Kristin Lieb starts her speech by talking about a documentary that “Completely changed her life” it was called Killing us Softly” by Jean Kilbourne. Which reveals the way that women are represented in ads designed to “keep women in their place”. Kristin is a Marketing media student, who began working as a professor in her early 40’s.

The terms “sex sells” is a term that people often overlook, but it really has a rough meaning. She also talks about the fact that upon showing her students the documentary, they responded with contrasting responses. One student said that the advertisements shown in the documentary must be extreme examples, Another student said that it could explain why young teenage woman are so self conscious about their appearance. Kristin examines the idea of how long it takes for teenage girls to feel ready to go out, in terms of putting on makeup and trying their best to built up their confidence enough to enter the real world.

Kristin then talks about how pop stars and sexuality is represented in popular culture. She talks about the types of popular female musicians fit in to the music industry, with the few examples mentioned:

• The “good girl”: Sweet and kind (most artists stay there) which leads to…
• a “Temptress” The pop star moves now represent themselves as more sexually desirable, “clothes begin to fall off”
• a “Diva” is a female pop star that’s regarded for her talent and accomplishments as an artist rather than their looks and their actions. An example is Adele.
• the “Hot Mess” is often an artist who undergoes something like addiction and falls to the pressure of being a pop star. An example is Amy Winehouse or Whitney Houston

What these categories have in common is the fact that they’re based on a shallow judgement of looks and the way that the artists are viewed as a person, rather than their achievements. They also are temporary positions to be in.

Kristin Lieb pushes the idea in her classroom that any of her students can talk about anything, and there should be no restriction of freedom of speech. Upon being asked on the opinion of Beyonce, the students mostly agree that she’s great without referring to much about her as a musician. A boy in the class says that a reason Beyonce is so powerful is because “Everybody wants to fuck her”. Kristin saw that at the core, that’s not necessarily incorrect.

A band called Colliapy Jones a 14-16 year old trio competed in a competition called “The battle of the Bands” and came 3rd place, and the advice that the director or judge of the competition gave to them was that they should “play up the sultry in the act to reign in the audience.” Which was sexist because not only were they very young but they would be told that if they were men. This blew up on the internet and on Facebook. They got covered in Billboard, MTV and other media coverage for it.