University of South Carolina Documentary Filmmaker Looks at Women in the Military

Cathy Brookshire, an instructor of speech communication and rhetoric at the University of South Carolina, has recently completed work on a documentary film on women in the U.S. military. Brookshire was inspired to make the film after hearing an NPR documentary on military personnel that did not include one woman.

The film, Soldier Girl, shows interviews of 30 women who served in the U.S. military from World War II to the present day. One woman tells about being gang raped by fellow soldiers in Kuwait. One woman who was a Marine during World War II tells how she was instructed on how to apply the Corps’ official red lipstick.

The documentary will be screened at film festivals throughout South Carolina and will also appear on educational television.

Brookshire holds a master of fine arts degree in directing and a master’s degree in Renaissance studies and Shakespeare in performance.