The University Board Ideas and Issues committee showed the first film of their documentary series, aimed to discuss serious topics Wednesday in Coleman Hall.

While the turnout for the viewing was not very high, the film’s message was still received by those in attendance.

Ariel O’Neal, the university board Idea and Issues coordinator, said the audience turnout was not quite what she had expected.

“I think it could have been better,” O’Neal said. “I’m happy for the people that did come out because they enjoyed the movie and got educated about this topic.”

The first of the series was “It’s A Girl”, a documentary film focusing on the topic of “gendercide” in both India and China.

The film interviews different women and families about instances where they killed their daughter or were in situations where they were force to do so.

One such story from the film focused on a family in India with four daughters. The parents were happy to have four daughters, but they had their eldest daughter marry a man she did not like.

The eldest daughter gave birth to a daughter, and the marriage became abusive. In the end, the eldest daughter was killed and the husband barely received any penalty.

Another one of the stories told in the film was the one of Mitu Khurana, an Indian doctor who was forced to undergo a sex determination exam by her husband. When Khurana was discovered to be pregnant with twin girls, her husband ordered her to terminate the pregnancy.

When she chose not to, her husband pushed her down a flight of stairs and locked her away. Khurana managed to give birth to her daughters, and is currently one of the first woman to speak out against her husband and try to bring him to justice.

The most common reason families choose to get rid of their daughter is because of poverty.

“I think (the film) was very informative. It sheds light on an epidemic that we as American women don’t always think about,” O’Neal said. “I also think it’s very sad how women and baby girl are treated and makes me feel luck that I’m alive.”

Some of the mothers in the film did not show any remorse when they choose to kill their baby girls, most saying it was to avoid future suffering.

Akeem Forbes, a junior English major, was one of the few people in the audience for the film.

“I thought it would be about maybe young girls being sex trafficked, maybe kidnapped, but not necessary murdered,” Forbes said. “It really opened up my eyes to be a little more concern as it relates more to those types of topic.”

Forbes also said from a male perspective, he found it disheartening to know these things of things happen in the world.

“I do believe this is an issue that everyone should be aware of,” Forbes said. “It’s just like sexism in America, it’s a lot of things that aren’t addressed and that are just thrown under the rug…It’s a lot of things that women go through that we don’t necessarily talk about that need to be address.”

Luis Martinez can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected]