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Act Now!
Media Literacy: From Oppression to Liberation
Media images and messages are the most persuasive force in shaping cultural opinions and norms. In a single week, American teenagers spend 31 hours watching television, 17 hours listening to music, 3 hours watching movies, 4 hours reading magazines and10 hours online. In turn, this mass consumption of media influences and shapes popular culture. Together, media and popular culture create and maintain norms, standards and stereotypes.
For women and girls—the target of most media messages—these norms, standards and stereotypes tend to be extremely limiting. The media readily over-sexualizes women and girls, reducing their value and power to youth, beauty and sexuality thus creating restraining views of female identity, strength and potential.
Yet just as media and popular culture can be a powerful tool of oppression, it can also be a powerful tool of liberation. Increasing girls’ media literacy will empower them with the skills to deconstruct and analyze media message, and to counter negative messages with positive messages of their own making.
ACT NOW! Challenge the media’s limiting portrayal of women and girls and help increase media literacy among girls by:
- Conducting a media literacy workshop for girls. Download Girl Power: A Soroptimist Girl Conference Model Program Kit, which includes detailed instructions for conducting a media literacy workshop.
- Starting a dinner conversation with family and friends about the media’s negative portrayals of women and girls. Visit the Miss Representation website to sign-up for a complete dinner conversation guide.
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