Founder and executive editor of the popular website Feministing.com, author of Full Frontal Feminism: A Young Woman’s Guide to Why Feminism Matters and a seasoned activist for women’s rights, Jessica presents a fresh vision of feminism that debunks the myths and focuses on the future.  There’s no rehashing the same old issues, no belaboring where today's young women have gone wrong.  Covering a range of relevant topics, Valenti provides young women a primer on why feminism matters.

From Islamic fundamentalists to white liberals to good old-fashioned racists, no one is safe from stand-up comic Tissa Hami’s sharp wit.  One of the world’s few female Muslim stand-up comics, she hopes that her comedy will help break down stereotypes about Muslim women and foster understanding between Iranians and Americans, though she warns that people who disapprove of her act will be taken hostage.

http://www.tissahami.com
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Fierce, fresh and smart, author and journalist Daisy Hernandez focuses on race, gender, sexuality, and other issues affecting young women of color. She is Senior Writer and Managing Editor for ColorLines magazine, and coeditor of the book Colonize This! Young Women of Today’s Feminism. Her editorials and columns have appeared in the New York Times, Ms. Magazine, and many other publications.

Camille Cooper’s powerful multi-media presentation, “Discover the Truth,” addresses issues of women in Hollywood and how the media portrays the “perfect American girl”. She delivers a unique, humorous, and insightful look at a media industry obsessed with thinness and beauty. Ms. Cooper has worked professionally in film and television.

Kaplan is the author of The Story of Jane: The Legendary Underground Feminist Abortion Service. She presents a riveting history of abortion and women's choices prior to Roe v. Wade. Her story serves to remind people of an important and often overlooked moment in the women's rights movement. Laura also serves on the board of the National Women's Health Network, a national advocacy organization.

How did mascara help Greta Garbo’s rise to stardom?  What “naughty” devices were used to fight wrinkles?  Teresa Riordan, author of Inventing Beauty: A History of the Innovations That Have Made Us Beautiful, takes you on a fascinating romp through the annals of the beauty industry, showing how inventions put the resourceful and imaginative on an even playing field with the congenitally beautiful.

Powerful and touching! A voice for countless Afghan families, Farooka shares her experiences of escape and loss and helps us to understand life under totalitarian rule. Her critically acclaimed book, Searching for Saleem: An Afghan Woman's Odyssey, was applauded as the first English language memoir by an Afghan woman.

America’s young people want straight talk about sex from parents and schools. Most are not getting it. Amber Madison, author of Hooking Up: A Girl’s All-out Guide to Sex & Sexuality gives them what they want in simple non-clinical language.  It's all here, from Gonorrhea to the "G" spot, emergency contraception to erectile dysfunction. A fresh, fun and much-needed presentation.

Once marginalized, pornography has now become a central part of our cultural landscape, with its idealized, mass produced images of women, men and sex seeping into our identities, body image, and relationships. In this powerful multi-media presentation, Dr. Gail Dines explores how gender is shaped by a consumer-driven culture, and the ways the public images we consume on a daily basis spill over into our most private worlds.
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Media critic, American Studies professor, and author of Where the Girls Are: Growing Up Female with the Mass Media, Susan Douglas reveals how television and advertising target images of women.  Her other recent books include Listening In, a history of radio listening, and The Mommy Myth, an examination of how motherhood has been portrayed in the mass media from the late 1960s to the present.

An award winning journalist and former Washington Post reporter, Patrice Gaines works to empower girls and young women at risk, drawing from the heart of her experiences on the streets and in prison. She is the co-founder of Brown Angel Center, seeking to provide formerly incarcerated women and their families with the tools to renew their lives. Gaines is author of Laughing in the Dark and Moments of Grace: Meeting the Challenge to Change.

Involved in long-term studies of rainforest regeneration, Lowman has developed canopy techniques, including ropes, walkways, hot air balloons, construction cranes, and combinations of these methods. She frequently speaks about her jungle adventures and about rainforest conservation to educational groups. She continues to travel worldwide to “map the canopy for biodiversity”, and to work on conservation.
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Author of Bodies of Subversion: A Secret History of Women and Tattoo and a contributing journalist in many popular publications, such as Elle, Ms., and the New York Times. Mifflin chronicles different types of female tattoo use from breast cancer survivors who tattoo over their mastectomy scars to Victorian society women who collected tattoos as custom couture.

Costa wears many hats: she is a security engineer, a practicing Buddhist, a theater producer, a playwright and a trans-woman. Cheryl crossed the boundary of gender when she transitioned from male to female in the mid nineteen-eighties. In her presentation she discusses the differences between “Sex” and “Gender” and her personal journey through life with courage, conviction, and healthy dose of humor.

SOJOURNER TRUTH: “A WOMAN, AIN’T I?”