"Cowboys" in feminist classrooms

Just read Adeline Koh's review of "Cowboys in Paradise" in Films for the Feminist Classroom. An assistant professor of literature at Richard Stockton College, Adeline had screened the film for a capstone class in the Women, Gender and Sexuality studies program. (You can order your academic screening copy here.)

Her much-too-generous review praises the film for:

(Calling to) attention the critique of second-wave feminism by minority and international feminists such as bell hooks, Chandra Mohanty, and Trinh T. Minh-ha: despite the common condition of being women, the same battles are not fought by women of privilege and their poorer counterparts.

I confess to smiling upon seeing bell hooks mentioned. It took me back to 1994 when I interviewed her for a student paper, and when she introduced me to the concept of 'white-lily feminism'. She wasn't discounting anyone's contribution to the cause, but merely highlighting the fact that all activists - feminists included - are driven by their own background and circumstance. Shortly after, I began to regard my own women studies courses with suspicion. Thankfully, my professors and mentors encouraged this rebellion.

Back to Adeline. I don't know if she considers herself a 'minority' or 'international feminist'. What I do know is that we share a disdain for the over-romanticization of Asia by Westerners. It's unfair, stifling, and counter-productive at best. At its worst, it's just fucking self-centered. Which naturally brings us to...

Eat, Pray, Love. Writes Adeline:

Students watched both Eat, Pray, Love and Cowboys in Paradise after reading second-wave feminist theory alongside its critique by minority and postcolonial feminists. Because they viewed Cowboys after reading theory, students were able to accurately identify the urgency of the inequality raised by minority and postcolonial feminists in their critique of feminisms of privilege.

My film serving as an indirect critique of feminisms of privilege? Somewhere up there, Dr. Ellis is shaking her head and smiling.

You knew it was brewing: Starbucks in Ubud

Caught up with Ryan Ver Berkmoes last Sunday. He's the co-author of Lonely Planet Bali & Lombok, and we'd first exchanged emails last year when he wanted to review "Cowboys in Paradise" for the guide's 2011 edition. On route from Bali to Portland, Journeyman Berkmoes had a few hours to kill in Singapore, so a round of drinks were in order.

After knocking my beloved Austin ("I don't care! It's still in Texas!"), he updated me on the goings-on in Ubud. X wrote another book, Y launched a donation drive for a new children's charity, there's now a Starbucks in Ubud, and there's an expat who -- Wait, what?! Starbucks?

Turns out it was only news to me. The Mother of Third Spaces set shop in Ubud a while back. Come to think of it, is it even news if you, me and everyone we know saw it coming? Where did we think those "retrace Elizabeth Gilbert's footsteps" tours would lead?

And why just pick on Self-Fulfilled Liz for the hell she unleashed. I know, I know, it's fun but...

The question was never whether Ubud was touristy (it was), but whether its brand of commercialism was crass (it wasn't, until it was.) Hell, the very notion of Ubud being the island's spiritual centre, the balm for rat race-weary Westerners and the muse for artists seeking inspiration was an image carefully cultivated by Walter Spies et al in the 1920s. (Recommended read: "Bali: A Paradise Created" by Adrian Vickers.)

Am I disheartened that there's now a Starbucks in Ubud? Yup.

But then globalization has no regard for how I feel. As a Texan pal used to say, "You can build a town and call it No Fucking McDonald's, but the bastards will just buy the rest of the country and christen her Fuck Yeah McDonald's."

Also, the town's expat business owners - apparently the ones who were most vocal in their protest - can't have it both ways. You can't vie for tourists to flock to your villas, take cooking lessons and hum Om on your verandahs as you serve them faux enlightenment, and then suddenly find a Starbucks to be in violation of the town's spirit. It's only as inauthentic as your infinity pools once were.

Besides, Starbucks has some credible fair trade and wage policies. If they pay their staff better than some local and "local" employers do, then good for them. Shit, I'll go one better. If they benefit the immediate community more than some of the existing businesses do, then I want every damn tour bus to unload their thirsty, "Eat, Pray, Love"- lugging Ubud fan at their doorstep.

(Photo courtesy of DC Allen.)

U.S. mom, Indo dad

Interesting discussion started by an American woman who got pregnant while traveling in Bali. She wonders if she should take her baby girl to visit her father in Indonesia. Forum members advise her on things she needs to consider first.

