In reply to UKC News:
Although I too thought "oh, not another gender film", I was more than usually moved by Heather's very real battle with herself.
The simplistic narrative of the film does not mask the fact that Heather clearly suffers (or suffered) from much bigger failures of self-confidence than most of us. At least when talking about herself compared to when she is moving over rock. So I think dismisssing it as "we've all been there," doesn't quite cover it in this case.
All creative processes have unforeseen results and you can read her own take on the impact of the film on her life here
https://heatherclimbs.com/2017/12/08/the-china-doll-contradiction-behind-th...
Although in my climbing bubble I have no cause to bang the gender drum, and would not be too quick to reduce the husband's instruction and advice to condescension rather than just one person mentoring another, I know it looms in many people's lives. And who is to say that another person's experience is inaccurate?
In Heather's blog she mentions a difficult upbringing, and watching her mother date abusive men. As we know, this influences children's understanding of what healthy relationships look like, and so the film making process may have highlighted to her assumptions she was making about her role in relationships with the men in her life now, based on those with the men in her life previously, rather than anything her husband is doing in particular. Read this way, the opening quote might make more sense. The film does allude to her assuming the role of belayer in past relationships. And he does mention his approval of beautiful women climbing hard once too often. Beyond this, gender is a more implicit rather than explicit theme perhaps.
Whatever the intended message of the film, happily, her blog suggests the output has led to her confronting her perceptions of herself and her mental game. It's also had an impact on how she and her husband relate (though this could just be 'as people' rather than as a man and a woman). The film's messages about how to ultimately feel comfortable in your own skin are also valid.
An aside: there is an amazing paucity of theories that stand up to much interrogation as to just why the balance of power between men and women has been so unequal throughout history. Though once culturally and institutionally embedded, these assumed patterns are very hard to shift.
Post edited at 16:06