American Psychological Association: Sexualization of Girls

http://www.apa.org/pi/women/programs/girls

The American Psychological Association (APA) has been involved in issues related to children and media content since the 1990s, including the representation of violence in media (including television, video games, and interactive media) and the effects of advertising aimed at children. In 2007, the Women's Programs Office of the Public Interest Directorate Task Force on the Sexualization of Girls released a report that summarized the evidence for the sexualization of girls in mass media and other societal influences (from magazines and television programs to dolls and clothing) and the psychological consequences of this sexualization. This Website includes a downloadable copy of this report and an executive summary of it, press releases related to it, and a number of ancillary materials.

The APA's report concluded that almost every type of media studied (including television, music lyrics and music videos, movies, magazines, video games, and the Internet) sexualized women, that women were more likely to be portrayed in a sexual manner than were men, and that an unrealistic standard of physical beauty was emphasized in women. An extensive study of the sexualization of children in advertising found that although such images were rare (occurring in about 1.5 percent of the advertisements studied), when children were presented in a sexual manner they were almost always (85 percent of the time) images of girls rather than boys. The study also concluded that sexualization had negative effects on girls' cognitive functioning, mental and physical health, and sexual well-being. Materials, available in HTML and PDF format, added to the Website to follow up the information contained in this report include suggestions on what parents and other adults can do to combat this sexualization of girls, what girls can do to challenge these images, and a collection of links to organizations that promote media literacy and improved images of girls and women in the media.

Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation

http://www.glaad.org

The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) was founded in 1985 to monitor media representation of GLBT (gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender) issues and people. Today GLAAD sees itself as an “amplifier” of the voice of the GLBT community and works with many local organizations to build support for equality while also continuing to monitor the media, advocate change, and conduct educational and outreach activities. The Website includes a form for reporting unfair and defamatory coverage in the news media, and such incidents are reported on the Website (including the original material, date and source, and reasons the material is objectionable).

GLAAD organizes its activities into 10 program areas: advertising media; entertainment media; field work and community media; national news; religion, faith, and values; Spanish-language media; Spirit Day (October 20, a day designated for showing support of GLBT youth); sports advocacy; transgender voices; and voices of color. The entertainment media program monitors film, television, music, and related media; speaks out against anti-GLBT content; and works with television and film executives, script writers, and producers to advocate the inclusion of GLBT material in popular media and to provide consulting services to ensure the authenticity of that content. GLAAD publishes two reports in this area, the “Network Responsibility [Page 462]Index,” which ranks the networks according to their inclusion of GLBT content, and the annual “Where We Are on TV,” which measures the number of GLBT characters in television programming.

The GLAAD Website includes a number of informational materials that can be downloaded for free or viewed on the Website. These include the “Where We Are on TV” reports, the Network Responsibility Indexes, a Media Reference Guide to transgender issues (including information about Chaz Bono), a Spanish-language guide to GLBT terminology (Guía de terminologia gay, lebiana, bisexual y transgénero), the GLAAD Media Reference Guide, and resource guides to issues and topics ranging from the film The Kids Are All Right to adoption and gay parenting. Publications in the “Talking About” series are also available for free download. These publications are guides intended to help open discussions on sensitive topics such as gay marriage or transgender protections in the workplace and suggest language that may help keep the discussion usefully focused on the issues at stake.

The GLAAD Advertising Media Program (http://www.commercialcloset.org) was founded in 1996 as the Commercial Closet Association to scrutinize the portrayal of GLBT people in advertising and to advocate appropriate inclusion as a means to fight homophobia and discrimination. The program maintains a searchable online library of over 4,000 television and print ads from all over the world; many of these ads are available for viewing on the Website. The Website offers breakdowns by year, region, type of product (e.g., computers), target, medium, company, brand, and agency. The Website also offers a number of resources related to the GLBT presence in advertising, including links to scholarly materials, marketing resources, lesson plans, and an explanation of the “respect score” and how it is calculated.

The GLAAD Website includes a blog carrying news relevant to GLAAD's mission and can be sorted by topic or searched. The Website also includes press releases and information about GLAAD events, including the annual GLAAD Media Awards.

Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media

http://www.thegeenadavisinstitute.org

The Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media was founded in 2004 by actress Geena Davis to research gender roles in children's media (media aimed at ages 11 and younger), educate the general public as well as decision makers about this issue, and advocate for more balanced portrayals of both boys and girls in children's media. Davis's motivation for founding the institute, according to its Website, was her realization while watching children's media with her daughter that there were almost no female characters. She commissioned a study on gender in film and television, authored by Dr. Stacy Smith of the University of Southern California Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. The study found that in family films male characters outnumber females 3:1, and in group scenes 83 percent of the characters are male.

The goal of the institute is to change the portrayal of female characters and gender stereotypes in children's media. The Geena Davis Institute holds a biennial Symposium on Gender in Media attended by over 300 industry professionals, has amassed a large body of research on gender in children's media, performs outreach with media creators and the general public, and is regularly cited by educational and governmental institutions and major media outlets.

