Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Killing Us Softly 4






Professor Toni Roberts who teaches Gender Studies was the guest lecturer this past week, while Dr. Koval was away. It was a fabulous class and he is a very interesting man!

Firstly it was so refreshing to see a man who is so involved in feminism at the university level. I was discussing this with my friend and classmate over a burger at Mel's diner in Sackville. She said there had been some discussion and controversy over having a man teach Gender/Women's Studies and issues involving feminism. I think it is a progressive development that sees men taking a proactive role in raising consciousness within the female population but perhaps just as importantly, if not more so, within the male population that will hopefully demystify and deconstruct hyper-masculinity and hyper-femininity that exists in our society.

We had a very engaging discussion after viewing Jean Kilbourne's lecture "Killing Us Softly 4".We were asked our opinion about this video and I expressed having lived through the "second wave" of feminism I have come to the conclusion education, personal and individual activism is this way to change. I felt that the situation surrounding advertising and the sexualization of woman in the media seems to have gotten far worse. Jen Kilbourne reaffirmed my perceptions about how women are dehumanized and objectified  that often culminates in violence and through the tyranny of the ideal of beauty and bodies are used to sell products.

I am anxious to read about Sandra Barky a Philosopher and feminist I learned about who is interested in doing phenomenology and what has been referred to as "feminist moral psychology "
I also learned two new interesting words during this lecture hetronormativity and para-thematic!



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