The Women Against Violence Against Women (WAVAW) Collection
(Home Page)
The Women Against Violence Against Women (WAVAW) Collection was created to educate the public and increase public awareness about the distorted image of women in the media. The site is a repository of papers, records, newsletters, images, publications, audio-visual materials, scripts, internal memos, etc.
(Pornography Protest)
Interesting and popular topics that are presented on this site are the coverages of the The Women Against Violence Against Women’s actions against particular, well-known films and companies including the Rolling Stones “Black and Blue” advertising campaign, Warner Communications, Inc. and the Snuff film. It could be possible to write stories on each of these particular events because of all the original sources that are provided such as protest letters, press releases, and images from the protests. For instance, with the Snuff film, WAVAW protested against the film’s capitalization on the murder and dismemberment of a woman and rallied to stop the showing of the movie that was opening in twenty theaters throughout Los Angeles. The organization not only condoned the violence against women in the film, but also the racism in its advertising. Apparently in the advertisement for the film it states that the film was “Filmed in South America-Where life is cheap” which insinuates that the lives of these South Americans, particularly non-whites in general, are less valuable. One press release against the film, which I included below, also includes things that people can do to help the cause including joining the picket lines, calling the media, calling the theater managers, etc. This is just one example/event that could be written about purely based on this site.
(Snuff Press Release)
Other links I came across when I was browsing this site were the administrative details such as newsletters, coverage of the WAVAW meetings, and information about the organization in general. Therefore, one story that could be written on this archive is a history of the WAVAW, particularly how the organization got started, and the process of getting it started. It would also be interesting to include stories about the founders and their personal reasons for wanting to start the organization and backstories of their lives, however, I couldn’t find much information on them through this site. However, I did find a handwritten note on the Board of Directors Meeting Minutes from January 18, 1977 that gave a little bit of information on the members.
(Board of Directors Meeting Minutes-1/18/97)
There is a main sidebar that includes links to the collection main page, images, manuscripts, pages, and series, but it would’ve been interesting and would’ve remedied this issue if there was a tab for the autobiographies for the main members and founders.