Film review: Thank You Skinhead Girl

'Thank You Skinhead Girl' is a short documentary film written, directed, produced and edited by Sharon Woodward. It primarily focuses on the experiences Sharon had as a skinhead girl in her youth. It is a tribute to her years as a skinhead girl, and what they provided for her. She chats to two other women, and they discuss their experiences as skinhead girls. The three women were all skinheads in different time periods. Ali Palmer-Smith was a skinhead in its early days, from 1969 to 1972, Sharon Woodward, who is also the film maker, was a skinhead in the Two Tone revival days, 1979 to 1983, and finally, Bridget Faller was a skinhead from 1984 to 1987.


L to R, Ali Palmer-Smith, Sharon Woodward and Bridget Faller

To an outsider, the skinhead movement may seem to be a male dominated subculture. The media usually only portrays the skinhead males, even throughout this film the archive video footage is of male skinheads. However, as this film explores, it is truly a place where many females felt they belonged. The majority of films depicting the subculture are centred around the males and their experiences. In my opinion, the closest a film came to exploring a female's experience in the movement was probably 'This Is England', which depicted skinhead girls but hardly touched on the way they lived their lives.

I believe that Sharon is successful at displaying the skinhead movement as a female space through her film. The collective stories of the women, and the similarities between their experiences, convey the idea that the skinhead movement is indeed a place that they did belong. They all speak of feeling equal to their male counterparts, stating that sexism wasn't necessarily a part of their experience, unravelling the myth that it is only for boys. They identify as tomboyish girls, who find an accomodating place in this subculture. Sharon enjoyed becoming androgynous with her shaved head, it allowed her to escape male sexual attention. The girls felt more like little sisters to the males, and the males admired the girls who weren't going to take shit from anybody. Bridget mentions getting a spiderweb tattoo, and the artist tattoos a flower in the middle of it without her permission in order to make it more feminine, she recalls being upset because she did not want it to be girly.


Sharon, 1982

Another common thread is that the girls in the group weren't fans of other, 'casual' girls coming on to the scene just to chase the skinhead boys. Bridget in particular speaks of girls returning a few days later with 'perfect' skinhead girl feather cuts, while she was trying to grow her hair into one for years. In other words, girls were accepted if they were interested in the movement for the right reasons.


Bridget, in her skinhead days

The shared rituals of getting ready to go out are also discussed, and I feel that this further portrays the experience of girls in the skinhead movement as there are common aspects. The discussion about what clothes they wore also conveys the way in which fashion is a big part of the way the girls identified themselves as skinheads. Pride in their appearance, and self, is a key theme. Old daily habits and behaviours are shared with each other as well as stories about old boyfriends. Sharon's inability to get rid of her old crombie highlights how the years spent as a skinhead girl are ingrained in her, that although her life has moved forward, those years were important in shaping her.


Sharon brings out her crombie for the first time in 25 years

The film is enjoyable to watch, the stories recounted by the women are amusing, and touching in parts, and I'm glad to finally see a film that truly documents the experiences of females in the skinhead movement. I'm sure that a lot of skinhead, and ex-skinhead girls, will be able to relate to Sharon's experience where being a skinhead provided her with a place to grow, evolve and find pride in herself. I found it very refreshing to finally see a film completely dedicated to skinhead girls.

For more information about the film, check out Sharon's myspace here: http://www.myspace.com/SharonKayWoodward

This is the trailer for the film:
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=54474671

I'd like to thank Sharon for giving me the opportunity to review her film, I truly appreciate it.

Written by Sally Kingsley