The Gender Images Film Series kicked off screenings this year with a premiere of Never Rarely Sometimes Always, a 2020 Sundance film directed by Eliza Hittman. The Department of English collaborated with Professor Kelsey Truxal and students of Women & Politics to present the film on Wednesday, Feb. 16 in the Grise Hall Auditorium. 

Film professor Dr. Ted Hovet founded the Gender Images Film Series 26 years ago, and today the program continues to thrive by featuring relevant and impactful films. “It's really exciting to reach out to colleagues around campus and find out what sorts of issues, topics, and ideas that they want to talk about through the medium of film,” Dr. Hovet stated. 

Along with Dr. Hovet, Dr. Dawn Hall, Director of the Gender and Women's Studies program, first saw the movie at the Sundance Film Festival in 2020.  “It was it really was profound, and I knew I wanted to bring it back,” Dr. Hall stated. 

Never Rarely Sometimes Always follows 17-year-old Autumn. Faced with an unexpected pregnancy, Autumn travels with her cousin to New York City to obtain an abortion, which requires parental consent for minors in her home state of Pennsylvania. 

“This film really spoke to me, and I’m really excited for you guys to see it. It's kind of uncomfortable, but in a way that I think needs to be a little bit uncomfortable because these topics are heavy, and we need to take them seriously and really think about the consequences of policy and legislation,” Professor Truxal stated. 

A discussion with Professor Truxal and the students of Women & Politics followed the screening. The audience response was overwhelmingly positive, with those in the discussion saying they appreciated the candid depiction of the process for minors seeking medical care after an unplanned pregnancy. They noted how the film was not pushing an agenda for or against abortion but rather showed what the process looks like in most states in the U.S. The students of Women & Politics explained some of the issues related to the film, such as birth control access for minors and crisis pregnancy centers.  

“The most important thing Kentuckians need to know about reproductive rights is that not everyone has them. Fortunately, the vast majority of us will not have to experience being a minor seeking abortion care or someone who is undocumented seeking care, but just because some of us have what we would consider ‘reproductive rights’ does not mean that everyone in our state does,” Professor Truxal said. “Every day people are falling through the cracks, and the current systems we have in place are failing them. It is our social responsibility to recognize these flaws and raise awareness to fix them.”

The next film in the Gender Images Film Series, The Glorias, looks through a historical lens of the life of feminist icon Gloria Steinem. Email English.offic@wku.edu to RSVP for the Zoom discussion on March 30.