Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies: Videos

At a time when more women than ever are getting breast implants, fewer voices than ever seem to be asking "Why?" And fewer still are asking "Are they safe?" Absolutely Safe takes an open-minded, personal approach to the controversy over breast implant safety. It is the story of everyday women who find themselves and their breasts in the tangled and confusing intersection of health, money, science, and beauty

Despite the achievements of the women's movement over the past four decades, misogyny remains a persistent force in American culture. The film tracks the destructive dynamics of misogyny across a broad and disturbing range of media phenomena: including the hyper-sexualization of commercial products aimed at girls, the explosion of violence in video games aimed at boys, the near-hysterical sexist rants of hip-hop artists and talk radio shock jocks, and the harsh, patronizing caricatures of femininity and feminism that reverberate throughout the mainstream of American popular culture.

Casualties of war rage beyond the battlefield. As ranks of women in the American military swell, so do incidents of rape. An estimated 30 percent of servicewomen and at least 1 percent of servicemen are sexually assaulted during their enlistment, not by the enemy, but at the hands of fellow soldiers. With stark clarity and escalating revelations, The Invisible War exposes a rape epidemic in the armed forces, investigating the institutions that perpetuate it as well as its profound personal and social consequences.

There are sex-and-gender bullies of all ages, and many hold positions of real power in the culture, or on your campus. Bullies make life seem less worth living. Bully culture began way back in school, when kids were teased, harassed, beaten, raped, or murdered for nothing more than their sexuality, or for the way they expressed themselves as masculine or feminine. It was simply love that made those kids stand out. You'd think it would be love that could make us stand together. Sex, Bullies, and You is the piece Kate wrote to inspire that kind of love. Then, we can get on with the business of cultural revolution.

In this new, highly anticipated update of her pioneering Killing us softly series, the first in more than a decade, Jean Kilbourne takes a fresh look at how advertising traffics in distorted and destructive ideals of femininity. The film marshals a range of new print and television advertisements to lay bare a stunning pattern of damaging gender stereotypes--images and messages that too often reinforce unrealistic, and unhealthy, perceptions of beauty, perfection, and sexuality. By bringing Kilbourne's groundbreaking analysis up to date, Killing us softly 4 stands to challenge a new generation of students to take advertising seriously, and to think critically about popular culture and its relationship to sexism, eating disorders, and gender violence

Explores how mainstream media contributes to the under-representation of women in influential positions in America and challenges the media's portrayals of women