Turning Red
If you haven’t seen the film yet, Pixar’s Turning Red is receiving substantial recognition across all forms of media. Turning Red tells the story of 13-year old Meilin “Mei” Lee and her experiences with “puberty, cultural expectations, and her newfound tendency to turn into a giant red panda when overtaken by emotion” (NYTimes). Taking MEDIAGIRLS’ […]
Enchanting Themes of Encanto
If you’ve interacted with social media lately, you’d know that references to the film Encanto are everywhere. If it’s not for the hit song “We Don’t Talk About Bruno,” you’ll hear about “Surface Pressure.” Most importantly, you’ll hear and witness the conversations sparking about this film’s accurate or authentic representation of the Madrigal family, and […]
Body Redefined by Neutrality
Beau Ideal Social media prompts various questions concerning the self. This is clearly apparent in many of the platforms we interact with. We must ask ourselves how we can establish who we truly are when we are too often told to tailor ourselves to the external forces and expectations around us? How can we recognize […]
The Influence of Quizzes on Self-Identity
Amazon Prime has released its second season to one of the most real, heart-warming shows on its platform, Modern Love. The show itself is a romantic anthology series based on true love columns written for the New York Times, Modern Love. One episode this season, titled “Am I… Maybe This Quiz Will Tell Me” struck […]
MEDIAGIRLS Virtual Workshops
In this series of eight virtual workshops, pre-teen and teen girls will have fun while learning how media influences their well-being and how to help transform media culture. Participants gain the necessary tools to deconstruct media, understand how media messages influence their feelings of self-worth, and create positive and inspiring content. Girls will spend approximately […]
Teaching Girls to Say NO to Nudes
“My daughter definitely hasn’t been asked to send nude pictures to boys,” said one mom at a recent MEDIAGIRLS parent talk. “It’s not a thing at our school,” said another mom. “Wait, what are ‘nudes?!’” asked a dad looking appalled. “Nudes” are sexually explicit pictures or videos – taken fully or partially naked – that […]
MEDIAGIRLS Weigh In on the New Year’s Scale Obsession
“This is the year I’m going to drop 10 pounds!” How many times and for how many decades have we heard girls and women of all ages tie their New Year’s resolution to weight loss? The pressure to become a ‘whole new you’ too often means starting a diet, joining a gym, and ultimately weight […]
“Can We Please Talk about Something Other than Boys?!”: One 20-something’s take on why we need to challenge guy-talk obsession.
I could not help but grapple with the question of “Now what?” after yet another heart-wrenching breakup. I was haunted by the usual questions: “Will I end up alone with dogs?” (Cats are not for me.) “Is it bad to watch the movie The Notebook again?” and “Can I really eat anymore Thai takeout?” Fast […]
MEDIAGIRLS of Orchard Gardens discover their core selves
Girls are often judged upon or asked to define themselves by their physical characteristics. Today, when describing women, media usually chooses to focus on the physical rather than the things that make women who they truly are. This week at the Epiphany school in Dorchester, our mentors showed MEDIAGIRLS participants to simply use a paper […]
Stop letting media teach girls their self-worth!
By Michelle Cove, Executive Director MEDIAGIRLS “Write down eight of your most positive qualities.” I have asked hundreds of girls and women to do this. I am talking about the positive traits that describe who they are internally, their core selves. This activity is part of the programming we do for MEDIAGIRLS, a nonprofit that […]