Jean Kilbourne stood in front of an audience at the HUB Alumni Hall last night and explained the correlation between food and sexuality.

"The ménage-à-trois we're made to feel ashamed of is with Ben and Jerry," she said.

Kilbourne is a visiting research scholar from the Wellesley Centers for Women.

She spoke to an audience of about 500 people and discussed the image of women that advertisers portray and its effect on U.S. culture -- including how society views food.

Kilbourne is the author of many books and documentaries that are referenced in various communications and women's studies classes at Penn State.

Krista Moyer (freshman-French) said she was attending the speech to fulfill a requirement for her women's studies class.

"We watched a video she made in class," Moyer said.

Kilbourne said that advertising has now created a "toxic cultural environment" in which sexual violence is encouraged.

"Women are constantly turned into things, into objects," she said. "Turning a human being into a thing is the first step towards committing violence against that person."

Kilbourne also discussed the unattainable image of female beauty that is presented in the media.

"We literally never see the image of a woman that hasn't been retouched by a computer," she said.

She added that less than 5 percent of women have the super-thin model body type.

"Women are made to feel ashamed of eating," she said.

Nicole Deluca (graduate-crime, law and justice) said that Kilbourne's presentation was forceful, but it was not "preachy."

"It made me a lot more aware of how damaging images are," Deluca said.

Kilbourne said the increasingly thin image of women was part of an unconscious effort of "cutting girls down to size."

She said women are encouraged to act like little girls and to behave submissively.

In her response to a question asked after her speech, Kilbourne said that this message was a result of a "collective, unconscious response" to feminism.

She added that stopping sexual violence can only by solved by changing the environment.

"What's at stake is our ability to have authentic and freely chosen lives," she said.

Kilbourne said she was encouraged by the growth of organizations to combat sexual violence.

The speech last night was given as a part of a celebration of the 30th anniversary of the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape, which is the oldest state coalition against rape in the United States.

Julie VanEerden (graduate-sociology) said she liked how the speech addressed both men's and women's body images.

"It's important to have visual images right there," she said.