Girls only – No Men Beyond This Point, please.

The issue of gender is a continuous battle. Even in the 21st century, feminist movements still need to exist to ensure equality between sexes. As a counterargument, the meninist movement arose for what seems to be just to piss off 51 per cent of the world. No Men Beyond This Point, simply from the title, may appear to be just that – a meninist film. In an alternative timeline, women have become asexual, giving “virgin births” to only baby girls without the need of a man or his swimming buddies. The film follows Andrew as one of the youngest living males in a world where most males are sent off to sanctuaries like zoo animals, waiting to become extinct. When he falls in love with a woman, the couple must keep quiet in a society where dating and heterosexual relations are considered taboo.
At first, I thought I would take offense to such a film. I imagined that director Mark Sawers realized one day in the shower that maybe women can be independent living creators who do not need to depend on men to bring home the bacon, hold open doors, or open pickle jars. In my mind, Sawers must have been an offended meninist who went on a filmmaking rampage. What I saw was a pleasant surprise.
A hilarious movie masked as a documentary, the film used humour to address the issue of equality and the need for humans, man, woman, and somewhere in between to make connections and find love. The documentary style of filming allows for raw, sometimes unfiltered emotions to come through, while still being navigated by a script and storyboard. It might seem like a hot mess, but it’s a hot mess with a purpose.
Extreme binaries in movements, including feminism and meninism, are satirically poked at, serving to remind us that at the root of each movement is true equality. Bringing one group down in order to lift yours up is equal parts liberation and oppression. Rather than attacking each other, we should reach out and ask, how can we help each other be better, equal people?

Victoria Goldberg, Arts Editor
Featured image courtesy of Toronto International Film Festival