You might remember that About-Face runs Take Action groups for teenage girls who want to speak out about media portrayals of women. Well, the time has come again! Last Wednesday, we met the girls in our latest group during our first meeting.
Seven girls from the San Francisco Bay Area (Roslynn, Amy, Katherine, Kayla, Jasmine, Daija, and Julie) met up with Megan and Brittany (our summer interns), and Jennifer (Executive Director) to learn about harmful media messages, and what they could do to make a change.
We asked the girls to explain why they wanted to be a part of the Take Action group, and they listed reasons such as a desire to understand precisely how the media works. One of the participants said that she knew the images in the media were unrealistic, but wanted to learn exactly how the media was affecting her specifically.
Jennifer led an activity called “subvertising.” Subvertising consists of looking at an advertisement and figuring out what the ad is really saying.
In assessing the advertisement’s true message, the girls were asked to think about three questions: What is this ad selling? How is the ad selling it? What do the advertisers want you to feel? After asking these questions, the girls wrote down their interpretation of the ad directly on the advertisement itself as a way to unveil the more-subtle message. This wasn’t all serious. There WAS glitter!
The girls also watched some of About-Face’s action videos, including our Yay Scale videos, and discussed the type of positive, productive action they might like to do.
Mark your calendar! Their action is scheduled for Saturday, August 20 in San Francisco! E-mail us if you’d like to get more details as the date approaches.
This week, the girls will continue thinking about what kind of action they would like to do during late August. Check back next week for the update!
–Brittany