Bachelor Babes, Bridezillas & Husband-Hunting Harems:
Unraveling Reality TV's Twisted Fairy Tales (and other topics)
…with media critic Jennifer L. Pozner

DO YOU EVER WONDER…:
why “reality” TV frames humiliation of women as “ideal fairy tale romance”?
if Prince Charming would really make his “true love” bend over so he could kick her in the butt?
if men should be valued for more than just the size of their…wallets?
Then don't miss this rousing, multi-media presentation!

With humor, razor-sharp analysis and provocative clips from shows like The Bachelor, America's Next Top Model, American Idol, Extreme Makeover and Flavor of Love, media critic Jennifer L. Pozner exposes how “reality” TV reinforces regressive stereotypes about women and men, race and class, and sex, love and marriage in America. She skewers the lack of ethnic and physical diversity in a genre where women are sold right alongside soda and cell phones, and reveals how reality TV glorifies eating disorders, derides female intelligence, demeans people of color, and reduces Prince Charming to any jerk with a firm butt and a firmer financial portfolio.

Students will never see dating, mating and makeover shows the same way again… and they will laugh—a lot!

Condoleezza Rice Is a Size 6… and Other Things
I Learned from the News: Challenging Media
(Mis)Representations of Women:

Why does the New York Times consider Secretary of State Rice's dress size newsworthy, but has never reported Dick Cheney's inseam?

If 90% of global sweatshop workers are female, why isn't global trade considered a “women's issue”?
Why are the voices of women and people of color systematically marginalized on the nation's front pages and op-ed pages, as experts on the evening news, and as guests on Sunday morning news debate shows – and how does this media bias influence public policy?

Using multi-media clips and well-documented research, Pozner exposes how media conglomerates serve corporate agendas, reinforce cultural stereotypes, and limit democratic debate about women's and human rights issues. Funny and frightening, Pozner debunks popular myths about women and reveals little-known facts that enlighten, engage and sometimes even enrage thinking audiences. Students will learn how commercialism, sexism, racism and economic biases shape news and pop culture—and how they can fight back.

Reproductive Wrongs:
Exposing Media Misinformation About Abortion,
Family Planning and Clinic Violence :

A man tried to blow up a women's health clinic on the fifth anniversary of 9/11—and no major media outlet reported his act of terrorism. “Partial-birth abortion” is a political construct, not a medical procedure, yet reporting rarely reflects this fact. Media coverage informs our beliefs about family planning, sex ed, health care access, anti-Roe legislation and clinic violence—yet media prefer to report the impact of these issues on politicians' poll numbers, rather than on women and girls, as Pozner illustrates.

Media, Women & War:
How does the silencing of women's voices
in war coverage shortchange America?:

Media ignored American women's voices in coverage of terrorism and war since September 11, 2001, banished female journalists from op-ed pages and pundit seats, and exploited Afghan women's oppression to trump up support for bombing Afghanistan and Iraq. Pozner exposes how media marginalization of women helped the Bush administration restrict civil liberties at home and wage deadly wars abroad.

Race, Class, Gender & Katrina:
The Human Impact of Disastrous Reporting

Biased reporting on Hurricane Katrina contributed to injuries and deaths of thousands of Americans. Unsubstantiated news reports of theft and violence slowed the relief effort. Race was often what determined who media labeled “victims” and “criminals.” Media framed New Orleans residents as stupid for not evacuating, though many were simply too poor to leave. And gender was invisible, though the majority of the Gulf Coast poor are women, as Pozner exposes.

Triumph of the Shill:
How Product Placement Corrupts Media
and Threatens Diversity

Biased reporting on Hurricane Katrina contributed to injuries and deaths of thousands of Americans. Unsubstantiated news reports of theft and violence slowed the relief effort. Race was often what determined who media labeled “victims” and “criminals.” Media framed New Orleans residents as stupid for not evacuating, though many were simply too poor to leave. And gender was invisible, though the majority of the Gulf Coast poor are women, as Pozner exposes.

Surviving "False Feminist Death Syndrome":
Media Coverage of Feminism from the '70s to Today

Ugly, male-bashing Feminazis! Godless, baby-killing sluts! Media have hurled these attacks at feminists for decades, while simultaneously proclaiming the movement "dead," a "failure" or "irrelevant" in our supposedly "post-feminist" era. Yet despite 40 years of insults and false obituaries, young feminist women and men are engaging in dynamic activism far from the media's lens, as this lecture explores.

HANDS-ON WORKSHOP:
Getting Your Message Heard:
Interactive Media Training Workshops
For Campus Activists

Sick of media calling feminists and anti-racism activists "whiners," women's studies programs "anti-intellectual," people of color “lazy,” anti-war protestors "un-American," and gays and lesbians "immoral?" Want to learn how to raise public awareness about violence against women, sweatshop labor, immigration rights, racial profiling and other social justice issues? This intensive media training gives students practical, concrete strategies to challenge media bias. Students gain skills they need deconstruct "spin" and inaccuracy, get their own positive messages heard, and access (or create) independent media alternatives.