Women's eNews (https://womensenews.org/author/carla-thompson/)
A few women who have survived abusive relationships with rap stars are breaking the silence about domestic violence. But a “no snitch” rule is still widely observed in the hip hop music world.
As few female directors get big-budget assignments, festivals such as the Reel Venus festival, opening tomorrow in New York, champion woman-made cinema.
Films made by black women are adding a more positive dimension to the portrayal of African Americans. But, with gangster-and-ghetto flicks drawing the crowds, these films are often stuck on tight budgets or shelved when the money runs out.
The League of Black Women is launching a survey that will look at what it will take for black women to become leaders in the workplace and beyond.
As they snap up most of this year’s Grammy nominations for hip-hop, female performers are joining an effort by filmmakers and educators to improve the social messages that a powerful pop culture sends to female fans.
Hip hop is commercially hot, culturally influential and replete with references to pimping and prostitution. Critics say this not only sends teens a pro-pimp message, it puts some girls even more at risk for becoming prostitutes.
Advocates say Alabama’s transfer of some female inmates to out-of-state, for-profit facilities goes in the opposite direction of what the women need, which are community treatment programs and plenty of contact with their children.