They are: Birth Strike: The Hidden Fight Over Women's Work by Jenny Brown, and Do Communists Have Better Sex? A film by Andre Meier

1) Birth Strike The Hidden Fight Over Women's Work by Jenny Brown

This groundbreaking new book (due out on March 1st) questions why women in the U.S  are made to overcome often insurmountable obstacles in order to reproduce the next generation--as well as also being made to encounter obstacles when making the choice to NOT reproduce (lack of easy access to abortion and birth control). At the same time, our European sisters have it much easier on both counts.

Brown identifies the problem as the unadmitted U.S. government policy of getting women to have more children (to bring up the low birth rate shared by most Western countries) through the denial of abortion and birth control access--as opposed to offering women (and families) benefits that would make their lives as parents easier--such as paid parental leave with guaranteed rights to return to one's job, affordable child care, longer vacations and shorter work days, etc. Such incentives were offered in France, Sweden and other countries after women's refusal to have children brought down the birth rates of those countries.

By identifying this "carrot or stick" approach of various governments to women's reproduction, Brown's book leads the way to imagining the solution. "We are already on a 'birth strike'" she says; now it's a matter of specifying our demands!

Jenny Brown will be live in the studio for the entire show.

2) Do Communists Have Better Sex? by André Meier. 52 minutes, color, German language with subtitles. 

This rare and very interesting video is a history and analysis of sex in East and West Germany from the time of the division of the country until the Wall came down in 1989. Postwar Germans shared a common culture, but the country was divided after WWII, and the Wall was built in 1961. They grew separately under two very different governments. When the country was reunited, the differences were very clear. Sex researchers, as well as those from other disciplines, had a great experiment to examine. 

After World War 2, when women in the West were being asked to cede their well paying war jobs to men, in East Germany women were being encouraged to stay at those jobs and offered childcare on the premises and other bonuses. Their ensuing financial independence from men, as well as a governmental philosophy which encouraged sex education at an early age and the decoupling of sex from traditional strictures, led to freer attitudes but not commodification of women's bodies--and according to interviews, better sex, than in the porn-soaked but church-dominated capitalist West.

The film is rich in archival footage, including grainy newsreel clips, sex education films, interviews, and what seems to be candid shots ranging from working in the factory, having naked fun on the beach, and spending time in bed--as well as some interesting cartoon characters who seem to be having a lot of sex themselves. The story line is knitted together with comments by experts on German history, culture and sexology, 
 

Some reviews of "Birth Strike"

“Jenny Brown’s book Birth Strike is a game-changer and
is equal in signifcance to Betty’s Friedan’s Feminine
Mystique in the 1960s, which sparked a movement.”
—Carol Downer, Feminist Women’s Health Centers cofounder

“Why are we still struggling for childcare and paid leave in
the U.S.? Basic rights to birth control and abortion? In Birth
Strike, Jenny Brown exposes the economic interests at play and
shows the mighty power of women to change the game.”
—Lise Vogel, author of Marxism and the Oppression of Women

“Jenny Brown compellingly explains the low U.S. birth rate: those
primarily responsible for the labor of bearing and raising children
(women) are responding as one should to lousy working conditions—
by going on strike! Brown’s bold and brilliant book ventures into
terrain that left and feminist thinkers have avoided for far too
long. A breathtakingly accessible analysis, supported by riveting
and intimate testimonials, it’s also an inspiring call to action.”
—Liza Featherstone, The Nation

“Birth Strike is a well-researched and wide-ranging analysis of
how the public responsibilities of pregnancy and parenting
have been privatized to beneft a capitalist for-proft system
designed to minimize labor costs to produce wealth for the
few. Offers fresh insight into how women’s biological power
may be harnessed to resist reproductive oppression.”
—Loretta J. Ross, coauthor of Reproductive Justice

“An audacious analysis of the falling U.S. birth rate, of the exploitive
and often untenable conditions for raising children here and
now, and of what might be done to change things. Feminist
insight illuminates every chapter of this thoughtful book.”
—Alix Kates Shulman, author of Memoirs of an Ex–Prom Queen and A
Marriage Agreement and Other Essays: Four Decades of Feminist Writing

“An astute analysis of power relations not only in the sphere
of reproduction but also in the worlds of work, immigration,
and government policy as they bear on women’s ability to
control their bodies. . . . Brown lays bare why U.S. women who
want to be mothers, and those who don’t, have it far worse
here than in Europe. Ten she tells us how to change that.”
—Jane Slaughter, Labor Notes

“Jenny Brown reveals to us how and why reactionary
ruling interests in the United States support heavy birth
rates and oppose both abortion and birth control. Also
given is a good report of various other countries and
their prevailing interests. In all, an excellent read!”
—Michael Parenti, author of Democracy for the Few