By Stephanie Cole

If you want to commit to sparking change, the first step is to choose media awareness every day. Media awareness is surprisingly easy to achieve; no dramatic enlightenment required. Simple steps include:

  1. Don’t be a mindless consumer. Think critically about the messages that advertising, films and television are promoting. This takes surprisingly less mental energy then you may think.
  2. A good place to start is with you. If you are a women or a girl, ask if the portrayals you see in the media seem to be an accurate depiction of you and women and girls you know. If you are not being accurately represented, it’s not something wrong with you; it’s something wrong with the media.
  3. If you are looking to be a male ally, ask the same question above for women and girls you know. And question media depictions of masculinity as well! All gender simplification and misrepresentation is part of the problem.
  4. The so called “Bechdel test” is another good tool. When consuming media, ask yourself; Is there more than one female character? Do the characters all have names? Do they ever talk to each other? If they do, is it about something other than a man? This test helps cover the basics of how well women and girls are represented in media. It doesn’t cover everything. Problematic media can pass and otherwise fantastic media can fail, but it’s a good start.
  5. Keep your eye out for sexualization. Sex is everywhere in the media, but don’t allow its ubiquity to discourage critique. Ask what kind of sex, or sexiness, the media in question is portraying. Are women involved defining the sexuality for themselves, or are they being objectified? Is it healthy or unhealthy? How old are the people who are being put sexual context? Sexualization is not always as obvious as push up bras marketed to kids, so thinking through these questions can help.