| She has been teaching "Introduction to Feminisms" at UCSC for the last 24 years and now has all her classes on DVD's for everyone to see. Well of course I immediately ordered myself a set - 17-DVD's for just $20.....such a deal! Over the holidays I watched all of them...sometimes while doing other things because you know us women have to and know how to milti-task. I came away more knowledgeable and able to see the whole picture. I was reenergized and felt empowered not at all angry at what I was learning. Yes, since I am older, I knew a lot of what she was talking about but being able to understand gender inequality, how far we have come in the last 40 years but how far we still need to go gave me a great sense of peace.
Bettina's "Introduction to Feminisms" places women's experiences at the center and emphasizes the diversity of women's lives. She talks about everything from unlearning racism, to loving ourselves, to women, immigration and the global economy, to women and body image, to the politics of rape and how they all interrelate with each other. She is engaging, tells stories and covers sexism, racism and homophobia and how they are connected and contribute to gender inequality in this country and around the world.
I have been talking to many people about Bettina's DVD's and a couple of people have suggested that we have "Watch Parties" and talk about it afterwards. This reminded me of the "Conscious Raising" groups for the 60's and 70's. I think that it is a great idea because for us to eliminate sexism we must first understand it in a holistic way and how it permeates our society.
There is a lot of information out there but it is not always available and easy to understand. This might be something that you can share with your daughters (and son's). The Campaign for Gender Equality has partnered with Professor Bettina Aptheker to spread the word. The DVD set is available at: www.introtofem.org. I hope that you will order it, hold "Watch Parties" and talk about what you can do.
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