(Kate Gardner/ The Daily Campus)

The SMU Embrey Human Rights Program gave the community the chance to talk to the executive producer, Abigail Disney, of the upcoming PBS documentary series “Women, War and Peace.”

Disney spoke to the crowd Thursday night about her insight of women’s influences on a community, both in times of war and peace.

In college, Disney wrote her dissertation on war novels because she found the genre fascinating.

“I was interested in war novels because they were like locker room talks,” Disney said. “They were the conversation of men.”

Disney had no interest in getting into the film business after growing up in a show business family, but a post-college trip to Liberia changed her mind. She realized how key women were in a community. She said during a time of war, they kept the spirit alive in the community. However, according to Disney, due to their influence, women are often the targets of attacks.

“There is a recent desire to destroy women because they hold communities together,” Disney said.

After her trip to Liberia, she wanted to shine light on women during wartime. She screened “I Came to Testify” part one of her five part series debuting Oct. 11 to the audience, which tells the story of Muslim women who were raped during the Yugoslav War and testified in court afterwards.

After the episode, she asked the audience to help spread her message.

“We are encouraging people to have viewing parties and discuss it afterwards,” Disney said. ” All I have is word of mouth and work of keyboard.”

For more information on this series, visit womenwarandpeace.com.