"Girl Culture" is the theme of Bowling Green State University’s 2014 Women’s History Month
celebration, with programs that explore the meaning of girlhood and the experiences of contemporary
girls in the U.S.
The month kicks off Saturday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. in 308 Bowen-Thompson Student Union, with the
children’s event "Toss the Tiara: An Alternative Dress-up and Role Model Day for 3-6 Year
Olds." The costumes are from careers in which women are underrepresented, such as farming and
aviation.
The program is free and open to the public.
A month’s worth of events that appeal to girls and women of all ages, and those who care about them, are
planned by the BGSU Women’s Center and the Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies Program in partnership
with 15 co-sponsoring organizations on and off campus. All the programs are free of charge.
The keynote event is a March 28 talk on "Risk and Responsibility: Naming and Disrupting the
Inequalities in Girls’ Lives," with sociologist Dr. Lorena Garcia of the University of Illinois at
Chicago. Garcia studies youth and the roles of gender, sexuality, race, social class and ethnicity in
their lives. Her 2013 book "Respect Yourself, Protect Yourself" won the American Sociological
Association Distinguished Book Award in the Race, Gender and Class section.
Her talk begins at 2 p.m. in 228 Union.
Another highlighted program will feature Madison Kimrey, a 12-year-old political activist. On March 24 at
7 p.m. she will present "Only Six Years until I’m an Adult: My Life as a Pre-Teen Activist" in
206 Union. Madison has worked to restore voter pre-registration for 16- and 17-year-olds in her home
state of North Carolina.
"Putting Down Roots for Girls in STEM" will be held at noon Wednesday in the Women’s Center in
106 Hanna Hall. Dr. Kristine Blair, a professor and chairperson of the Department of English; Beth
Pinheiro, an instructor in the School of Family and Consumer Sciences, and Susan Osborn of the Girl
Scouts of Western Ohio will speak.
Also on Wednesday, "Examining Cultural Norms for Girl Culture and Femininity," a program of the
Ethnic Student Center Discussion Series, will feature guest speaker Dr. Roz Sibielski, an instructor in
the Department of Theatre and Film. Christopher Klein, graduate assistant in the Office of Multicultural
Affairs, will facilitate the discussion, which begins at 5 p.m. in 318B Mathematical Sciences Building.

And at 7 p.m. that evening, the film "Why Do You Have Black Dolls?," a 2012 documentary by
director Samantha Knowles, will be screened in the Gish Film Theater in Hanna Hall, followed by a
discussion in the Women’s Center. The event is sponsored by the Bowling Green section of the National
Council of Negro Women.
Two events will be held on March 19. Nancy Down, head librarian at BGSU’s Browne Popular Culture Library,
will discuss "Career Girls and Amateur Sleuths: Girls’ Series Fiction from the 1920s to the
1950s" at noon in the Women’s Center.
That evening at 7, "How to Lose Your Virginity," a 2013 documentary by director Therese
Schechter, will be shown in the Gish Theater, with a discussion afterward in the Women’s Center. The
event is part of the BGSU Graduate Women’s Caucus Feminist Film Series.
Another two events are slated for March 21. "Shoots, Slices, Survives: The Possibilities and
Problematics of Aggressive Girls in Popular Film" will be the topic of Lisa Richman Kaplan,
graduate assistant in American culture studies. Her talk begins at 1 p.m. in the Women’s Center.
At 6 p.m., Sibielski will present "Princesses, Superheroes and Other Media Representations of
Girls" at 6 p.m. in 315 Union.
The month culminates with the Women’s Studies Research Symposium on March 28. Beginning at 9 a.m.,
undergraduate and graduate student researchers will give presentations in the student union.
For more information, email Dr. Mary Krueger, Women’s Center director, at [email protected] or Dr. Sandra
Faulkner, chair of the Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies Program, at [email protected] . Or view the
online calendar of events.