“I really enjoyed the presentation About-Face gave [my group], and it was probably one of the first times I ever felt positive about myself.”
– Priya, age 16

About-Face Education Into Action media-literacy workshops take a spirited, sassy, and informative approach to teaching students and other groups how to “read” and process the media messages they see every day.

Our aim is to equip young women and men with tools understand representations of gender in media and resist negative messages about their body image, identity, and self-esteem. We’ve been successfully leading workshops in the San Francisco Bay Area since 1998.

Workshops are available for young women and men ages 13 through 30 (7th grade and up) in either girls’ groups or mixed-gender settings in classrooms, at conferences, and for nonprofit and community groups. We have twelve diverse workshop leaders to work with your group. Our workshops are between 50 and 90 minutes.

About-Face Education Into Action workshops are:

• Guided, not lecturing: We don’t tell kids and adults what to think, but instead let them develop their own thoughts.
• Interactive: We provide discussion time and opportunities to process what each person is experiencing.
• Appealing to young audiences: We center workshops on dynamic media, such as TV and movie clips, web sites, and images from magazines.
• Action-oriented and positive: We leave participants inspired to make change, not feeling hopeless.
• Sassy and edgy: We use humor, making the workshops feel like fun, not like a boring class.

Results and outcomes. In a recent study of 556 of our workshop participants:

• Participants showed an increase in self-esteem one month after the workshop.
• Participants (especially girls) reported stronger critical thinking about media after the workshop.
• Most students were not as influenced by celebrities, sports figures, and people on TV after the workshop.

The majority of About-Face workshops are delivered in the San Francisco Bay Area. If you are interested in bringing an About-Face workshop elsewhere, please contact us to discuss travel arrangements and funding.

Request a Workshop Today!
To start the process, you can A) complete our simple, quick Workshop Request form, B) e-mail workshops@about-face.org, or C) phone us at (415) 839-6779. An About-Face staff member will contact you within two business days.

We look forward to meeting you and working with your class or group!