Judd raises cry to empower the powerless
Blazer lecture at UK stresses social justice issues, feminism
By Art Jester, Lexington Herald-Leader, November 3, 2006

Actress Ashley Judd returned to the University of Kentucky last night to send up a "cry from the heart" to help the millions suffering from such maladies as disease, malnutrition, exploitation and sexual abuse.

Judd, who attended UK from 1986 to 1990 before she launched her career in Hollywood, underscored her point by urging a sense of "empowerment" among the powerless masses.

The former UK honors student and French major said her "cri de coeur" (cry from the heart) is taken from President Truman, who said, "Give Americans the facts and they will do the right thing."

This quote typified the spirit of Judd's remarks, as she delivered UK's prestigious Blazer Lecture to an audience of about 1,350 in the Concert Hall of the Singletary Center for the Arts.

In her conclusion, Judd said "there is hope, there is much hope" that the many problems she described can be corrected or eradicated.

But this affirmation came only after she had cited numerous gloomy statistics that helped illustrate conditions she has found in slums and brothels among the world's "suffering, dirty, disempowered minorities."

She cited such figures as these: Every year there are more than 66 million unintended pregnancies in the world, and more than 500,000 women die from pregnancy-related causes; 25 million people are sex slaves, "nearly all of whom are trying to work off a debt they will never be able to repay;" more than 1 billion people do not have access to safe water; and 1.6 million children a year die from diarrhea.

Asked by a questioner what she was like as a UK student, Judd replied: "I was a rabble-rouser," constantly looking to help in various causes.

She thanked UK and her professors for what they did for her.

"My life was changed forever and exponentially," she said. "I wanted to become me, only more so."

Judd, who lives in Middle Tennessee and Scotland, was accompanied to Lexington by her husband, race car driver Dario Franchitti. Her mother, Naomi Judd, was also in the audience.

Her lecture, titled "At the Root of My Longing: Social Justice, Feminism and Spirituality," drew a sharp distinction between patriarchy, or male-dominated culture, and feminism.

Judd said: "I've had to stand in the face of centers of patriarchy and say, 'That is not the truth.'" This comment sparked enthusiastic applause.

She defined patriarchy as a "system in which both sexes" must live, although it is "organized according to the experience of men."

She described patriarchal culture as demeaning to both men and women, by robbing them of their full humanity.

In contrast, she said "feminism can be simply put: It is the truth."

This evoked more approving applause.

"Feminism is not the lie that one person is ever justified in exploiting another," she said.

Judd did not graduate in 1990 because she lacked one course to get her bachelor's degree. UK's rules then did not permit a student to finish a degree through a correspondence course.

But UK officials said this week that a student can now take the final course for a degree through correspondence, online or some other way that does not require being in residence at UK.