6 hours ago RT @ChelseaJaya: Calling all local high school teen girls interested in practicing yoga while engaging literature & art this summer... http…
In keeping with the WAM! LA tradition, attendees and presenters of WAM! LA 2011 had an opportunity to talk back to the mainstream media. Check out what they had to say!
On Wednesday, March 16, 2011 I joined Feminist Frequency‘s Anita Sarkeesian on KPFK’s Feminist Magazine in Los Angeles with host Lynn Harris Ballen. Anita discussed critical media literacy and vlogging as a viable way to bring feminist and gender critiques to audiences outside academia in a way that makes them, not only more accessible, but more relatable. I join the end of her segment to discuss WAM! LA 2011, the second annual WAM-It-Yourself event in Los Angeles, hosted at Santa Monica College. Tune in for Anita’s engaging discussion and details on next week’s line-up of presenters from visual artist Daena Title, the editors of Ms. Magazine discussing the first year of the Ms. Magazine blog to body image activist, Claire Mysko, author of Does This Pregnancy Make Me Look Fat?, to Anita herself plus many more. Don’t forget to RSVP to the event here.
Santa Monica College, 1900 Pico Blvd, Santa Monica, CA 90405
Humanities and Social Sciences 263 (see campus map)
Part of WAM! It Yourself 2011, a multi-city event by Women, Action & the Media. For more information about events happening in LA and all over the world, check back here or email Rachel.
Workshop on ImMEDIAte Justice, a summer program that empowers young women from Los Angeles to share their experience of reproductive justice through film, featuring Jacqueline Sun and Carla Ohrendorff.
Poetry slam and video presentation with Cleo Anderson.
12:15-1:15 p.m.
Presentation on “Beauty Activism: How media messes with our body image and what we can do about it,†with Claire Mysko.
1:30-2:30 p.m.
Discussion on social media and media literacy as tools of activism in the classroom with Melanie Klein and Rachel O’Connor.
2:45-3:45 p.m.
Presentation of LoveSTRUCK, a discussion about the Twilight phenomenon and its glamorization of unhealthy relationship behaviors, with Elin Waldal.
4:00-5:00 p.m.
Presentation on “Revolution of Real Women: Infiltrating Media, Normalizing Authentic Beauty and How to Spark Your Own Revolution!†with Briane Widaman.
Jeannette Rankin and Kamala Lopez are inspirational role models for all of us. Please read the full article at Women’s Media Center.
Left: Kamala Lopez discussing her film at WAM! LA On Thursday, March 25, 2010 at Santa Monica College Right: Presenter Carla Ohrendorff and Kamala Lopez at WAM! LA Thursday, March 25, 2010.
Anita Sarkeesian rocked WAM! LA Thursday night. We can’t wait for her to return to LA. Check out her incredible playlist. Originally posted at Feminist Frequency, March 26, 2010. Cross-posted with permission.
I had such a fantastic time presenting at Women, Action and Media (WAM) in LA on March 25th, 2010. I curated a show of online videos including remixes, vlogs, vids and short documentaries made by women. Staying true with WAM’s mission, these videos represent women taking action through media to talk about issues important to their lives and talking back to the media that so often misrepresents, stereotypes and victimizes us.
As Thursday’s presenter Carla Ohrendorff said, “the bad-assery” was tangible. WAM! Los Angeles brought together media makers, activists, and feminists for 2 days of films, video remix, critical analysis, and collaboration.
Blogging/videoblogging, tweeting, and lecturing are powerful tools that allow the feminist movement’s momentum to continue, connecting and expanding the community of activists. But, nothing beats the opportunity to get a bunch of fabulous people together providing the time and space to teach, learn and inspire, leaving us all feeling connected to something larger than ourselves and our immediate peer group. And that’s what WAM! allowed us to do.
After 2 days of events that included the opportunity to socialize, laugh and share ideas for future projects over the communal potluck at Friday night’s movie mixer, I felt high. The collective spirit was palpable and energizing. And while we were “waming” it in Los Angeles, feminist media activists were waming it in Boston, Chicago, New York, D.C., and San Antonio. Knowing that women and men were taking part in similar events, tapping into and invoking the “bad-assery” in their respective communities, not only connected me to the larger national collective but to the spirit of consciousness-raising groups of the second wave of feminism that were integral in creating social and political change.
Like most, I am prone to moments of doubt and self-sabotage (do I have anything to say? does this make a difference?), but the solidarity evident last week in Los Angeles and knowing there other cites across the United States were drumming up the same collective momentum in the same way second-wavers did in CR groups is more than enough to shake off the self-doubt and move forward.
