The short clip below has been around for some years now, watched by millions of people. It is an appeal by a to-be-born daughter to her father, to create an environment where she does not have to deal with male condemnation, aggression and violence. Think of it what you will – I believe you will join me in feeling irritated by the comments that can be found after the video.

This is a random sample, and typically amplified by almost 1000 likes in the last of the ones above, for example, ranting against “toxic femininity and the cult of victimhood.”

I think they should all be forced to watch at least two of the movies listed below, to get their heads straightened out. Some of the films I could link to, the others can be found on Amazon, if you have a membership there. All have central characters that are strong women or girls, defying the odds, refusing to be silenced in coercive environments.

Persepolis (2008)

The Passion of Joan Arc (1928)

Whale Rider (2002)

Mustang (2015) (Turkey)

Desperately seeking Susan (19850

Nine to five (1980)

Wendy and Lucy (2008)

The Piano (1993)

The Witch (2016)

And then there is The Little Mermaid. The movie, not the H.C.Andersen tale. A recent article in The Smithsonian argues that this was a revolutionary feminist film 30 years ago.

“The central story of The Little Mermaid is, of course, 16-year-old Ariel’s identity crisis. She feels constrained by her patriarchal mer-society and senses she doesn’t belong. She yearns for another world, apart from her own, where she can be free from the limits of her rigid culture and conservative family. Her body is under the water, but her heart and mind are on land with people. She leads a double life. She is, essentially, “in the closet” (as symbolized by her “cavern”—or closet—of human artifacts, where the character-building song “Part of Your World” takes place).

When Ariel ventures to tell her friends and family about her secret identity, they chastise her and tell her she must conform. She must meet her father’s expectations, sing on demand, perform for the public and give up all hopes of a different life. Her father, King Triton, even has her followed by a court official. In her misery, Ariel flees to the sea witch Ursula, the only strong female in the entire film and thus Ariel’s only female role model. At this point, the movie becomes truly subversive cinema.”

Ok, Ursula is gender fluid, empowering and dishes out this or that feminist advice. But she also teaches Ariel “how to get her man” with tricks and make-up, and the movie ends with a happy end, girl gets boy. The original mermaid’s suicide was not something American audiences would have tolerated. So let’s not add it to the list of compulsory movie watching for misogynists. I think we have enough contenders, as is.

Photographs today are some strong girls, captured in 2013 at an interdenominational Peace Camp. What would I give to see what has become of them 7 years later.

Così fan tutte, misogynist for some, a forerunner to feminism for others, shall be today’s musical selection.