News Archives: Project Brainwash – A Look at Reality TV with Acclaimed Speaker Jennifer Pozner
Friday, February 4th, 2011
February 4, 2011 Project Brainwash " A Look at Reality TV with Acclaimed Speaker Jennifer Pozner Presented by College and Community Lecture Series "Reality TV is bad for women. . .and men, people of colour, the economy, love, sex and plain common sense." Highly acclaimed international speaker and noted media critic Jennifer Pozner is the guest of the College and Community Lecture Series on Thursday, February 17th to present her eye-opening lecture, “Project Brainwash” in which she reveals who is creating this pop cultural backlash against women’s rights and social progress, who is profiting from it, and why. Pozner takes a fierce, funny, and in-depth look at how reality TV affects our beliefs, our behavior, and our culture. Jennifer L. Pozner is author of Reality Bites Back: The Troubling Truth About Guilty Pleasure TV, and is the Executive Director of Women In Media & News, a national media analysis, education and advocacy group. A noted media critic, her work has been published in Newsday, Chicago Tribune, Ms. Magazine, Bitch magazine, and numerous publications and anthologies. She has offered media commentary on CNN, FOX, MSNBC, ABC News, PBS and NPR…none of which was as fun as appearing on The Daily Show. Jennifer was named one of the New Leaders Council’s 40 Under 40 progressive leaders in America 2009, and was chosen as member of “The Real Hot 100,” a Girls In Government project honouring young women leaders. Forbes magazine named her one of “20 Inspiring Women To Follow On Twitter,” and she appears alongside Arianna Huffington, Tyra Banks and Vera Wang as one of BizTechDaily’s “25 Influential Business Women in New York City You Should Follow on Twitter.” “What does it mean to be female in America today?” posits Pozner. “According to reality TV, women are gold diggers, bimbos, and bitches. Women of colour are violent, “low class” whores. Straight, single gals are pathetic losers and, we’re led to believe, it is hilarious when they get mocked, dumped, or punched in the face.” It is Pozner’s opinion that television has erased all signs that the women’s rights, civil rights, and gay and lesbian rights movements ever occurred. The picture of America displayed through the lens of shows like The Bachelor, America's Next Top Model and Flavor of Love is profoundly warped. The masterminds of reality television have created a world in which women not only have no real choices; they don’t even want any. Using humor, video clips from your favourite programs, and a decade of journalistic research, Pozner deconstructs reality TV’s twisted fairytales, demonstrating that far from harmless ‘guilty pleasures’ this form of pop culture has a damaging impact on our intellectual and political development. Project Brainwash gives you the tools to understand and challenge stereotypes and become active, critical media consumers. You'll never see dating, modelling, makeover and lifestyle shows the same way again -- and you'll laugh, a lot! http://www.wolfmanproductions.com/pozner.html GPRC is very proud to bring a speaker of Ms. Pozner’s calibre to our community. During her visit to the College she will also be speaking to students in classes such as Hospitality and Tourism, Business Administration Marketing, and Sociology. College and Community Lecture Series Thursday February 17, 7:30 pm Collins Recital Hall (L106) Admission is free; everyone is welcome.