The revolution will be televised by people like me and people like you (thanks to Anita Sarkeesian of Feminist Frequency who ended her segment on Thursday with the following clip.)
4:30-6PM Carla Ohrendorff, lecture and discussion on feminist activism and media, Q & A to follow
6:15-7:30PM Anita Sarkeesian, lecture and workshop on feminist activism via blogging/vlogging and video remix
7:45-9PM Mariko Passion presents Media Whores, a facilitated dialogue looking at Hollywood portrayals of street workers, strippers and other sex workers and a look at a few sex worker made sex worker rights films with Mariko Passion, educated whore and urban geisha. Freeway, Monster, Flashdance, The Players Club and the recent Girlfriend Experience…what do sex workers think of the portrayals in these films? What do YOU think about them?
Come hungry, folks! The Green Truck will be there from 2p-9p and will offer a special campus menu at a reduced rate. The Sweet Truck will arrive at 3p to satisfy your sweet tooth. The event is free but the food is not. Bring cash to enjoy.
PARKING: Enter the Bundy campus from Bundy by turning on College Avenue and entering the parking lot. The first lot you enter is the east student lot. Park here. Parking regulations will not be enforced between 1-10pm. Do not park in the west lot behind the building. This is reserved for faculty and staff.
*No registration required. First come basis. Please arrive early as we anticipate a full house for all 4 segments. Facebook event page to be created in the next few days. Contact: klein_melanie@smc.edu
Friday, March 26, 2010 at private residence in Culver City, CA
Film Social and Potluck: 6PM-9:30PM
Sarit McCarty, photographer, Melanie Klein, Feminist Fatale, and Lani Phillips Smith, fellow Feminist Fatale, will be hosting the showing of “Who Does She Think She Is?”
Facilitated discussion to follow screening
This event is a social and is limited in capacity. Official RSVPs to klein_melanie@smc.edu are required. Location will be given at that time. Guests are encouraged to bring food to share and get ready to have a good time.
BIOS:
Kamala Lopez is an actress, screenwriter, director and producer. Since 1995 Lopez’s Heroica Films has been creating media for women, about women and utilizing women both in front and behind the camera. She sits on the Jury and Advisory Board of The Women’s International Film and TV Showcase, the Advisory Board of Global Girl Media, and was on the Board of Young Artists United. In 2009 she was given a retrospective at the Museum of Latin American Art. She is also an official blogger for the Huffington Post.
Carla Ohrendorff is a media artist and activist. She combines her passion for feminism with her interest in film to share stories from underrepresented cultures and communities. Her first film, Thick Strings y Shredded Cheese, was exhibited at the 2009 San Diego Latino Film Festival. She has participated as a mentor for the ImMEDIAte Justice film program, which explored the intersection between reproductive and media justice in young women’s lives. Carla is currently working as a youth film and video instructor at the Echo Park Film Center in Los Angeles.
Anita Sarkeesian is a Feminist cultural critic and social justice activist who has provided media support work for a variety of movements across the United States and Canada. In 2007, Anita co-founded the NYC Youth Chapter, a training collaborative dedicated to providing young activists with anti-oppression and media skills. In addition to her workshops on Media Strategy, Organization Building, and Anti-Oppression Skills, Anita recently facilitated youth public speaking trainings at the 2008 Fair Use Remix Institute. This coming Spring, she will be teaching a video-blogging workshop with Reel Grrls in Seattle and organizing an afternoon of curated shows about resisting traditional gender and sexuality norms with Remix Video at California State University, Northridge. She earned her BA in Communication Studies at California State University, Northridge. Anita is currently finishing her Master’s degree in Social and Political Thought at York University.
Mariko Passion is a performance artist, blogger and educator. She has worked for justice in the sex worker rights movement for 11 years, as well as worked in many different occupations in the sex industry. She can be found on twitter, myspace and youtube.
Co-host of Friday night’s movie mixer and potluck: Sarit McCarty, a local feminist photographer, will be hosting a social networking event in her home in Culver City, CA. We will have a plethora of local feminists, artists, activists and community members in attendance. Sarit is working on several conceptual projects, desirous of bringing a feminist perspective to a new batch of images. She uses her photography as a means of political activism and healing for women who have lost their ability to speak for themselves.
Women, Action and the Media is opening registration for their 2009 conference in Cambridge, MA. This is a great opportunity for anyone interested in the media and activism.
