The negative portrayal of women in the media and homes without fathers or strong male figures have contributed to girls and young women thinking they have to settle for less and must depend on a man to feel complete, said the president of Bennett College
The negative portrayal of women in the media and homes without fathers or strong male figures have contributed to girls and young women thinking they have to settle for less and must depend on a man to feel complete, said the president of Bennett College for Women located in Greensboro, N.C.
Introduced by Jacqueline Jackson — civil rights activist, president of the Jackson Foundation and wife of the Rev. Jesse Jackson — as one of the brightest women she knows, Bennett’s president Julianne Malveaux stepped up to the dais July 1 at the 38th annual Rainbow/PUSH conference’s Women/s Luncheon and said the message for women today is simple.
“Our most important issue must be the rescue of our girls,” Malveaux said.
Malveaux, who is the founder of Last Word Productions Inc., a multimedia production company based in Washington, D.C., served as the keynote speaker for the luncheon that honored nine women blazing trails in their respective industries. She is also the president of PUSH Excel, the organization’s committee that encourages academic excellence.
Women are exploited in music videos and in other media platforms. They portray it’s acceptable to be scantily-clad, clamoring over men and demeaned by men. Those images must be erased, she said.
“Don’t watch those music videos for more than 20 minutes. You see the overweight, funny-looking, sagging brothers that are supposed to score a very fine woman. Come on. These brothers look scruffy. It looks like you want to scrub them,” the San Francisco native said to an audience that laughed and cheered.
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