Feminist Lecture Series

Fall 2009

All lectures are free and open to all
Rachel Carson Hall 20
Thursdays, 12:00-12:50 pm

9/3 Marissa Keller, “Media, Body Image, and Identity: How Media Skews Our Self-Perception and What We Can Do About It”
While media can definitely be entertaining, many messages we absorb about who we’re “supposed to be” can be degrading and damaging.  Mainstream ads and other portrayals can contribute to a host of problems for girls and women: low self-esteem, depression, anxiety, unhealthy diets and exercise regimens, and eating disorders. This diminishes women’s health and gender equality.  You'll learn methods for finding out what media’s really selling and how to change the media environment to support and respect women and men alike. Education Into Action Workshop Leader Marisa Keller became involved in About-Face in order to promote positive self-image through media literacy. About-Face equips women and girls with tools to understand and resist harmful media messages that affect their self-esteem and body image.

9/17 Zakiya Harris, "We Are the Ones We Have Been Waiting For"
A new generation of leaders is expanding the frame around green to include under-served communities. Learn about local innovative youth empowerment and green career program models as Mrs. Harris, founder of Grind for the Green, explores how to engage more people of color in the growing green economy.  Grind for the Green is committed to moving youth of color from the margins to the epicenter of the environmental movement, through utilizing hip-hop culture as a vehicle to attract and engage youth of color, creating green pathways to success, which include careers, internships and educational opportunities, and connecting our local work to national and international campaigns for eco-equity.

9/24 Chie Abad, “Sweatshop Labor and Global Economy”
In countries around the world, millions of people around the world—mostly women—toil in sweatshops to make the clothes on our backs.  Carmencita “Chie” Abad knows first-hand what is like to work in sweatshop.  After spending six years as a garment worker on the Pacific island of Saipan, Chie was fired from her job for attempting to organize a workers union to address the wretched working and living conditions in the factory.  Today Chie works tirelessly advocating on behalf of individuals working in sweatshop conditions throughout the world and teaching others how they can make a difference through their consumer actions.

10/1 Lisa DeMartini and Jaime Rapaport, “Woman-Controlled Health Care”           
Woman-centered health care has evolved from self-help techniques to commonly used medical practice today.  Learn a feminist perspective on self-cervical exam, self-help home remedies, contemporary issues of abortion availability, birth control options and current medical practices and testing that affect women’s reproductive health.  Lisa DeMartini and Jaime Rapaport are based in the Santa Rosa Site of Women’s Health Specialists.  They share the experiences of over 30 years of feminist health history and currently work to fulfill the WHS mission: for women to control their own bodies, reproduction and sexuality, because only with dignity and freedom of choice can women achieve their full potential.

10/15 Sonoma 3rd District Supervisor Shirlee Zane, “Women in Politics: Sculpting Society's Future”
Only 30% of high elected offices in the United States are currently held by women. Yet women have a critical voice as caregivers in the community, and are pivotal to changing the way society approaches social justice and environmental stewardship.  This lecture will explore strategies for balancing the gender scale in government. Shirlee Zane represents the Third District on the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors. Since receiving her Masters in Counseling from Sonoma State University, she has also worked as a bilingual therapist, hospital chaplain and Chief Executive Officer for the Council on Aging.

10/29 Domestic Violence Awareness Panel organized by the YWCA
The History of the Domestic Violence Movement…or Two Steps Forward and One Step Back.” Denise Frey is the Executive Director and CEO of the YWCA Sonoma County and has worked in the domestic violence movement for over thirty years.  In this presentation she will explore the history of the various movements that have resulted in today’s Domestic Violence Movement and the current expansion into the Family Justice Center Movement.  She will be joined by Alexandra Walter, YWCA Board Member and staff to Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey.   

11/12 Molly Murphy MacGregor, “Writing Women into History”
Since 1980, the National Women's History Project has been working to help write women back into history.  It has been an amazing journey. MacGregor, president and co-founder of the National Women’s History Project, taught one of the first high school classes in women’s history in 1972.  Since that time she has become a nationally recognized leader in honoring and celebrating women’s historic achievements

12/3 Malinda Lo, “Queering Cinderella”
In the young adult novel Ash, author Malinda Lo has retold the Cinderella fairy tale—typically about fulfillment through heterosexual marriage—with a queer twist. The Cinderella character falls in love with a woman while negotiating with a fairy who is not much of a bubbly godmother. Lo will discuss her creative process and how she came to reinvent this traditional tale as a coming-of-age rather than a coming-out novel.  Lo was born in China, grew up in Colorado and has since lived in Boston, New York, London, Beijing, Los Angeles and San Francisco. She is the former managing editor of AfterEllen.com, the largest entertainment news site for lesbians and bisexual women. In 2006, Malinda was awarded the Sarah Pettit Memorial Award for Excellence in LGBT Journalism by the National Gay and Lesbian Journalists Association. Ash is her first novel.

The Feminist Lecture Series is part of the annual Gender Studies Program Series of the Women’s and Gender Studies Department. Generous funding by the SSU Instructionally Related Activities Program makes it possible.

Questions can be directed to Professor Don Romesburg, Assistant Professor of Women’s and Gender Studies,
Sonoma State University, 707.664.2574; romesbur@sonoma.edu

The Queer Studies Lecture Series is made possible thanks to the Women’s and Gender Studies Department and the SSU Instructionally Related Activities Program.


*There is still plenty of enrollment space available for this class. Come listen to fantastic speakers and increase your knowledge. Sign up today!