Posts Tagged ‘Kim Longinatto’

United Kingdom,USA, directed by Kim Longinatto

Mad Cow’s rating: 

Brenda Myers-Powell has had a rough life. For many years she was a prostitute and a drug addict. She abandoned her two children for 12 years.  Now she is out of the life and helping others to do the same. She makes a living by talking to prostitutes in prison. The rest of the time she runs the volunteer Dreamcatcher Foundation, driving around the night streets of Chicago and stopping to talk with women. Their stories are horrendous. Brenda listens, offers help when wanted, and gives out condoms. She also speaks to “at risk” high school girls. I often wonder “at risk of what?” These girls have always been at risk of abuse and rape and most have not escaped. Brenda assures them that it is not their fault.

Some feminists think that “sex work” is a legitimate occupation and should be de-criminalized. Believing that women have the right to do whatever they want with their bodies, I agree. But I don’t think it’s a good idea. Neither is smoking. There are way too many men in the world who beat up, rape and psychologically abuse women, at all income levels. Their potential for doing these things to women that they have literally “bought” has got to be high. So I recommend against it. Regarding the girls and women in this film, they have had few choices. We must find a way to prevent, for others, what has happened to them and support the work of Brenda and people like her.