(Thanks for the link, Jay)

Screening in San Francisco

"Cowboys in Paradise" will screen at the Asian Art Museum (AAM), San Francisco, on April 14th, 6:00pm. Screening's free with museum admission and I'll be doing a Skype Q&A after. (Only the former is a good reason for you to attend.)

AAM's also got plenty of other Bali-related events and exhibitions lined up all the way through to September. Check them out, then go check them out!

No condoms for the enlightened

Still from "Cowboys in Paradise".

Beth A. caught "Cowboys" and wrote in to say:

"... horrified by the scene where the man says some yoga practitioners tell him not to use condoms cos his energy is clean. WTF! Really hope you told him about the risks of sexually transmitted diseases."

Wasn't my place to mount the soapbox. It's clear from that scene that most Cowboys know the risks. He certainly did, but he goes on to tell us why he doesn't get tested!

Credit where it's due: Bali authorities and AusAID are doing a fair bit to raise HIV/STD awareness. But given the power dynamic in these relationships, I think the fight is most effective when the tourists take the lead and insist on playing safe. No Cowboy would refuse to wear a condom if his lover insisted he did.

Meanwhile, to the women he referred to, I say thanks a fat bunch for desecrating yoga with your stupidity.

"Cowboys" vs Orientalism

"Cowboys in Paradise" will screen this Thursday, March 31st, at Richard Stockton College, NJ, as part of the "Eat, Pray, Love and Contemporary Orientalism - An Asian Response" programme.

Advance props to students Stephanie Cawley and Leah Shockley who will lead a post-screening discussion, and my thanks to A. Prof. Adeline Koh for organising the event.

Full screening details (though I reckon it's a closed event):

Thursday, March 31, 230 PM

Richard Stockton College, WQ 103

UPDATE: The event is open to the public!

"Cowboys" spurs debate, angers some Swedish men

The abridged TV cut of "Cowboys in Paradise" -- re-titled "Women Who Buy Love" -- aired on Sweden's SVT channel recently.

If comments posted on Genus Nytt (in Swedish) are anything to go by, some men are peeved by how the film, and society at large, regard female sex tourists differently from their male counterparts. It's a familiar argument: "When women do it, they're looking for romance, just being strong and empowered...", etc.

I won't speak for society, but the film didn't regard male sex tourists differently. In fact it didn't regard them AT ALL. The film's about the Cowboys and the women who seek their companionship (for varying reasons). Theirs were the only stories/views I was interested to know and share.

Here are some of the comments (with much help from Google Translate):

"Hardly surprising that Swedish Television defends advertising and promotion of women buying sex in the third world, while men in Sweden are sentenced to harsh prison terms for the same conduct. Not for nothing that Sweden is internationally known as feminism Saudi Arabia."

"This made ​​me really angry. Had the program been produced in the same way, and instead focused on men, it would have caused chaos in the media of Sweden... But now it's women. Women can. Women who do so are strong women, who want a little romance, and cozy on vacation. Damn."

"We're talking about ​​equality in reporting that both men and women can go abroad to buy sex. But one is called 'for romance' and the other prostitution...

It is ok to seek happiness where you can find it. But why demonize one sex for the very same thing?"

"I advise all men who want to buy sex to go to Denmark or Thailand, where you can get what you can't in Sweden. What is strange about two adults who have sex? What is strange about two adults who have sex where one pays?... All relationships or marriage symbolize a transaction that opens up the word "love". All women are whores and all men are johns how we look at it. Sorry to others living in your Disney Worlds for revealing what and who you are."

"Cowboys" on CBC News Network

In Canada? Watch "Cowboys in Paradise" on The Passionate Eye, CBC News Network at 10PM ET/PT tomorrow. (Note: This will be the one-hour broadcast version. For the full-length feature cut - yes, yes, with the 'the vagina stone' and all - head here.)

"This doc sounded fucking sexy" - Kevin Smith

Listening to Kevin Smith and Scott Mosier talk about "Cowboys in Paradise" was all kinds of fanboy-cool for me. (Warning: explicit stuff. It's Kevin Smith, mmkay?)

Love is in the air. Everywhere.

After all the ho-humming, "Cowboys in Paradise" has released. Watch the full 82-minute version here. Folks in US & Canada can also download/rent off iTunes.