Sexism, racism and domestic violence in the media prompted student debate Tuesday night when UW-Madison students addressed the effects of social issues in modern society.
The discussion, attended by approximately 20 people and three panelists, was part of the ongoing Terrific Tuesday Discussion Series.
The forum began with a video about sexism and racism in the media by UW-Madison junior Calley Marotta and senior Sarah Hing Leadley. The video included clips from movies such as \Wedding Crashers"" and ""Anchorman,"" illustrating the use of homophobia, sexism and racial stereotypes to get laughs.
Attendees were then passed a list of questions and broke into small groups to discuss what they had just seen.
Response to the film was varied. ""There is a really thin line,"" said UW-Madison senior Jill Dovale. ""For example, Dave Chappelle, I feel like he problematizes a lot of racist issues. At the same time, they can be misinterpreted so easily. People can take that in and sort of replicate it in really ignorant ways, if they haven't been educated to be critical.""
Some attendees were more supportive. ""I think it's better to have it out there,"" said forum moderator and UW-Madison senior Jamie Gamez. ""If no one does talk about it, we're all in 'Leave it to Beaver.'""
""I think we would break it down,"" UW-Madison graduate student John Capuano said. ""But general society? Educated people, most of them, won't break it down.""
Howard Hayes, Lussier Teen Center Coordinator, echoed Capuano's sentiment. ""It's not actually marketed to the college intellectual who's going to actually think about it,"" Hayes said. ""Commercialism, what it does, it creates this fantasy world.""
The forum ended with commentary on the societal effects of these media representations.
""The intersection between racism and sexism goes really deep when we're talking about domestic violence,"" said Shira Moss, coordinator of Dane County's DELTA project. ""One of the goals of the DELTA project is to think of men as potential allies, not only as potential perpetrators.""
