The Pullen art gallery was filled with excitement as Melissa Lizotte stood at the front of the room waiting to present. Professor Deborah Hodgkins stood in the doorway to greet all in attendance. This particular University Day presentation was called “Women Redefining Culture,” a topic that presenter Lizzotte hoped to explore in front of the group. Lizotte stood quietly at the front of the room as conversations buzzed. Members of the audience waited patiently for the clock to turn to 2:15 p.m. and for the presentation to begin.
The first slide of Lizotte’s presentation projected onto the screen and read, Women: The Real Creative Geniuses. When it was time Hodgkins took center stage and introduced Lizotte, an English major and junior here at UMPI. A quick round of applause followed her introduction and the presentation began.
“What do you think of when you hear the word ‘feminist’?” Lizotte asked the crowd.
The audience was silent for a few moments before A.J. Naffziger spoke up. Naffsiger answered that the word “has negative connotations.” Instead of feminist being a word of empowerment for women, it is now a word of distaste. A concept that should be liberating is now tied to negativity.
Lizotte continued to explain the consequences of gender roles. Through the use of one powerful image of two coloring book covers, Lizote summed up the roles that are placed on little girls and boys at a very young age. A pink coloring book on the left of the slide titled “The Beautiful Girls Coloring Book” displays the cultural demand on women to be “beautiful.” On the opposite side of the slide was a blue coloring book cover, which said, “The Brilliant Boys’ Coloring Book.” With these two images placed next to each other it is easy to see the message that is being sent to the youth.
Lizotte continued on with her explanation of the “double standard,” using current political figures such as Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. Lizotte finished her presentation by exploring examples and statistics supporting that women are underappreciated and represented now in popular culture. The audience nodded, scowled and laughed in agreement with Lizotte’s presentation.
“Melissa made some really good points that made the audience rethink the role of women in culture,” Brandy Smith said.
