What’s does the new documentary Pray the Devil Back to Hell have in common with the ancient Greek comedy Lysistrata? A sex strike.
Strong women in both the documentary and play withheld sex from their men in order to end war, but Pray the Devil Back to Hell is hardly funny. It documents the efforts of thousands of brave Liberian women, both Muslim and Christian, who came together to pray and protest, facing down the warlord Charles Taylor, then president of Liberia.
The documentary comes out on DVD tomorrow and I'm excited to see it. Check out the clips on the website for a preview.
Here's what producer Abigail Disney had to say about why she took on the project: "Women in particular very often will organize and very often will step up and do really remarkable things in the name of peace or justice in their worlds, and then once the crisis has past, everyone settles back in and gets right back to work and forgets."
In other women and media news, I also recommend checking out the International Museum of Women, a virtual museum that currently has an "exhibit" (in the form of slideshows) about women and economics. It's a neat forum for some fascinating stories.
