02/03/11

Story by Peggy Graham

360 Degrees of Women’s Lives

March — Women’s History Month

Scholars examine ‘360 Degrees of Women’s Lives’

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. — Johnson County Community College is hosting a series of events to examine and untangle the influences of how women are perceived and represented in the global world. The series, 360 Degrees of Women’s Lives: Across History, Comparative Culture, the Arts, Media, Ethics and the Personal is scheduled throughout Women’s History Month in March and culminates in a daylong conference on eating disorders May 13. Events will feature nationally recognized leaders and local experts.

“These events will look at the symbols that influence the public and private self and particularly how body image influences self-image and control,” said Toby Klinger, professor, psychology/women and gender studies, a principal organizer of the series.

Events are free and open to the public, except for the May 13 conference.

March 1

• Darryl Roberts, executive producer, America the Beautiful,11 a.m.-1:30 p.m. in Craig Community Auditorium, and 7-8:30 p.m. in the M.R. and Evelyn Hudson Auditorium of the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art. A reception precedes the evening event at 6 p.m. in the Regnier Center Atrium.
  
  America the Beautiful (2008) is a documentary about the media’s definition and depiction of beauty. Roberts, writer and director of the film, examines the fallouts for women in the documentary. He will be at JCCC for the screening followed by Q&A.
  
  By following a 12-year-old model for two years and interviewing 200 women, Roberts incorporates elements of media, fashion and advertising in the documentary to show tall, skinny and blonde, as the beauty ideal, is not only an illusion, but one falsely sought after by most of these women. The documentary is not only for women. This obsession and consequences are gender free and affect all relationships.

March 8

Susan Bordo, internationally known cultural feminist scholar and author of the Pulitzer Prize-nominated book Unbearable Weight: Feminism, Western Culture and the Body (1992, 2004) and a new book The Creation of Anne Boleyn (publication summer, 2011), will be at JCCC for several events. Bordo, who holds the Otis A. Singletary Chair of Humanities, the University of Kentucky, is a philosopher who deals with the representation of the female body in marketing and advertising.

• International Women’s Day 2 p.m. Craig Community Auditorium
  
  Round table:  Susan Bordo, Linda Rodriguez and Arzie Umali: moderators Miguel Morales, JCCC staff and contributor to the KC Latino Writers Collective, and Stephanie Sabato, professor, graphic design, JCCC.
  
  Rodriguez has published Heart's Migration (Tia Chucha Press), recently awarded the 2010 Thorpe Menn Award for Literary Excellence, and The "I Don't Know How to Cook" Book: Mexican (Adams Media). Umali, assistant director, UMKC Women's Center, is a painter and graphic artist. A theme for 2011 International Women’s Day is to gather women writers and artists to discuss their works and the influence their creative and scholarly works have on addressing issues related to the perceptions of women historically, culturally and globally. Q&A will follow the presentation.
• Celebration of Bordo’s The Creation of Anne Boleyn at 7 p.m. in the Hudson Auditorium. Reception 6-7 p.m. in the Atrium.
  
  Bordo presents from her forthcoming book, The Creation of Anne Boleyn, the thesis that we know very little about Anne Boleyn.  Much of what we think we know is mythology, built up over the centuries by changing political/religious agendas and factions, gender ideology, and—more recently—the commercial interests of pop culture.

March 9

• Brown bag lunch with Bordo, noon-2 p.m. in the Capitol Federal Conference Center, Regnier Center (drinks and desserts provided)
  
  During lunch with Bordo, participants will exchange ideas on the ethical issues raised by popular media images and representations of the body. Along with Bordo, JCCC’s philosophy department will guide the discussions.
• Beyond ‘Eating Disorders’: Why We Have to Re-Think Everything We Thought We Knew, 7 p.m. in the Hudson Auditorium. Reception 6-7 p.m. in the Atrium
  
  Bordo’s Unbearable Weight shifted the origins of eating disorders from individual maladies to the impact of popular culture. Bordo’s presentation will examine how eating and body-image problems belong squarely in the context of runaway consumer culture and the disorders that it creates (from fiscal to physical).

March 30

• Clinical psychologist Dr. Michelle Micsko and registered dietitian Kathi Bjerg, both from Insight Counseling, will look at the continuum of normal to abnormal eating during their presentation, Is It Healthy or Is It an Eating Disorder?, 11 a.m.-noon in room 211 of the Carlsen Center.
  
  Their lecture looks at the enigma of eating disorders. An overview of those at risk, the recovery path, and prevention strategies will be outlined.

May 13

• Eating Disorders: Beyond Diagnosis and Treatment, 8:30 a.m.-4 p.m. in the Capitol Federal Conference Center of the Regnier Center.
  
  The incidence of eating disorders is on the rise, and it’s predicted that this trend will continue.  This conference will explore issues of parenting and family systems, prevention and intervention in schools, and how dieting is related to the development of eating disorders. Recognized experts will present case examples. Cost is $15 for the general public, $88 for continuing education credit.

For more information about 360 Degrees of Women’s Lives, visit www.jccc.edu/womenslives.

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