As part of the Weekend of Women events across our nation to commemorate the first anniversary of the Women’s March, First Baptist Church in Beverly will host a screening and discussion of the award-winning, 45-minute film “Killing Us Softly 4.” The event is free and open to the public.
In her Killing Us Softly series, feminist media critic Jean Kilbourne “shows how the advertising industry continues to reinforce, and glamorize, a regressive and debased notion of femininity. Using a wide range of contemporary print and television ads, Kilbourne lays bare a misogynistic fantasy world of undernourished, oversexed, and objectified women, and examines these images against the real-world backdrop of eating disorders, men’s violence against women, and the political backlash against feminism. At once provocative and inspiring, Killing Us Softly 4 challenges us to question traditional gender norms and think critically about the fundamental relationship between representation and power.”
After the screening, Salem State University advertising faculty members Dr. Rebecca Hains and Dr. Guillermo Avila will facilitate a discussion of the film and its broader societal implications.
Dr. Hains is a professor of communications at Salem State University and the author of the books “The Princess Problem: Guiding our Girls Through the Princess-Obsessed Years” and “Growing Up with Girl Power: Girlhood On Screen and in Everyday Life.”
Dr. Avila is an associate professor of communications at Salem State, where he also serves as the Faculty Fellow for Latino/a Student Success in the Diversity & Multicultural Affairs office.