A group of nuns scale the Berlin Wall and escape East Germany, only to themselves barely surviving in the Arizona desert. A dedicated teacher of deaf children challenges the constraints of her Catholic upbringing and patriarchy by cruising singles bars looking for sex and excitement. An ambitious priest finds redemption through the brutal murder of a young woman dubbed the “virgin tramp”.

The common denominator? Catholic women as portrayed in Hollywood films.
Hollywood and Catholic Women: Virgins, Whores, Mothers, and Other Images examines these and other scenarios in 15 films focusing on women religious or Catholic women living in secular society. Hollywood and Catholic Women explores how the patriarchal structures of Hollywood, Roman Catholicism, and Western society have conspired to diminish women’s significance. Frequently focusing on the fear of women, such ingrained attitudes often influence the cinematic portrayals of Catholic women in American film.

The audience for Hollywood and Catholic Women covers a broad spectrum, encompassing those interested in the areas of feminism, film, education, media, religion, popular culture and others. To read an excerpt of Hollywood and Catholic Women visit the web site www.women-write.com.
Kathryn Schleich originally wrote her master’s thesis on the image of Catholic women in Hollywood films in 1992. The topic continued to arouse such interest that she chose to revise and expand the book in 2003. Hollywood and Catholic Women is available through iUniverse at www.iuniverse.com for $13.95 (US). Both entertaining and informative, this book is meant to encourage discussion while getting readers to look beyond the stereotypes and limitations so often assigned Catholic women in film.