Korean Women in Leadership: Gender issues through a Korean lens

A documentary by Marion Lipschutz and Rose Rosenblatt. The Education of Shelby Knox is a coming of age story about a teenage girl who joins a campaign for comprehensive sex education in the high schools of Lubbock, Texas.

As Shelby is swept into the fight, she begins to question her deeply conservative Southern Baptist upbringing; when the campaign broadens to include a fight for a gay-straight alliance, Shelby confronts her family and her pastor, in the end declaring herself a feminist and a liberal Christian.

“Life in Lubbock, Texas taught me two things: One is that God loves you and you’re going to burn in hell. The other is that sex is the most awful, filthy thing on earth and you should save it for someone you love.” In addition to the screening, the real Shelby Knox, who is now a first-year sophomore at the University of Texas studying pre-law and majoring in political science, has continued to work to raise awareness of sex education policies around the country. Writing for the on-line webzine The F-Word and coordinating a sex education fest on her college campus, she was available for a video conference after the film in which UNCG joined with University of Maryland and NYU in a live video conference with Shelby Knox. Students were able to ask questions and have a discussion about what Shelby’s experience was truly like in her small town of Lubbock, Texas.

Directed by Bestor Cram and Candace Schermerhorn, the documentary is an exploration into the socially acceptable gender norms and the gender identity we create for ourselves. "If you're at all self-aware, you recognize that society advertises these gender identities that don't fit most people," says co-director Cram. "You begin to feel something for each of the six people and you want to stay close to them." The film was shown November 9, 2005.

The UNCG Spanish Club co-sponsoring with the WGS Program, presented a film entitled Te Doy Mis Ojos (Take My Eyes) on January 25 th at 7:30 pm in Science 101. The Spanish Club led a discussion following the screening. The film is in Spanish with English subtitles. The story begins on a winter night when Pilar, a women fed up with the abuse she has endured, runs away from home taking her son Juan with her. Her husband, Antonio, soon sets out to find her maintaining that Pilar is his sunshine. The tale follows Pilar as she struggles to overcome circumstance and free herself from the downward spiral into which she is drawn. Director of the film, Iciar Bollian, describes the story as "a very damaging and wrong one, but a love story all the same."This account mirrors the dark reality of thousands of women in Spain who are poorly treated, abused, and beaten by their husbands or boyfriends. Yet, despite the high number of incidents, less than five per cent are ever reported and even fewer cases ever see a court of law. The film explores the seriousness of abuses and the somber condition of justice. Recipient of seven Goya awards (Spain 's equivalent to the Oscars), the film is praised for the difficult questions it poses surrounding the issue of violent men and the women who love them.

UNCG raised over $1700 through three performances that benefited The Clara House.

The Vagina Monologues is a celebration of female sexuality in all its complexity and mystery. In this stunning phenomenon that has swept the nation, Eve Ensler gives us real women's stories of intimacy, vulnerability, and sexual self-discovery.

Based on interviews with over 200 women about their memories and experiences of sexuality, The Vagina Monologues gives voice to women's deepest fantasies and fears, guaranteeing that no one who reads it will ever look at a woman's body, or think of sex, in quite the same way again. It is witty and irreverent, compassionate and wise. "At first women were reluctant to talk," Ensler writes. "They were a little shy. But once they got going, you couldn't stop them."

Reflections on the Performance: "I Was There"

The Program in Women's and Gender Studies, University of North Carolina at Greensboro organized a conference to examine how the arts can be used for social and political action. This included examining how expressive mediums of all types--dance, theatre, music, film, literature, visual arts, animation, puppetry, and other forms—are used to raise social consciousness and rethink identity norms such as of gender, class, and sexuality, in political protest, or to incite violence and encourage intolerance.

Proposals for papers, panels, lecture/demonstrations, workshops, performances, and presentations in innovative formats addressing the nexus of the arts and social activism informed by feminist and gender perspectives were received from all over the country.

The conference sought to stimulate interest in the arts as they intersect or converge with social and political concerns, whether it be within the arts professions or in the broader community. The papers, performances and workshops presented a range of research methodologies and analytic techniques, interdisciplinary approaches, and intersections.

Featured events included a residency/performance by the Guerilla Girls on Tour and a new play from the North Carolina Touring Theatre Ensemble. The Guerilla Girls on Tour's performance, “Feminists Are Funny”, was the culmination of a two-day residency that included a poster/performance workshop “From Attitude to Activism”, and “Street Theatre Tactics,” a workshop for anyone interested in exploring creating short dramatic pieces to be used as a protest tool