"Lynn Phillips's interviews reveal the contradictory messages that young women embrace about sexuality and femininity -- messages that leave them often feeling both confused and powerful, crazy and confident, but also leave them vulnerable to exploitation and assault. This bracing film will make you squirm -- and provoke exactly the conversation our society needs to be having -- with both young women and young men. I can't wait to share this with my students!"
- Michael Kimmel | Distinguished Professor of Sociology at SUNY Stony Brook | Author of
Guyland: The Perilous World Where Boys Become Men
"Lynn Phillip's
Flirting With Danger is one of my favorite books to teach because it reflects so well the contradictory realities of my students' lives and opens the door to honest conversations about sexual consent, control, victimization, and agency. There's something especially powerful about this film adaptation of her research findings, however. Maybe it's the visual display of hypersexualized media juxtaposed with abstinence-only educators ranting about the dangers of sex punctuated with the genuine struggle of young women trying to make sense of it all. Add Phillips' clear, direct narration of her analysis, and this is one of the best films I've seen in a good long while."
- Lyn Mikel Brown, Ed,D. | Professor of Education at Colby College | Author of
Packaging Girlhood: Rescuing Our Daughters from Marketers' Schemes | Co-Founder of the Sexualization Protest: Action, Resistance, Knowledge (SPARK) Movement
"This powerful film provides an honest and in-depth analysis of the situations faced by young women as they navigate sexual relationships, including ones tinged with various degrees of violence. In interviews with the author, the women openly discuss their relationships, fears, and desires, and they explain how they negotiate society's contradictory messages about women's sexuality. Phillips makes a compelling case that we need to move beyond the simplistic analyses of victim vs. agent and coercion vs. consent, which limit the ways that women and girls can discuss and even understand their own experiences. I am excited to show this engaging and thought-provoking film in my classes."
- Lisa H. Schwartzman | Associate Professor of Philosophy at Michigan State University
"This is a riveting film, one that is essential viewing for all North American adolescents and young adults.
Flirting with Danger is destined to be a classic pedagogical tool that will be of much value to teachers from a broad range of scholarly backgrounds."
- Walter S. DeKeseredy, Ph.D. | Professor of Criminology at University of Ontario Institute of Technology
"This powerful films explores why our ideas about 'consent' don't match the experiences of actual women. Phillips' film is at once a wake up call, asking feminists to rethink the ways we frame victimization and power, and a poignant exploration of the real dilemmas young women face as they try to craft meaningful sexual lives."
- Amy C. Wilkins, Ph.D. | Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Colorado
"This is definitely a necessary teaching tool in combination with the book
Flirting with Danger. The intimacy of stories told by young women will allow students to gain control of their sexuality and resist cultural discourses in the male-dominated society."
- Shu Ju Ada Cheng | Associate Professor of Sociology at DePaul University
"
Flirting with Danger is an important film and teaching tool, documenting the complex terrain young women must navigate as their emerging sexual identities and desires remain eclipsed by cultural double standards and mixed messages. Young women's newfound right to sexual desire has been readily co-opted and conflated with their sexual desirability and sexual performance in the service of men. Lynn Phillip's work -- powerfully explored in this film -- reveals how young women continue to be held responsible for men's pleasure, and continue to be held accountable for their experiences of sexual victimization, to the detriment of their safety and well-being."
- Jody Miller | Professor of Criminal Justice at Rutgers University | Author of
Getting Played: African American Girls, Urban Inequality, and Gendered Violence
"This film reveals the sexual pressures and realities of our culture through media, music videos, and film. An important learning tool that has the potential to change the landscape and help girls find their power."
- Patti Feuereisen, Ph.D. | Author of
Invisible Girls : The Truth About Sexual Abuse | Founder of Girlthrive Inc.
"The voices in
Flirting with Danger remind us to pay attention to the exploitation women face as they navigate through their lives, and to the role that power, coercion and submission play in the development of sexual identity. The film challenges us to address the complexities at the intersection of freedom and persecution in order to support both individual women and the women's movement as we strive to reshape attitudes and beliefs in service to equality and the end of suffering for everyone.
Flirting with Danger is a film relevant for anyone working with, caring about or investing in building a better world for women and girls."
- Julie Edsforth & Jane Hinton | Co-Founder & Executive Director of Powerful Voices
Press Reviews
Hey, Sex Ed
Not blaming the victim, not being a victim: Viewing "Flirting with Danger"
Anthropology Review Database
