Actress and author Jane Fonda drew a mixture of protestors, spectators and supporters to Neeb Hall at ASU’s Tempe campus Friday.

Fonda gave her insights on “Sex, Gender and the Journey to Wholeness” as part of this year’s Feldt/Barbanell Women of the World Lecture, an annual address presented by ASU’s Women and Gender Studies program in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

Apart from the seated crowd of more than 400, about 15 Vietnam War veterans dressed in black leather jackets with Marine Corps patches attended the speech. As the crowd entered, the men stood along the walls of the lecture hall and turned their backs to Fonda as soon as she took the stage.

The veterans did not know what Fonda would be speaking about that night, said 59-year-old Vietnam veteran Mike Cantrall. They were gathered in defiance of Fonda’s appearance at ASU as an ongoing protest of her persona as “Hanoi Jane” during a visit to American prisoners of war in Vietnam in 1972.

“What she did was disrespectful to the POWs, and we’re not going to let that be forgotten,” Cantrall said.

Fonda came under heavy criticism after the trip to Hanoi, Vietnam during which she visited American POWs, urging them to speak out against the U.S. government, and was photographed sitting at a Vietnamese anti-aircraft gun used against American aircrews.

Many Americans viewed the trip as an unpatriotic display of comfort and aid to the enemy. Fonda’s harshest critics accused her of treason and dubbed her “Hanoi Jane.”

When Fonda stepped up to the lectern to begin speaking, those seated in the crowd stood and clapped in ovation, while the Vietnam veterans left the room.

As the men exited, Fonda pleaded with them to stay.

“I hope you men will stay and ask questions,” she said.

“We’ve heard all your answers, Jane,” one veteran responded.

In her speech, Fonda discussed her own journey to finding herself and becoming whole.

“What is your metaphor for your life’s journey? Mine, I discovered, was a gender journey. I realized extent to which shape of my life was determined by the fact that I’m a female,” she said.

Fonda spoke about how the American culture and the media influence women and prohibit them from being themselves.

“Either explicitly or implicitly, the culture is telling you how you’re supposed to be, and the sense of not being good enough attaches itself to your body … It is an epidemic among adolescent girls,” she said.

Fonda beseeched the women in the audience to disregard the messages and influences they are exposed to.

“It took me until I was 62 and single to realize good enough is good enough,” she said. “Girls, we’re not supposed to be perfect. God is perfect. We’re supposed to be whole.”

English literature senior Danelle Mallen said that although she enjoyed the lecture, she didn’t believe Fonda’s journey to becoming a complete woman would be similar to her own.

“She represents wholeness for Jane Fonda, because it’s different for each person,” Mallen said.

Mallen said Fonda’s message was an important one.

“People need to be aware culturally of how much our role as women in society is determined by men,” she said.

Reach the reporter at zachary.fowle@asu.edu.