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  • Speakers Bureau
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  • Spokane

IN PERSON: Fighting for Love: Strong Women in Onscreen Romances

Event Description

How do film and television portray romance for strong, independent women? Why should we care?

Join Professor Allison Palumbo as they explore 40 years of fighting female characters onscreen—from private eyes to cops and spies—who struggle to find love. Even in these fictional worlds, where anything should be possible, romantic relationships tend to disempower female-bodied characters, no matter how kick-ass or otherwise empowered they might seem.

Learn how love has been constructed in American culture based on heterosexual norms and power dynamics that favor men’s strength and independence. How do America’s ideals for romance create inequitable relationships? How can we imagine more inclusive and equitable ways of loving?

Allison Palumbo (they/them), or “Dr. P,” is a professor of English and gender studies at Big Bend Community College. Palumbo’s first book, Love and the Fighting Female: A Critical Study of Onscreen Depictions, reflects their lifelong love of all things romance and action. They have presented their research as a cultural critic and feminist scholar at the Seattle Institute for Film and the Moses Lake Museum & Art Center.

Palumbo lives in Moses Lake.

  • When
  • March 23, 2023
    6:30 pm
  • Host
  • Spokane Public Library
About Speakers Bureau Events

Speakers Bureau talks are free public presentations on history, politics, music, philosophy, and everything in between. Humanities Washington’s Speakers Bureau roster is made up of professors, artists, activists, historians, performers, journalists, and others—all chosen not only for their expertise, but their ability to inspire discussion with people of all ages and backgrounds. All talks are free and open to the public, and each lasts about an hour. They are hosted by a wide range of organizations throughout Washington State.

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