Ashley Judd Instagram – Integrating awareness of and capacity for feelings & body sensations is essential to me as I lead my Seminar at @harvardkennedyschool
Topic:
Male demand for female bodies: Systems of prostitution and pornography.
My classroom is both/and,
just as I learned from my undergrad professors Christine Havice, PhD, and Jeannine Blackwell, PhD,
in my original Women’s Studies work
(at the University of Kentucky):
It is okay to think, learn,
interrogate, reflect,
synthesize from multiple disciplines,
narratives & my own experiences.
It is okay to update my own thinking as I learn.
It is (more than!) okay to be smart.
&
It is okay to care.
My/Our feelings help inform my values.
(Take a look at Martha Nussbaum, philosopher,
for more about feelings = values = inform
me as a citizen!)
Both/And.
Male demand for female bodies, especially in systems of prostitution and pornography, is — and should be — an emotionally tough discussion.
We read a lot of policy material, as well as fundamentally
ground male harm in:
Complex Trauma (trauma that happens in relationship)
Deprivation (the care/good that does not happen, is withheld, not supplied)
Dissociation (the tucking away/minimizing/deflecting of feelings because, at the time the ouches occur, it is not safe/possible to feel the fullness of what is happening).
And somehow, it is so joyful.
My own experiences relationships with
fellow abolitionists smarts
feeling = healing, growing, community,
accountability, and fun.
I love being in the classroom
&
I am so honored these gifted feeling-informed
participants from across the
Harvard community show up each session.
(PhDs, Masters Students, Fellows, Academic Dean/Faculty/
Staff! I appreciate and celebrate them!)
I do a welfare check a few days after each session—
on myself as well as them!
The material is tough
&
I notice how much I need my own
gentleness.
How are you learning and caring this week?
Love,
Ashley | Posted on 28/Oct/2025 02:23:11
