proceeds to ask what is their tolerance of inappropriate behaviour. One of the women says “Zero” and I admire her conviction. Although I loathe wolf whistling and “show us your gash” type of lines, I am too passive / shy / sometimes even scared to put up any resistance. A quick walk away is usually my solution.
Another stop takes place in a toy store. I have seen this argument many times and yet nothing ever changes. Myriads of toys are gendered with the pink toys focusing more on housekeeping and beautification rather than engineering and science. Robinson and her guest are critical of the “princess culture”, but I wouldn’t doom princesses completely. Let’s not discard princesses, but transform them. A princess that watches over her people and listens to their problems. She organises improvements to the kingdom and travels the world to represents her country. As a little girl I had a lot of Barbies. A whole box of them. I also had my favourite set of lego, a microscope (which I could never figure out whether it worked or was fake), and played with model cars every single time I visited my grandparents (they belonged to my uncle). If I ever have children, I’d like them to have a nice range of toys, including dolls.
Lastly, Robinson attends a march for equal pay where she asks several women whether they will actually speak to their line managers about a pay rise. Most of them say no without saying the word “no”. Robinson contemplates the march may be a waste of time since these women are too passive to put up a real fight. I can understand both points of views. On one hand, the march is attracting visibility to an ongoing problem and women shouldn’t have to put their jobs on the line during an awkward conversation with the boss to achieve pay equality. On the other hand I understand that Robinson’s skepticism is based on reality and gritty experience. The documentary ends with a case story of a group of carers who have successfully fought for a fairer, higher wage via a legal channel. They receive applause from Robinson who approves of their hands on DIY attitude and is meant to be the inspirational cherry on top.
I enjoyed this documentary thoroughly as it covers many topics I care about. I could watch films like these every day. Please give Anne Robinson more opportunities to present documentaries, she has a great screen presence!
Kristina's review on ... 