Paradigm Shift

WATER’s Feminist Conversations in Religion Series presents an Hour-long Teleconference

A Conversation with Letha Dawson Scanzoni

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

1:00 PM – 2:00 PM EDT

Letha Dawson Scanzoni is an independent scholar and writer
specializing in the intersection between religion and social issues.
She has written on such topics as feminism, relationships of love and
friendship, self-esteem and personal growth, human diversity, marriage
and family living, divorce, aging and care giving, sexuality and
gender, sex ethics, social justice-oriented folk music, and physical
and psychological family violence.

She is the author or coauthor of nine books. She co-authored with
Virginia Ramey Mollenkott  the influential book Is the Homosexual My
Neighbor? With Nancy Hardesty she coauthored All We’re Meant to Be,
which helped launch the biblical feminist movement in the 1970s.

Letha is editor of Christian Feminism Today, a publication of the
Evangelical and Ecumenical Women’s Caucus (formerly titled EEWC
Update). She is also the content provider for the EEWC website and
writes the “Web Explorations for Christian Feminists” featured on that
site.  In addition, she coauthors the 72-27 blog, “A
cross-generational dialogue between two Christian feminists,” with
Kimberly B. George.

Letha Scanzoni wrote “Why We Need Evangelical Feminists,” a chapter in
the forthcoming WATER collection, New Feminist Christianity: Many
Voices, Many Views edited by Mary E. Hunt and Diann L. Neu, to be
published in July 2010 by SkyLight Paths Publishing. We will feature
more of the volume’s authors on these calls throughout the year.

Please feel free to join us on the call for a fascinating discussion
with a highly respected colleague. We are delighted to work with the
women of EEWC who are doing remarkable work to transform their
traditions. So gather some friends, have lunch, and join in the
conversation! All are welcome.

The Feminist Conversations in Religion are open to all. These
hour-long live teleconferences highlight the latest issues addressed
by WATER. In addition to the teleconferences, feel free to go to our
Web site www.hers.com/water to listen to an audio version at your
convenience.

To register for the April 27, 2010 conversation with Letha Dawson Scanzoni:

Click water@hers.com now.

Type “Register Me” in the subject line, and send.

You will receive dial-in instructions by return email.

We encourage you to make a donation to WATER.  Thank you.

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Silver Spring MD 20910
301-589-2509; Fax 301-589-3150

water@hers.com; www.hers.com/water

“Critical Beginnings: How Sex-Negative, Anti-Feminist Culture Sets Us Up for Violence”
Amy Jo Goddard, MA

April 29, 2010
7:00 pm to 8:00 pm
Barnard College Altschul Hall, Room 202
Broadway and 116th Street

Even with all of the progress we have made in creating pockets of sex-positive culture, setting new norms for the flow of smart, honest sexuality information and education, and the tremendous work of the feminist movement, we still live in a culture that is overwhelmingly sex-negative and anti-feminist. Sexuality educator, activist and filmmaker Amy Jo Goddard will discuss the roots of sexual disempowerment, and specifically, how our critical beginnings which suppress healthy sexual expression, which uphold harmful gender norms, and which fail to create gender equity set us up for violence. In this lecture, Amy Jo will discuss how unprocessed shame, guilt and/or trauma, a lack of education, role models and resources about sexuality, cultural, social and gender expectations—and the sexist code embedded in these cultural norms, and sexual stereotypes all contribute to a culture that promotes disempowerment and violence against women.

In this critical look at how sex-negative, anti-feminist culture disempowers us all, this lecture will make a call to women and men to take steps that will empower and enable healthy, authentic sexuality and dismantle conditions that feed and support violence.