Our partners at Mass Media Literacy are doing excellent work both in teacher training/curriculum development and in legislative lobbying. Please consider contributing to their efforts with a tax-deductible donation.
Dear Friend,
As someone interested in comprehensive media literacy education, you’re probably not surprised that:
- Branding food packages with licensed characters substantially influences young children’s taste preferences and snack selection and does so most strongly for energy-dense, nutrient-poor foods.3
- The level of violence portrayed in television, film, and video has escalated markedly; children’s access to adult-oriented media violence is increasing as a result of new technological advances. Research shows that viewing mass media violence leads to increased aggression and impacts worldviews.4
- Female characters in G-rated films wear virtually the same amount of sexually revealing clothing as female characters in R-rated films, and studies show that the more television girls watch, the more limited they consider their life options; the more boys watch, the more sexist their views become.5
- The average boys’ exposure to pornography begins at 11 ½ years old and today’s pornography is misogyny on steroids.6
These are some of the challenges our children face while growing up in a media-saturated world. They don’t have to do it alone!
Mass Media Literacy is helping Massachusetts students learn critical thinking skills so they can engage with media as active and informed participants. Your support helps us deliver teacher training, curriculum, and lesson plans for every subject in every level of K-12 education.
In 2015 we:
- Completed a year-long teacher training in Worcester.
- Got published: Media Education for a Digital Generation (Routledge, 2015) and “Teacher Training, lesson plan development and classroom integration: Notes on the process of building a media literacy curriculum,” Media Education Research Journal.
- Led comprehensive media literacy trainings and workshops.
- Worked with the Massachusetts Legislature to pass H.1513, “an Act relative to the disclosure of visual images of a person without his or her consent.”
Will you help us continue these important efforts for Massachusetts children?
Please consider a tax-deductible donation to Mass Media Literacy; visit this page on our website.
You can also mail a donation to:
60 Masonic Street
Northampton, MA 0160
Attn: Mass Media Literacy
Please make checks payable to Media Education Foundation with a note specifying the donation is for “Mass Media Literacy.”
Mass Media Literacy Steering Committee Members
Allison Butler, PhD
Alison Kenney
Erin Kinney, MA
Alexis Ladd, MPH
Dianna Morton, MLS
1 Common Sense Media, comp. The Common Sense Census: Media Use by Tweens and Teens. 2015. Print.
2 Cover Girl Culture. Dir. Nicole Clark. 2010. Film.
3 Roberto, Christina A.; Baik, Jenny; Harris, Jennifer L.; Brownell, Kelly D. (June 2010). Influence of Licensed Characters on Children’s Taste and Snack Preferences, American Academy of Pediatrics
4 American Psychological Association (June 2015) Violence in Mass Media. Council Policy Manual
5 Smith, Stacy L., PhD; Choueiti, Marc; Prescott, Ashley; Pieper, Katherine, PhD. Annenberg School for Communications & Journalism, University of Southern California. (2012) Gender Roles and Occupations: A Look at Character Attributes and Job-Related Aspirations in Film and Television, Geena Davis Institute on Media and Gender
6 Dines, G. (2010). Pornland: How Porn Has Hijacked Our Sexuality. Boston, MA: Beacon Press.
Smart Media Education for the 21st Century 