Blue-Ribbon Group of Media Leaders Concludes a Year of
Deliberations With Release of Report and Review of Best Practices
The
Healthy MEdia Commission for Positive Images of Women and Girls,
consisting of more than 50 leaders from the media industry, creative
community, academia, and youth-serving nonprofits, completed more than a
year of deliberations today by releasing a report
offering a variety of recommendations and best practices to encourage
more healthy and realistic portrayals of women and girls across all
media.
The Commission Co-Chairs – Academy Award-winning actor Geena
Davis, founder of the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media; and
former Federal Communications Commissioner Deborah
Taylor Tate, International Telecommunications Union Special Envoy
and Laureate for Child Online Protection – announced the release of the
group’s report during the Third
Symposium on Gender in Media of the Geena Davis Institute on Gender
in Media.
Recognizing the need for gender balance and positive portrayals of women
and girls in the media, Girl Scouts of the USA (GSUSA), along with the National
Association of Broadcasters (NAB), the National
Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA), The
Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, and The
Creative Coalition hosted the Healthy Media for Youth Summit
in the U.S. Capitol in October 2010. At that time, a broad
cross-section of stakeholders gathered to chart a course to promote
healthy media for the benefit of all young people and recommended that a
Healthy Media Commission be formed to develop recommendations supporting
a more positive and gender-neutral media environment for women,
promoting the healthy development of a girl’s social, emotional and
physical well-being.
Strong Leadership
“We are so proud of the work of this Commission and deeply appreciate
its guidance on how we can best address the growing issue of how images
of girls and women often are portrayed in our mainstream media,” said
Geena Davis. “The Commission has recognized the importance of including
more women throughout the creative process and helping the makers and
users of media better understand the impact of media images among girls
and women.”
“This is really an important issue for our young people today around the
world,” said Deborah Taylor Tate. “With the growth of media
proliferating, and girls being flooded with media and messages, it’s
more critical than ever to heighten awareness of the need for more real
and healthy images in the portrayal of women.”
“It was a desire for positive change that brought us together with our
partners on this project,” said Anna
Maria Chavez, Chief Executive Officer of Girl Scouts of the USA. “As
children’s media use continues to increase, all youth would benefit from
seeing healthy and positive messages about girls and women.”
Final Report
The objective of the report, according to its Executive
Summary, is “to develop recommendations supporting a more positive
and gender-neutral media environment for women, promoting the healthy
development of a girl’s social, emotional and physical well-being.” The
report includes a section on “Healthy Elements of Media,” designed to
encourage more healthy body images, active and diverse female
characters, equal and healthy relationships, and roles for women and
girls.
In addition, the report offers wide-ranging recommendations to a variety
of key groups, helping media leaders, creators, and consumers “learn”
more about healthy media, “choose” to promote healthy media images, and
“educate” peers and colleagues about the healthy media issue and its
ramifications for the health of girls and women.
“Collectively we must lead efforts to raise awareness of, and facilitate
greater education outreach around, healthy media, and work towards
re-shaping our media landscape, so that it better promotes balanced and
positive images of girls, and values their identities and aspirations,”
the report says.
The report was collaboratively edited and prepared for publication by Common
Sense Media, and design work was contributed by Turner
Broadcasting System Inc.
The Report and Recommendations of the Healthy MEdia Commission for
Positive Images of Women and Girls is available online at www.GirlScouts.org/HealthyMedia.
Sponsors
The
Creative Coalition is the premiere nonprofit 501(c)3,
nonpartisan social and public advocacy organization of the arts and
entertainment community. Founded in 1989 by prominent members of the
creative community, The Creative Coalition is dedicated to educating,
mobilizing, and activating its members on issues of public importance,
primarily public education, the First Amendment, and arts advocacy.
Actor Tim Daly serves as the organization’s President.
Geena
Davis Institute on Gender in Media Founded in 2004, The Geena
Davis Institute On Gender In Media and its programming arm See Jane work
with entertainment industry leaders and companies to improve media
images of girls in all aspects of entertainment targeting children 11
and under. Its goal is to transform how the entertainment industry
represents girls in its productions, sensitize the industry on gender
portrayals, and reduce stereotyping and objectification of females in
children’s media and entertainment.
Girl
Scouts of the USA Founded in 1912, Girl Scouts of the USA
is the preeminent leadership development organization for girls, with
3.2 million girl and adult members worldwide. Girl Scouts is the leading
authority on girls' healthy development, and builds girls of courage,
confidence, and character, who make the world a better place. The
organization serves girls from every corner of the United States and its
territories. Girl Scouts of the USA also serves American girls and their
classmates attending American or international schools overseas in 90
countries. For more information on how to join, volunteer or reconnect
with, or donate to Girl Scouts, call 800-GSUSA-4-U or visit www.girlscouts.org.
The
National Association of Broadcasters is the premier
advocacy association for America's broadcasters. NAB advances radio and
television interests in legislative, regulatory and public affairs.
Through advocacy, education and innovation, NAB enables broadcasters to
best serve their communities, strengthen their businesses and seize new
opportunities in the digital age.
The
National Cable & Telecommunications Association is the
principal trade association for the U.S. cable industry, representing
cable operators serving more than 90 percent of the nation's cable
television households and more than 200 cable program networks. The
cable industry is the nation’s largest broadband provider of high-speed
Internet access, serving 45 million customers, after investing more than
$185 billion to build two-way interactive networks with fiber optic
technology. Cable companies also provide state-of-the-art digital
telephone service to 24 million American consumers.
