I appreciate how Mama Gena (Regena Thomashauer) builds sisterhood. She brings women together in recognition of their commonality and in supporting one another to take their rightful place in the world. Women gain an inner fortitude from the strength of solidarity.
I felt excited to see the movie, ‘The Hustle,’ starring two female comedians. I thought how wonderful Hollywood recognizes that two women can hold their own on the silver screen, and in essence, this will double the laughs and joy of the comedy. Here would be the gift of a story of sisterhood.
However, I was disappointed, predominantly by the script, which pitted the two women against one another rather than connecting them to one another in friendship. Enough of our portrayal of women fighting with one another! We want to see the power of sisterhood, taking on the world together! Let’s see women build one another up rather than tear one another down!
The movie ends with an equally ugly message. We see a man unite them, a man who had cheated them both and with whom them immediately agree to bed themselves with again. Why would this be what it would take to unite sisterhood?
Fortunately, I thankfully discovered the TV show, ‘Legend of the White Snake,’ a Chinese legend and Great Folktale. Although we initially see two women in battle, it is brief, and the two soon discovered (through communication) that there had been a misunderstanding. They became friends, sisters, looking out for one another, caring for one another, and supporting one another throughout thick and thin.
Yes, this is the message that we need to see more of, for ourselves and our daughters. It is sisterhood which women must understand is the best weapon against the worst of the worst, the ugliest of a patriarchal society which abuses, oppresses and exploits women.
It is sisterhood which will evoke the longed for changes in society. This requires us to show up as healthy and empathic sisters. A sister who thinks of the married man’s wife when he is coming on to her, who walks you to the grievance board at the college when you’ve turned down the professor’s advances and he responds by punishing you professionally, who tells you to file a formal complaint with the company’s human resource department, who holds your hand and takes you where you need to go when you’ve been assaulted in any way, shape, or form. As sisters, we thus empower one another.
Sisterhood is the superhero which the world needs to combat the disease and crime of an ill patriarchy which minimizes, belittles, silences, dismisses, scoffs at, criticizes, shames, blames, buries, ignores, punishes, withholds, isolates, neglects, denigrates, exploits and abuses the feminine. When women are kind and considerate to one another first, it serves to elevate the stature of women to first, rather than second-class citizens.
The truth is that women are a creative principle and life force of the world. It is up to women to treasure self and one another, rather than treating self or one another like garbage, something disposable, worthless, to be thrown away. May we cherish, value, believe in, celebrate and love one another as sisters, daughters, mothers, and grandmothers.