Other Media Speakers

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. Her new book "PORNLAND: How Porn Has Hijacked Our Sexuality" was released in spring 2010.

Steve Brodner's award-winning career as a satirical illustrator and art journalist spans three decades. His iconic caricatures of pop and political culture have appeared in every major publication in the United States, not to mention his visual essays of political campaigns and the struggles of everyday working people and their families.

Writer and Director of The Story of Stuff, Annie Leonard is an expert in international sustainability and environmental health issues. Her new book, based on the film, was released in March 2010 to rave reviews. Annie's film, book, and program explore how our  obsession with stuff is trashing the planet, our communities, and our health - and offers us a vision for change.

Samhita Mukhopadhyay is an activist, writer, technologist, and the new executive editor of Feministing.com. Her work has appeared in Colorlines, The Nation and The American Prospect, and she is currently completing a book on the dating and romance industry. Mukhopadhyay is a popular panelist and guest speaker on the intersection of race and gender.

If personal privacy is something we truly value, how do we find a balance with the role of emerging technologies? Attorney and technology expert Frederick Lane takes a hard look at the rapid evolving laws governing computers, privacy and free speech, at home, in school and in the workplace. Look for his recent books "The Decency Wars: The Campaign to Cleanse American Culture" and "The Court and the Cross: The Religious Right's Crusade to Reshape the Supreme Court."

With the release of the Beatles video game and the re-release of the group’s digitally re-mastered catalog in the fall of 2009, this iconic band is surging toward its best sales decade ever. And now, as the world mourns the thirtieth anniversary of Lennon’s assassination, noted rock critic and NPR commentator Tim Riley’s new book is sure to become the standard biography of the slain Beatle for years to come.

Do you ever wonder why the media covers certain stories and not others? Peter Phillips, Director of Project Censored, an organization dedicated to telling stories avoided by the mainstream media, reveals the truth about media coverage.

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.

Ms. magazine columnist Hernandez -- self-described as a "Catholic Cuban-Colombian girl from New Jersey" – offers perspectives of life lived as young feminists of color, exploring commonalities and cultural differences and examining macho cultures and American capitalism. She expresses a more radical, racialized feminism that broadens the movement beyond its early incarnation.