Women’s History Month
March 2015
Sexy or Sexist?
Featured Speakers
Throwing Stones at the Glass Ceiling:
An evening with Ralston, Emmy-winning sound editor and underground filmmaker
Thursday March 19
11 am-12:15 pm – Lecture
7-8:30 pm – Lecture & Screening of the winners of the Women’s and Gender studies video contest
Beeghly Hall, McKay Auditorium
Co-sponsored with YSUnity, Student Diversity and the Department of English
Emmy award winner, Jen Ralston, has worked on such notable feature films as Crouching Tiger Hidden
Dragon, Primary Colors, Bringing Out the Dead, Boys Don’t Cry, The Big Lebowski, Sense and Sensibility
and TV series: The Wire, Pretty Little Liars, Treme, and Generation Kill. Beyond sound editing and writing,
Jen has just finished production on the first season of an original web series she wrote, directed, helped
shoot, picture edited, called Gates and Strays, which was created to more accurately reflect the full
range of diversity in society. She will provide us with much insight through her experiences writing
editing, directing, producing, gaining recognition, and overcoming obstacles that surface within the
entertainment industry. Light refreshments will be served.
Brianna Wu: Sexism in the Tech Industry
Lecture
Thursday, March 26, 7-8 pm
Friday, March 27 11am- 12pm
Beeghly hall, McKay Auditorium
Brianna Wu, head of the video game development studio Giant Spacekat, leads one of the largest
professional game-development teams of women in the field. For opinions she has expressed misogyny
in the gaming industry and being a vocal critic of Gamergate, she has received over 43 threats in the
past 5 months, including death and rape threats. She been interviewed on CNN, MSNBC, and the
episode called “Intimidation Game” on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit is based on an amalgamation
of her experiences and those of others like her in the gaming industry. She will speak about these issues
as well as other challenges faced by women in the tech industry. Light refreshments will be served.
Events
LGBTQIA: Through the Eyes of Different Religions
Panel and Discussion
Wednesday, March 4, 5-7pm
Beeghly Hall, McKay Auditorium
Co-sponsored with YSUnity & Center for Judaic and Holocaust Studies
Individuals with in-depth knowledge about some of the world’s most populated religions will explore
how LGBTQIA (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning, Intersex, Ally) issues are viewed in the
context of different religions. Light refreshments will be served.
Sister, I’m Sorry
Film Screening, Panel and Discussion
Thursday, March 5, 6:30-8:30pm
Kilcawley Center Jones Room
Co-sponsored with Office of Diversity and Multicultural Affairs
The film Sister, I’m Sorry, starring Blair Underwood and Rev. Donald Bell, depicts men apologizing to
women for physical, psychological, sexual, and emotional abuses that other men have inflicted on them.
The focus is on the power of apologies and forgiveness in helping women recover from trauma and
suffering. Selected clips from the film will be shown, followed by talks by Lyn Bilal from Rape Crisis and
Counseling Center and Malinda Gavins from Sojourner House Domestic Violence Services, and a
discussion facilitated by Johanna Slivinske, who works for PsyCare and YSU’s Department of Social Work.
Light refreshments will be served.
Transparently, Big Bang is a Scandal: Gender Race and Ethnicity on the Small Screen
Panel and Discussion
Friday, March 20, 11am-12pm
Kilcawley Center, Ohio Room
Three scholars will discuss contemporary representations of gender, race, and ethnicity on several hit TV
shows: The Big Bang Theory, Scandal, How to Get Away with Murder and Transparent. In recent years,
representation of transwomen, women of color, smart women, etc. have proliferated, but some are
more progressive than others. We’ve come a long way – or have we?
Let’s Talk about (How Not to Have) Sex: Lessons from High School Health Class
Lecture
Wednesday, March 25, 12-1pm
Kilcawley Center, Ohio Room
Many people’s experience with sex education in high school health class can be summed up in one
word: Abstinence. This talk will address the ways that abstinence-only education may end up promoting
negative attitudes about sex among teen and problems for their sex lives as adults.
Price of Pleasure
Film Screening and Discussion
Tuesday, March 31, 11am-12:15pm
Kilcawley Center, Gallery Room
Once relegated to the margins of society, pornography has emerged as one of the most visible and
profitable sectors of the cultural industries, and its content has become increasingly more extreme and
harsh, as well as more overtly sexist and racist. Honest and non-judgmental, Price of Pleasure moves
beyond the typical liberal versus conservative debates to paint a myth-busting and nuanced portrait of
how pleasure and pain, commerce and power, liberty and responsibility have become intertwined in the
most intimate area of our lives.
Women’s Health Week
March 23-27
Mom and Me Exercises
(This is for anybody, no matter what age or activity level.)
Monday, March 23, 1:30-2:30pm
Andrews Student Recreation & Wellness Lobby
Female Friendly Yoga Class
Tuesday March 24 12:30-1:15pm
Andrews Student Recreation & Wellness Center
Aerobics Studio
Healthy Eating for Women
Wednesday, March 25, 11am-2pm
Andrews Student Recreation & Wellness Center Lobby
Women’s Health Informational Table
Thursday, March 26, 11am-2pm
Andrews Student Recreation & Wellness Center Lobby
The Women’s History Month events are brought to you by the Women’s & Gender Studies Program @
Youngstown State University.
Women’s and Gender Studies is an interdisciplinary academic field which focuses on issues related to
gender in a variety of areas such as politics, history, society, literature, and media. YSU offers a minor in
Women’s and Gender Studies and frequently offers a number of classes that can count both toward the
minor and General Educational Requirements.
For more information, please contact Diana Palardy at wstudies@ysu.edu or 330-941-2320
All events are free and open to the public.
Event parking is available at the Lincoln Deck, lot M-26 (next to Smith Hall, entering from Lincoln
Avenue), and Lot M-24 (next to McDonald’s on Fifth Avenue).