Celebrity Gossip Expert and BuzzFeed Senior Culture Writer Anne Helen Petersen to Speak May 8 at Cal Poly | Cal Poly News – Cal Poly San Luis Obispo News
SAN LUIS OBISPO — Cal Poly will host author and Buzzfeed senior culture writer Anne Helen Petersen at 6 p.m. Wednesday, May 8, in the Science Building (No. 52), Room E27.
Petersen’s “Too Fat, Too Slutty, Too Loud: The Rise and Reign of the Unruly Woman” (Plume, 2017) is an analytical look at how female celebrities are pushing the boundaries of what it means to be an “acceptable” woman. The book includes 10 essays, each focusing on a famous woman — in one case, a pair of women — whose behavior provokes public outrage. The subjects include Hillary Clinton, Melissa McCarthy, Kim Kardashian, Nicki Minaj, Caitlyn Jenner, Serena Williams and Lena Dunham.
“Every few decades, an unruly female celebrity inflames the popular consciousness,” writes Petersen, who earned acclaim for her first book, 2014’s “Scandals of Classic Hollywood: Sex, Deviance, and Drama From the Golden Age of American Cinema.” “What distinguishes our current cultural moment, then, is how thoroughly ‘unruly’ women have come to dominate the zeitgeist.”
The conversation-starting book was named one of NPR’s Best Books of 2017 and one of Cosmopolitan’s “Books You Won’t Be Able to Put Down This Summer.”
This event is free and open to the public. Tickets are not required, and seating is open.
The talk is sponsored by Cal Poly’s Office of University Diversity and Inclusion, College of Liberal Arts, Communication Studies Department, Political Science Department, Journalism Department and Kinesiology Department.
About the Author
Anne Helen Petersen earned a doctorate in media studies from the University of Texas, where she studied the history of the gossip industry. Today, she writes about culture, celebrity, feminism and The West for BuzzFeed News. She lives in Missoula, Montana.
Contact: Megan Lambertz-Berndt
805-756-5341; [email protected]
April 17, 2019
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