‘There’s a moment while watching one clip entitled, Nobel Peace Prize: Betty Williams and Mairead Corrigan (1977), on the Digital Film Archive when you realise two things: the significance of two Northern Irish women receiving the Nobel Peace Prize during the Troubles in 1976, and the absurd way they are repeatedly called ‘girls’. It brings to mind the crusty, alcoholic Father Jack from 1990s sitcom Father Ted, with his interchangeable monosyllabic catchphrases, ‘Drink! Feck! Arse! Girls!’, as simple as his pinhole worldview. Of course it’s possible to laugh at the use of ‘girls’ in this context as an awkward relic of television history, but it’s also a reminder of how sexist language works, and how it distracts from the achievement of Williams and Corrigan by reducing them to a lesser stature in the eyes of the viewing audience. The short video Girls, is a playful look at how sexist language can dominate through casual, repetitive use.’
Rose Baker and Laura O'Connor of WANDA
To read the full essay GIRLS: The language of the archive visit http://www.wandabelfast.com/girls.html