“Male ownership of female sexuality is what makes patriarchy possible.” - Shere Hite 

A beautiful documentary that utilizes the story of Shere Hite’s meteoric rise and fall within American pop culture to examine the historically oscillating nature of the women’s liberation movement in the United States. 

Through a litany of gorgeously collaged fragments of film, photo, sound bytes, and letters, viewers come to know Shere Hite: the complex and elusive feminist figurehead who studied/wrote about sexuality, modeled for major advertising agencies and Playboy throughout the 70’s, and ultimately published The Hite Report, a collection of qualitative research findings on women‘s sexuality.
Hite’s mission: expose the gender inequities that spread to the bedroom, empower women through honest communication about sexual needs/desires, and educate the world on the female orgasm. 
The producers pull voices from throughout Shere’s life, ranging from colleagues to friends to lovers to neighbors, to paint a portrait of a well-intentioned and liberated woman pressed under the thumb of a patriarchal media and a deeply sexist culture. 

The organization of the content was a brilliant artistic and storytelling decision: first, we meet Shere and learn about her mission. We learn how she found solace in the women’s liberation movement, particularly among lesbian feminists, and escapes the archaic and patriarchal world of academia. She continues research and fosters an environment of progress, artistry, feminine power, and sexual openness in her work and social life. 
Then, we watch as the spotlight brightens and begins to burn; clips of media interviews and press conferences represent a barrage of Shere’s identity and credibility, the moral panic and Anita Bryant take hold, further ostracizing those concerned with women’s sexuality. 
Eventually, Shere, unable to write and publish in America due to being blacklisted by the media (sensationalist news casting and “gotchya” journalism destroyed her reputation), disappears to Europe. 
Then, in full circle motion, we watch as Shere rediscovers sexual freedom and comfort behind a camera, publishing her books in a more “liberated” place and, in a telling move, rescinding her American citizenship. 

The producers’ attempt to visually display the oscillation, as discussed above, landed gracefully. Feminists fight for gender equality, huge steps are taken toward liberation, then the conservative right bulks up their attempts to denigrate women, sexual and racial minorities, etc. and “feminism dies”, as we watch young women in clips from the 90’s explain why they don’t call themselves the “f word.” But, like the necessary phoenix the movement is, it rises from the ashes and is reborn under a slightly variated context within our culture. 
My greatest hope, then, is that each wave of feminists can recognize the achievements and ideas of the past and blend them with the ideas of our present to be better prepared for the inevitable red wave of oppression. 

As a documentary, I am impressed by the expertise with which information was delivered, as well as the visually stunning quality of the film. Overall, a very empowering and fire starting experience!