Page 326
noticed me, she said, "Mother, for heaven's sakes!" We both felt a little embarrassed.
Later it seemed odd to me that, first, I had not looked at that part of her body since she was very small, and second, that my curiosity had made me uncomfortable, as though there was something wrong with my interest. I realized that I had never seen any woman's vagina except in crotch-shots in pornographic films and magazines or close-ups in birth films. I asked my women friends if they had ever looked at other women's vaginas. One or two, with bisexual experience, assured me they had; most hadn't. Few wanted to pursue the matter.
I started talking about making a film about vaginas. Men filmmaker friends listened to me with distaste. Bob Nelson was the first to support me. He became interested and, in a burst of enthusiasm, produced the title.
His wife, Diane, and I were taking a yoga class together and I was intrigued that the first chakra one gains control of, or "awakens" in yogic terms, was located between the genitals and the anus. "Chakra" is Sanskrit for wheels or centers of radiating life force. Joseph Campbell calls them "centers of consciousness." There are seven or eight, depending upon the system you follow. The first is located at the base of the spine. It's the chakra of pure physical being, survivalthe place where you just hang on.
The second is where all psychological energy is erotic or creative. I was jokingly calling it the "big chakra" because in the early seventies we all seemed to be stuck at this level of development. It also seemed to me that the way out of this morass was to transform some of this energy into art. In the proposed film I wanted to focus on the same area that our energy was flowing from in the beginning yoga class. I also hoped to creatively release some of this energy for myself and other women in order to move on up the cerebrospinal ladder.
Anyway, enough people told me it was a terrible idea that I should not pursue under any circumstances that I definitely decided to do it.
Near the Big Chakra
assumes that it's a good idea to take a look at things, even if they're forbidden, or taboo, or frightening, or exciting, or mysterious, or dangerous. I guess that's one of my basic assumptions about what's interesting to do in the world and also what's interesting to do in art.
MacDonald:
How did you find participants?
Severson:
I went to Glide Methodist Church in San Francisco. At that time the church was very active in the area of human sexuality. Later, the group at Glide evolved into Multi Media Resource Center. They presented all kinds of sexuality seminars and classes.
I approached them and asked if they'd produce the film and, in fact,