Academic

Wheelock College Summer Institute - ?Media Madness: The Impact of Sex, Violence and Commercial Culture on Adults, Children and Society?

By Bridget Crawford

Media Madness: The Impact of Sex, Violence and Commercial Culture on Adults, Children and Society

A Summer Institute/Training for Educators, Students, Human Service Professionals, Activists and Parents

July 8-11, 2008, Wheelock College, Boston.

For the 14th consecutive year, Wheelock College is offering a very popular summer institute on the role that the media (television,magazines, advertising, pornography, video games and music videos) plays in shaping our gender identity, our intimate relationships, our children’s lives, and ultimately our culture.

The institute is taught by Dr Gail Dines, author of Pornography: The Production and Consumption of Inequality, and Dr. Diane Levin, author of the forthcoming So Sexy So Soon

Participants will learn:

? How media violence affects behavior and contributes to violence in society
? How media images perpetuate and legitimize sexism, racism,consumerism and economic inequality
? How political and economic forces shape the media
? How media affects children’s ideas about sexual behavior and
relationships with others
? How to critically deconstruct media images and develop media literacy skills
How to become active in advocacy, community building and grass roots organizing

As a way to accommodate the needs of the participants, this year two days of the institute will be split into the following tracks:

1. Fighting the porn culture: how to think about and organize against the increasing pornification of our society. (Led by Dr. Gail Dines, with guest lectures by feminist educators and activists)

2. Combating the hazards of media culture: how to work with children and teachers in a classroom setting. (Led by Dr. Diane Levin)

Details:

? Price for non-credit institute: $475 (special rate for organizations sending more than one person)
? Price for three graduate credits: $2,025
? Price for single dorm room at Wheelock: $35 per night/double is $45 per room

The institute runs from 9am-5pm, Tuesday through Friday, with optional evening events

To register:

For fee-paying applicants only, please see here.

Scholarships are available. If you need to apply for a scholarship to cover cost of the institute/training, don’t click on the link above. Instead, please write a one-paragraph application that includes the following:

o History of your involvement with these issues, if any
o Reasons you want to attend the institute/training
o What you hope to do in the future with the information

Please email your application to stoppornculture@gmail.com by May 15.

We will contact you with an answer by May 20th.

For everyone who needs a dorm room at the college, please tell us so we can reserve one for you.

Full post as published by Feminist Law Professors on April 15, 2008 (boomark / email).