Media

Community screening of "She Objects" – a documentary by the Women’s Foundation

24 Jun 2016

 

The Women's Foundation (TWF) in partnership with the Univerity of Hong Kong (HKU), the HKU Centre for Comparative and Public Law (CCPL), and the Women’s Studies Research Centre (WSRC) held a community screening of TWF’s new documentary She Objects (www.sheobjects.org) on June 23 (Thursday).

Supported by the Education Bureau, a number of leading NGOs, media, academic institutions and businesses, the screening served to mobilise the community to challenge gender stereotypes and to call for greater sensitivity and responsibility towards media portrayal of women.

“We are truly grateful for the show of community engagement and support we have received from leaders and change-makers in the NGO and education sectors, Government, media and business. We know that media content that objectifies, sexualises and diminishes women is adversely impacting our next generation. We are encouraged by the positive response from the education and NGO sectors on the critical need to equip youth with media literacy and critical thinking skills to process what they are watching and to understand what is appropriate when it comes to creating their own social media content,” said Su-Mei Thompson, TWF’s CEO.

The screening was followed by a panel discussion. Moderated by TWF’s Deputy CEO, Rita Ching, the discussion featured leading experts from the NGO, education sectors social media including:

• Dr Catherine K.K. Chan, Deputy Secretary for Education (Curriculum and Quality Assurance)
• Prof Stephen Chiu, Co-Director, Hong Kong Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
• George Chen, Head of Public Policy, Hong Kong & Taiwan, Facebook
• Kylie Lui, Student, The University of Hong Kong
• James Mok, Director, Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups Media 21 

“We are proud to host the screening of ‘She Objects’ at The University of Hong Kong as well as the ensuing panel discussion,” said Professor Peter Mathieson, the President of the University, “As part of the University’s commitment to enhancing gender equity in all its activities, as well as other aspects of equal opportunities, this type of community engagement event and especially the partnership-working with The Women’s Foundation, will enliven the debate and help us to all work together to make progress on an issue which has often been hidden and/or under-estimated previously." He added.

Director of CCPL and Convenor of WSRC, Associate Professor of Law Puja Kapai said: “Whilst media has a domineering influence on how we perceive things, what we think, what we want and ultimately, how we define or measure ourselves, there is of course the reality that we ourselves influence media as passive consumers but also as active agents because we CREATE media too. Media’s duality therefore, is its propensity to serve as a medium for the widespread dissemination of information, ideas, and values and as much as it can be used to propagate a particular value system, it can just as well be used to turn the tide in a completely opposite direction. We are hopeful that She Objects triggers just this kind of a sense of ownership and responsibility among all viewers!”

Approximately 200 guests at the community screening took a pledge to “safeguard the positive portrayal of women and celebrate diversity in the media.” TWF is also appealing to the public to take the same pledge online by visiting www.sheobjects.org and to support the campaign on social media with #SHEOBJECTS.

A 10-minute documentary short is available at the She Objects website (www.sheobjects.org). The Women’s Foundation is also working with a team led by Professor Stephen Chiu at the Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies of the Chinese University of Hong Kong to develop training materials drawing on the film to promote media literacy and critical thinking among university and secondary students in Hong Kong.

Media Enquiries    
Joyce Fung, The University of Hong Kong
Tel: +852 3917 4238
Email: joycef@hku.hk

Puja Kapai, The University of Hong Kong
Tel: +852 3917 7922
Email: puja@hku.hk

Crystal Chan, The Women’s Foundation
Tel: +852 2581 1151
Email: Crystal.Chan@twfhk.org

Lisa Moore, The Women’s Foundation
Tel: +852 2581 1873
Email: Lisa.Moore@twfhk.org

About She Objects
Commissioned by TWF in partnership with Women Helping Women and directed by rising local talent Nicola Fan, the documentary has already been highlighted at significant international events, including a Women in Motion Talk at Festival de Cannes jointly hosted by the Festival and Kering, and a Women in Media panel organised by UBS during the Women: New Portraits photo exhibition by Annie Leibovitz. At once provocative and inspiring, She Objects challenges viewers to think critically about and resist the biased and often dehumanising portrayal of women in media.  The film explores the impact of this on Hong Kong society and breaks new ground in bridging local, regional and global research and trends. Featuring engaging insights from celebrities including singer-writer-actress Joyce Cheng and real-life stories and interviews with leading experts, the documentary explores the correlation between the media’s portrayal of women and eating disorders and self-esteem issues for girls, violence against women and girls, and the erosion of female ambition, and how social media and the selfie culture are contributing to the phenomenon.

About The Women’s Foundation (TWF)
TWF is a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to improving the lives of women and girls in Hong Kong. Our goals are threefold - challenging gender stereotypes, growing the number of women in policy and decision-making roles, and empowering women in poverty to achieve a better quality of life for themselves and their families. We aspire to conduct ground-breaking research, run innovative and impactful community programmes, and engage in advocacy and education. For more information on TWF, please visit: www.twfhk.org.  

About The University of Hong Kong (HKU)
The University of Hong Kong is the territory’s oldest institute of higher learning and also an internationally recognized, research led, comprehensive university. While recognising the strength of its heritage and traditions, HKU also engages in frontier research and academic endeavours that reflect and address the needs of a fast changing, knowledge-based world.

About Centre for Comparative and Public Law (CCPL)
CCPL was established in 1995 as a non-profit virtual research centre in the Faculty of Law.  Its goals are to (1) advance knowledge on public law and human rights issues primarily from the perspectives of international and comparative law and practice; (2) encourage and facilitate collaborative work within the Faculty of Law, the University of Hong Kong, and the broader community in the fields of comparative and public law; and (3) make the law more accessible to the community and more effective as an agent of social change.

About Women’s Studies Research Centre (WSRC)
Established in 1995, the WSRC organizes seminars, conferences and symposia on subjects of importance to women and gender studies. It is committed to promoting research in areas crucial to the development of women’s studies, such as gender, cross-cultural awareness, sexuality as well as the transformation of teaching methodologies and curricula.