The works in tonight's program seek out the roots of current conceptualizations of women, to examine the deep, underlying issues of race, class and gender-based oppression. La Operacion by Ana Maria Gomez (1982, 40 mins, Color, 16mm, Print from Cinema Guild): Ana Maria Gomez combines interviews, historical footage and statistical information to critique Puerto Rico's widespread policy of forced sterilization of women. The devastating impact of these women's stories is linked to other issues of control: "The (film's) context is the colonization of Puerto Rico and the politics of population control, in which sterilization and emigration were the results of a political and economic situation forced on Puerto Rico by the United States" (Ana Maria Gomez). In both cases, choice is effectively eliminated. Born To Be Sold: Martha Rosler Reads the Strange Case of Baby M by Martha Rosler and Paper Tiger Television (l988, 30 mins, Color, 3/4" video, Tape from Paper Tiger Television): Martha Rosler turns upside down the well-known surrogacy case in which the Sterns contracted Mary Beth Whitehead to bear them a child. Rosler's concern with shifting the terms of the discussion are signalled by her title sequence: "Baby M" is altered to read "Baby S" and then "Baby $". Baby M, the name used by the courts and media, is a shortening of Melissa, the name the Sterns gave the baby, while Sara, the name Mary Beth Whitehead gave her, is not recognized. In her free-wheeling lecture, Rosler cleverly demonstrates how the "law of the father"-and of the $-only works for some: the legal system, the media, the medical profession, the business of surrogacy, the social value given babies are all shown to have class and gender biases. The body is a means of social control. With a Vengeance: The Fight for Reproductive Freedom by Lori Hiris (1989, 40 mins, B&W, 16mm, Print from Women Make Movies): One of the many women interviewed in Hiris' history of the contemporary women's movement discusses her radical activities, and notes that the term "radical" comes from "root"; she sees her role as going deep into problems to solve them at the roots. Interviews with early abortion activists, including members of Redstockings and the JANE Collective, black women activists and young women today, are intercut with footage of pro-choice marches and political actions. Hiris' experimental documentary uses fast-paced editing, cutting quickly between speakers to underscore connections between concerns but also to suggest directions the movement must take to address the breadth of women's experiences. The film's structure recalls stream of consciousness, but Hiris links many individuals' experiences to collective concerns. --Kathy Geritz