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- [00:00]
A
I'm Kiana, and I leveled up my business with Shopify. Once I figured out that Shopify was a thing, I never turned back. I can create a site with my eyes closed. Shopify thinks ahead of us, you know, and it thinks about the customer more than anything. Every day I'm thinking about some other new business, but Shopify is doing it to me because it's so easy to use. It's like, I can't stop. I'm addicted. Start your free trial@shopify.com.
- [00:42]
B
Hey, it's Dr. Michael Rich, the mediatrician. I'm a practicing pediatrician, child health researcher, and a lifelong filmmaker who understands how powerfully screens engage and change us as human beings. As a doctor who takes care of kids every day, I see and understand the struggles that young people are having with their screens and their parents are having with how to raise them to be healthy, happy, and productive in a world filled with digital screens. Mediatrix educator Christelle Lavallee joins me each week to address your questions.
- [01:16]
C
Yes, I do grateful to be here, Michael. And this week I'm really grateful for the mediatrician's global reach. We have a question today from Ethiopia. So this question is from Adis, a current college student who says, I was made to feel ugly and repulsive because I am black. When I was in middle school, up to high school, I was treated like this by people of all races, including other blacks. I want to know, do the negative portrayals of black women in movies affect how teens view black girls and women? So thank you for sharing this difficult situation, Adis, and sending us your question, especially all the way from Ethiopia. So what do you think, Mediatrician?
- [01:57]
B
Adis, the short answer to your question of whether portrayals of black women in movies affects how teens view black girls and women is yes, media portrayals of black women, or stereotype portrayals of any group of people for that matter, affect how children and teens view them, whether the kids are themselves part of that group or not. For a black woman, media affect both how other people see her and and how she sees herself. Research shows us that when we are exposed to images repeatedly and over a long period of time, we internalize these images and measure ourselves and others against them as if they are the truth. Therefore, when people are exposed to media that consistently portray women of color as less successful, less beautiful, less worthwhile than white women or white men, they tend to internalize those ideas.
- [02:55]
C
So, Michael, I lecture for a media stereotypes sociology course. It's a collegiate course and it's a long standing Lecture. And every year I try to pump it up with the latest examples. And every year I sit down and I'm like, oh, it's going to be hard this year. And I am astounded every year that I'm able to pull examples so quickly. Quick Internet search, and I've got exactly what I need. I think it's getting better. I've been doing this for about four years. What do you think? Is it actually getting better or. I mean, I still find these all the time.
- [03:29]
B
Well, if you're finding them in enough, enough of a prevalence that you are able to lecture about them, I would say we're not doing enough.
- [03:38]
C
Yeah, I get that.
- [03:39]
B
Whether it's better or worse, we're not doing enough. Okay, okay. There are conscious efforts among those in the media industry. In fact, one of the most successful television producers out there, Shonda Rhines, is working on television from a black woman's perspective. And that's awesome and rocking it. Right. And she's bringing more diversity into media images and to portraying people of many races and ethnicities in positive and healthy ways. And while we can't undo the harm that Adis felt in the past, she can undo that scar within herself and, and use that to help young women around her, to guide them toward media choices that represent members of all races, but particularly of their race, their sex, their place in life in a positive light, and helping them to think critically about the media they consume. This is very, very important because it's not just about seeing stereotypes of people like me. It's about not seeing people like me in media.
- [04:52]
C
People don't see.
- [04:53]
B
Exactly. And I still think that when you look at broadcast television, when you look at movies, you are seeing many more white faces than black faces. You are seeing many more male driven stories, many more youth driven stories than you are about black people who are of a different race, of a different gender, of a different age. And so I think that part of this choice of the media that Adis uses and that she guides and mentors people coming behind her to use is not just about avoiding negative or stereotype portrayals, but seeking out portrayals that help me understand me.
- [05:44]
C
I like that a lot. We're kind of folding in media literacy here, which I love. So, Eddies, you've already begun to help by sending us this question and letting us discuss it so that others can hear and hopefully be changed by the better. And hopefully this kind of springboards a campaign with media literacy in this area. So thank you so much for writing us your question. And for everyone else. You can also find links to all of our resources@askthemediatrician.org remember that you can connect with our own Mediatrician so easily on Twitter Mediatrician, and you can submit your own question@askthemediatrician.org and finally, make sure you share and subscribe to this podcast.
- [06:25]
B
Enjoy your media. Seek out media that is about you and how you see yourself and how you want to be. And enjoy your children and raise them to do the same.
- [06:37]
A
And
- [06:39]
D
Ask the Mediatrician is hosted by Dr. Michael Rich, joined by Mediatrix educator Christelle Lavalley. Jill R. Kavanagh is our Chief Knowledge Officer. Original music composed by Christopher Cerf Podcast and music recorded, mixed and edited at Saturn Sound Studios Executive producer Alicia Haywood.