Two of the institute's research reports—“Gender Disparity on Screen and Behind the Camera in Family Films” and “Gender Stereotypes: An Analysis of Popular Films and TV”—are available for download in PDF format from the institute's Website. Executive summaries and key findings from three reports are also available for download: the “Gender Disparity on Screen” report cited above plus “Changing the Status Quo: Industry Leaders' Perceptions of Gender in Family Films” and “Occupational Aspirations: What Are G-Rated Films Teaching Children About the World of Work.” The Website also presents basic facts about gender disparity in children's media and information to debunk common myths about gender in children's and family media and provides links to other research and to organizational Websites that are concerned with issues of gender roles in children's media.

The programming arm of the Geena Davis Institute is See Jane, which works with professionals and students in the media industry to challenge gender stereotypes presented in children's television, to provide media training to students in middle school and high school, and to produce educational media. See Jane, in conjunction with college media producers, created the video series “Guess Who?” to educate children ages six to nine about gender [Page 463]stereotypes. This program appeared on Channel One and may be viewed on the Website also.

The “Press” section of this Website includes press releases from the Geena Davis Institute, video interviews and keynote addresses, and links to press coverage of the institute's research and work. A number of other videos and photo galleries relating to the Geena Davis Institute's work are also available in the “Resources & Media” section of the Website. The institute also publishes a weekly e-mail newsletter, “The Geena Davis Institute SmartBrief,” which compiles relevant news from industry sources; the Website includes an interface to subscribe to this newsletter.

Media Education Foundation

http://www.mediaed.org

The Media Education Foundation (MEF), located in Northampton, Massachusetts, produces and distributes educational resources, including documentary films, intended to motivate viewers to reflect on the cultural impact of American mass media. The MEF is motivated by the belief that language and image define the limits and possibilities of thought and imagination and that it is crucial to teach students to think critically about the media they consume and which forms a large part of their environment.

Gender issues are one of the major categories covered by MEF media, with specific topics that include male and female sex roles, body image, homosexuality, sexual violence, and body image as well as how these and other issues are portrayed in the mass media. The MEF was founded by Sut Jhally, a professor of communication at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst; it is governed by a board of directors and a board of advisers.

MEF videos may be ordered from the site, and many may be screened in part or in whole on the Internet; when the entire video is available for preview screening on the Internet, the streamed video is low resolution and is intended only for purchase consideration. A description of each film, including information about the filmmakers, is available from the Website. Examples of gender-related titles available from MEF include The Bro Code: How Contemporary Culture Creates Sexist Men, The Codes of Gender: Identity and Performance in Pop Culture, Date Rape Backlash: Media & the Denial of Rape, and Playing Unfair: The Media Image of the Female Athlete.

A number of other educational materials addressing issues of concern to MEF are available for free from the Website. For many of the films, specific materials such as study guides, transcripts for some films, and links to related information are included. In addition, the Website offers a number of free downloadable resources related to media education, including handouts, articles, and classroom activity suggestions (e.g., a poster titled “10 Reasons Why Media Education Matters,” guides to deconstructing advertisements, and fact sheets on topics such as the advertising industry and media ownership and regulation).

Media Stereotyping: Media Awareness Network

http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/issues/stereotyping/index.cfm

The Media Awareness Network (MNet), founded in 1996, is a Canadian nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting media and digital literacy, conducting research, and producing programs and resources to increase awareness and education of media issues. The main focus of MNet, according to its Website, is “equipping adults with information and tools to help young people understand how the media work, how the media may affect their lifestyle choices and the extent to which they, as consumers and citizens, are being well informed.”

Most of MNet's materials are freely available from the Website in French and English. The section “Media Stereotyping” briefly explains what media stereotypes are, their effects on the audience, and why they are problematic. The Website then treats the following issues in separate sections: ethnic and visible minorities, aboriginal people, girls and women, men and masculinity, gays and lesbians, whiteness and white privilege, and persons with disabilities. Each issue is further broken down into subtopics, with summaries of the relevant topics within each, and links to further information and related Websites. For instance, the “Girls and Women” section includes the following subtopics: “Beauty and Body Image in the Media;” “Sex and Relationships in the Media;” “Media Coverage of Women and Women's Issues;” “Media and Girls;” “Economics of Gender Stereotyping;” “Women Working in the Media;” and “Resisting Stereotypes and Working for Change.”

MNet's Website provides access to its press releases, fact sheets, newsletters, annual reports, public service announcements (videos viewable online with QuickTime), and other reports and publications. The site also includes materials meant specifically for teachers and for parents. In the former case, these include materials designed for classroom use, professional development materials, information about media education initiatives in the Canadian provinces, a number of free games for student use, and a catalog of resources available to schools. Materials focused on parents include advice and information about children's Internet use, a public education program on Web safety, and games designed to teach children how to use the Internet safely.