Girls were born to grow up super-thin, and smoking is the only way to be cool.
Or so the stereotypes rampant in the United States would have you believe.
Kicking off a weekend event aimed at dispelling these beliefs and empowering young women, Dr. Jean Kilbourne, a noted writer, lecturer and media critic, will deliver a keynote address April 28 in the EMU Ballroom.
Here starts the “Girls on the Move to Eugene” weekend, an event for teenage girls, organized by the ASUO Women’s Center. The weekend continues through April 29 with outdoor activities, various workshops and other entertainment.
“The goal is for youth to have an empowering experience where they get energized about some new activity or skill,” said Kyla Schuller, the program’s coordinator.
Kilbourne’s appearance is a part of this empowering process, and through giving a speech entitled “Deadly Persuasion,” she will examine the image of women in advertising. In addition, the presentation will address the marketing of alcohol and tobacco to young girls.
Throughout several years, Kilbourne has lectured, written and created films about the image of women in advertising, while also speaking out against those behind the advertising of alcohol and cigarettes. She has twice won the National Association for Campus Activities award for Lecturer of the Year while speaking at more than one-third of college and university campuses in the United States.
“She’s very accessible,” said journalism Associate Professor Debra Merskin, who teaches a course titled Women, Minorities and Media. “In the classes I’ve taught, people have related to the videos I’ve shown.”
Kilbourne has even served as an adviser to Surgeon Generals C. Everett Koop and Antonia Novello, and she is now considered an expert on issues regarding addictions, gender and the media.
By bringing Kilbourne to campus, the Women’s Center hopes to give girls the opportunity to look at advertisements in a different way.
“I think that any time young girls are exposed to the truth in imaging or advertising, it will help those girls be more astute thinkers and will challenge their previously held beliefs,” said Jennie Breslow, events coordinator at the Women’s Center.
Schuller said that Kilbourne is an effective speaker who is able to draw the audience into participating with her in a way that many other keynote speakers cannot.
“We wanted someone who could appeal to a really wide age range,” she said, and “someone that wouldn’t be talking at the audience but engage them in some way.”
The speech is open to the general public because the Women’s Center wants everyone who is interested to hear what Kilbourne has to say.
“I think we’re really fortunate that she’s going to visit us here,” Merskin said. “Eugene should be interested.”
While Kilbourne’s speech will appeal to a broader audience, the rest of the “Girls on the Move to Eugene” weekend is tailored to teenage girls and their parents. Registration for the weekend continues through April 21 at the ASUO Women’s Center.