Why I wanted to form the FCW Society...
Women are so Fucking Cool!
Not sure when I realized that I had been meeting some of the most fucking cool women in the world. As far back as I can remember, I have known fucking cool women. Childhood friends, H.S. girlfriends, women you met on the job, girls from the local bars, an aunt, mother, sister, lover, girlfriend, the chick that lived with you for a month - the list could go on and on. All women, everywhere – all kinds. It’s because of this list that I needed to create the “Women are so fucking cool!” project.
It started out with the video. I attempted to try and answer the question, “why are women so fucking cool?”. I was going to interview 20 women and to find this answer. Somewhere after the 2nd woman, I realized that this was one question that was never going to find an answer. So, instead of trying to find the answer, I changed my focus to letting the audience hear other women talking about a fucking cool woman in their lives and reminding them of the fucking cool women they know.
The video was made from 1992-93 while I was living in Chicago. I was going through my twenty-something, feminist, women-centered period. It was an exciting time for me to discover the spirit of sisterhood though the process of this project. For each interview, I used different women as the camera and sound person. I let the women who were shooting, to shoot however they felt like. I wanted to get different women’s perspectives. I asked the same questions to all of the women, but always-new discussions arose from each shoot. We would spend about 2 hours just talking about the cool women in our lives and why they are so special. How fucking empowering can that be? The dancers were friends of a friend. The movements came from their interpretation of the statement; “Women are so Fucking Cool.” The women on the street were videotaped one Sunday afternoon. I stationed myself outside a café on Broadway. I stopped women who were together, and asked them, “do you think women are cool?” If they said yes, then I videotaped them. My sister, Jennifer, took the photos. The video was screened in 1994 at the Women in the Director’s Chair International Film & Video Festival, in Chicago and on DYKE TV, national cable access program.
A few years ago, I was meeting some pretty fucking cool women in NYC and wanted to do part two of the project. Email had just begun to really start taking off. I emailed all the women that I knew, asking them to compile a list of fucking cool women and send it back to me. I also had them forward the request to other women. For 2 months, I received emails from so many fucking cool women. I was getting lists as long as 10 to 25 names. It was a powerful moment on the Internet. I enlarged the lists and they were part of a Bra Bar show at PS 122 and I wheat-pasted the sheets of names around the East Village. I feel it is important to spread the word about fucking cool women.
Now 13 years after the original video was made, I'm very proud to be a part of the FCW Society. Our 2nd Anniversary Special Brunch/Party was a lot of fun. Over 70 men and women gathered in a basement club (MIDWAY) in the East Village, we were entertained by talented women, we heard about how we can make a difference in our society and we had a few drinks.
I am very proud that a simple idea I had when I was 27 has grown into a powerful energy in the world because of all of the fucking cool women who exist!
sisterhood is a powerful thing!
Joanne Morton
co-founder of the FCW Society
Not sure when I realized that I had been meeting some of the most fucking cool women in the world. As far back as I can remember, I have known fucking cool women. Childhood friends, H.S. girlfriends, women you met on the job, girls from the local bars, an aunt, mother, sister, lover, girlfriend, the chick that lived with you for a month - the list could go on and on. All women, everywhere – all kinds. It’s because of this list that I needed to create the “Women are so fucking cool!” project.
It started out with the video. I attempted to try and answer the question, “why are women so fucking cool?”. I was going to interview 20 women and to find this answer. Somewhere after the 2nd woman, I realized that this was one question that was never going to find an answer. So, instead of trying to find the answer, I changed my focus to letting the audience hear other women talking about a fucking cool woman in their lives and reminding them of the fucking cool women they know.
The video was made from 1992-93 while I was living in Chicago. I was going through my twenty-something, feminist, women-centered period. It was an exciting time for me to discover the spirit of sisterhood though the process of this project. For each interview, I used different women as the camera and sound person. I let the women who were shooting, to shoot however they felt like. I wanted to get different women’s perspectives. I asked the same questions to all of the women, but always-new discussions arose from each shoot. We would spend about 2 hours just talking about the cool women in our lives and why they are so special. How fucking empowering can that be? The dancers were friends of a friend. The movements came from their interpretation of the statement; “Women are so Fucking Cool.” The women on the street were videotaped one Sunday afternoon. I stationed myself outside a café on Broadway. I stopped women who were together, and asked them, “do you think women are cool?” If they said yes, then I videotaped them. My sister, Jennifer, took the photos. The video was screened in 1994 at the Women in the Director’s Chair International Film & Video Festival, in Chicago and on DYKE TV, national cable access program.
A few years ago, I was meeting some pretty fucking cool women in NYC and wanted to do part two of the project. Email had just begun to really start taking off. I emailed all the women that I knew, asking them to compile a list of fucking cool women and send it back to me. I also had them forward the request to other women. For 2 months, I received emails from so many fucking cool women. I was getting lists as long as 10 to 25 names. It was a powerful moment on the Internet. I enlarged the lists and they were part of a Bra Bar show at PS 122 and I wheat-pasted the sheets of names around the East Village. I feel it is important to spread the word about fucking cool women.
Now 13 years after the original video was made, I'm very proud to be a part of the FCW Society. Our 2nd Anniversary Special Brunch/Party was a lot of fun. Over 70 men and women gathered in a basement club (MIDWAY) in the East Village, we were entertained by talented women, we heard about how we can make a difference in our society and we had a few drinks.
I am very proud that a simple idea I had when I was 27 has grown into a powerful energy in the world because of all of the fucking cool women who exist!
sisterhood is a powerful thing!
Joanne Morton
co-founder of the FCW Society
posted by FCW Society | 12:48 PM
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