For Immediate Release—Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2007

Contact:

Mary E. McCrank

Media Relations Officer

(585) 245-5516

mccrank@geneseo.edu

SUNY Geneseo's Womyn's Action Coalition to Discuss the Role of Disney Princesses and the Mass Media During Annual Dinner

Geneseo, N.Y.—The Womyn's Action Coalition at the State University of New York at Geneseo will hold its annual dinner at 6 p.m. March 3 in the MacVittie College Union Ballroom. The name and focus of the dinner is "What's In a Princess: Breaking Down Disney."

"The discussion will challenge us to rethink something as seemingly innocent as the roles female characters play in Disney movies," says Dana LePage, a junior psychology major from Pittsford, N.Y., and president of the Womyn's Action Coalition.

"The messages that Disney portrays about females in general to our youth through its movies could make them believe there are only two roles females can take on: that of the beautiful and beloved masochist or that of the evil but powerful narcissist," says LePage. 

"When we begin to refuse to blindly accept what we are fed from the media, eventually we can understand that who we are doesn't need to be reduced to fit debilitating gender stereotypes," says LePage.

Tickets to the dinner are $5 for students, $6 for faculty and $7 for the general public and can be purchased from 12:30 to 2:30 p.m. Wednesday and Friday, and 11:45 a.m. to 1:45 p.m. Thursday in the MacVittie College Union Lobby. Tickets can also be purchased at the door.  

All members of the college and local communities are invited to attend this event. The Womyn's Action Coalition is supported by mandatory student fees.

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Written by Joe Mignano, public relations intern in the Office of Communications and Publications.