New Social Venture Seeking Help to Empower Young Girls in a Media-Saturated World
Leicester (UK) (PRWEB UK) 26 October 2013 -- The video promo for the campaign speaks directly through the words of Jessica, a 13 year old girl from UK, a typical teenager who loves to listen to music, read magazines and spend time talking to her friends on Facebook.
The fast sequence of images is combined with oppressive music, while Jessica's words on the screen "narrates" her story of transformation: from a confident, cheeky, happy little girl, she describes the pressures of the constant comparisons with others, the times she hates herself because she doesn’t feel good enough. Jessica describes what it’s like to be a teenager today, stating “I love listening to music, most videos and lyrics make me think a girl should be first of all beautiful and sexy" and "sometimes I wish I was invisible".
The video paints the picture of a girl worried about her appearance, spending her time constantly fretting about how others see her, with increasing energies and time devoted to her new endevour.
"This is a trend that is found in most teenage girls these days" - says Francesca Morosi, Doctoral researcher at Nottingham Trent University and founder of the non-profit initiative.
"In an increasingly media-saturated world, girls are being pressured to fit into a certain box. Media in all forms, combined with ever more aggressive and sophisticated marketing and advertising techniques, are pushing young girls into a corner, setting unrealistic beauty standards and demands, something that is having profuse, negative effects on girls of all ages. There is an urgent need to educate and help girls build their confidence through innovative social and media literacy education in UK and abroad".
"The initiative focuses on promoting critical and healthy attitudes in response to social and media pressure, through a process of awareness, participation and action"
"Young girls are finding themselves drawn into the expectations applied to them by a wide variety of sources such as magazines, lyrics, television, video games, social media and celebrities’ culture. Eating disorders, depression, anxiety and self-harm are all on the increase, as girls battle with the preconceived conceptions on what is expected from them in society".
"Media and their messages are now harder to ignore than ever before: it’s vital that parents, carers, educators and communities as a whole take action to help young girls to develop critical skills and a brand new consciousness and resiliency".
The campaign is a true call to action: it asks donors from any budget to help girls like Jessica find their way and cope with the messages they are sent in their daily lives through the media.
It remains to be seen how the power of collective action will help the new grass root movement build momentum in order to push the mission onwards. Donors can help by donating as little as £1 or by becoming a partner or business sponsor via the crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo:
Media Savvy Girls was founded by Doctoral Researcher Francesca Morosi as a non-profit organisation and grass root movement to reach all girls, regardless of their socio-economic background. Kindly direct all enquiries to Francesca Morosi: info(at)mediasavvygirls(dot)org
http://www.mediasavvygirls.org
http://www.facebook.com/mediasavvygirls
Francesca Morosi, MEDIASAVVYGIRLS, http://mediasavvygirls.com, +44 7930882225, [email protected]
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