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Title: La operacion Reference: Director & producer, Ana Maria Garcia;
co-producer, Latin American Film Project. Abstract: Discusses the issue of female sterilization as a form of population control in Puerto Rico. Library of Congress subjects: Reviews and Numerical Ratings (3) This is a historic account of the mass sterilization of women that took place in Puerto Rico for several decades in the twentieth century. It provides one example of population control, which is a eugenic social policy, in the guise of birth control (choice). La Operacion describes the influence of corporate America on the rhetoric of "population excess" which targeted the poor and the Black. This control was also used to keep women in the garment factories (no maternity leaves, limitations on family care) in the interests of corporate America. This should also be considered in the context of Puerto Rico's political relationship to the US. Puerto Rico became a US Commonwealth the early 1950s. Because Puerto Ricans have no representation in the US government and no vote, their laws can be overturned by the US Congress, and they are subject to the draft. Consider La Operacion in relation to other examples of medical mistreatment and eugenics such as: the medical mistreatment of Blacks in the US (Tuskegee provides the most striking example); Apartheid medicine; Nazi 'racial hygiene'; and China's 1995 eugenics law to 'enhance race quality' whereby persons the state deems mentally ill or mentally retarded, or people with malformations or disorders considered 'unfit' for reproduction are banned from both marriage and reproduction. Deborah Davidson (2.5) The title related well to the content of the video. One problem I had was with the subtitles: they were too small for one thing, and at times the background and the words blurred together distractingly so it was hard to read. The music was ok, but I’d have preferred to understand what was being sung – the words were Spanish. I like that the characters were real and didn’t seem rehearsed. Showing the actual operation: it was gross and perhaps grotesque, so if a prof wants to show this I’d say, warn your students that there may be scenes that they may not like. I felt that those scenes were in a sense unnecessary, since the video wasn’t about the operation, so much as the implications of it. It was distracting and I held through but at times I was cringing at the blood and surgery. The video had good sociology content, as it deals with issues of power, manipulation, and poverty. This would be useful in sociology courses. It was also informative and eye-opening: I didn’t really know about this topic prior to seeing the video. Finally, this video looked like it was old – late 80s or early 90s – and I’d like to see an update of the current statistics on sterilization and poverty in Puerto Rico. Marsha McQueen (undergraduate) (3) Broadly, this film uses Puerto Rico as a case study to connect the development of particular gender and race relations to the process of colonization. The film also effectively demystifies the ‘population problem’. It connects the need and ability to control women’s bodies to problems of poverty, unemployment, and profit created by the expansion of capitalism. It must be noted that this film relies on small subtitles for a significant portion of the film. Sarah Newman (3) Puerto Rico has the highest female sterilization
rate in the world. This effective and well-reasoned video examines how
state population policies (including out-migration), globalised capital,
and scientific experimentation figure into the statistic. The lack of
informed consent is the main issue in appalling, matter-of-fact interviews
with numerous women. On the minus side, you’d want to make sure
that the print size in the subtitles is large enough for your class
to read – especially important for a video that is mainly subtitled.
Also, if you or your students are squeamish, beware of the first five
minutes and the closing minutes, where images of the surgery are shown
repeatedly & maybe heavy-handedly. Kathy Bischoping
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