Dreamworlds: Desire/Sex/Power in Rock Video - (video, 55 min.) (guide)
There has been a great deal of concern in recent years about the negative and dangerous
representations of women contained in music videos. This tape presents an accessible way to
facilitate discussion about these representations and the role that they play in how people,
especially young people, think about and behave in everyday life with regard to gender and
sexuality. It uses the images of music videos themselves, rearranged and recontextualized, to
highlight the precise nature of this world. It concretizes the issues by examining the
relationship between video images of women and the very prevalent problem of date rape and
sexual violence towards women on college campuses. NOTE: The implicit and explicit messages
of sexual violence in the videos are brought out by juxtaposing the video images with the
explicit rape scene from The Accused.
Hollywood’s Smoke & Mirrors: Women’s Health at Risk - (video, 14 min., 2000)
"Skinny" messages and "smoking=sex appeal" messages are confronted and activists take action.
This film grabs your attention with its quick pace, diverse real life women speaking out, and
images of popular media that influence women’s relationships with their bodies. The media’s
lack of celebration of women of color, persons who are gay, lesbian, or bisexual, and women
from third world countries is also discussed. The film makes the impact of such messages clear
by discussing eating disorders, lung cancer, and the smoking industry’s notable focus on women
of color.
Dr. Michael Kimmel at PSU for the White Ribbon Campaign - Nov 9, 2000 (video, 80 min., 2000)
In this lecture, Michael Kimmel, founder of the White Ribbon Campaign, speaks about men,
masculinity, and feminism. He addresses what he believes to be the four "rules" for men and how
each of these rules impacts men’s relationships with women and with feminism. At the end of the
talk, he also answers questions from the audience.
Redefining Liberation: Does Advertising Affect Your Health? - (video, 22 min., 1999)
This video touches upon several areas of advertising and its effects to women’s health. The
standards of female beauty and sexuality portrayed in the media can lead to eating disorders,
the cigarette ads that proclaim liberation for women can lead to increased smoking and diseases
such as cancer, and alcohol ads can lead to male violence against women. Women such as Patricia
Ireland, president of NOW, Gloria Steinem, and Jeane Kilbourne are interviewed, along with women
who have survived anorexia, cancer, and sexual assault. The film also shows women how to become
activists and fight against the media’s negative image of women.
Slim Hopes: Advertising and the Obsession with Thinness - (video, 30 minutes)
Created and narrated by Jean Kilbourne who also created of the award-winning film, Still
Killing Us Softly, Slim Hopes uses examples from over 120 ads from magazines and T.V.,
offering a new way to think about demoralizing and life-threatening eating disorders such as
anorexia and bulimia. The film is divided into seven main parts: (1) Impossible Beauty, (2) The
Waif Look, (3) Constructed Bodies, (4) Food & Sex, (5) Food & Control, (6) The Weight Loss
Industry, and (7) Freeing Imaginations.
Still Killing Us Softly: Advertising’s Image of Women - (film/video, 30 min.) (guide)
Hundreds of ads from magazines, newspapers, album covers and store windows point out the
exploitation of women through corporate persuasion. Using a combination of statistics, humor,
and insight, this film shows that ads may seem funny and harmless but really add up to a powerful
cultural conditioning which objectifies women. This film is an updated version of the 1979 film
Killing Us Softly, which is also one of the CWS film holdings.
Still Killing us Softly III: Advertising’s Image of Women - (film/video, 30 min.)
Jean Kilbourne's pioneering work helped develop and popularize the study of gender representation
in advertising. Her award-winning films Killing Us Softly (1979) and Still Killing Us
Softly (1987) have influenced millions of college and high school students across two
generations and on an international scale. In this important new film, Kilbourne reviews if and
how the image of women in advertising has changed over the last 20 years. With wit and warmth,
Kilbourne uses over 160 ads and commercials to critique advertising's image of women. By
fostering creative and productive dialogue, she invites viewers to look at familiar images in a
new way, that moves and empowers them to take action.