The MEDIAGIRLS Podcast: Recent Episodes
MEDIAGIRLS
Our podcast teaches parents, educators and mentors how to talk with girls and young women about the media messages they're consuming.
We asked our Youth Advisory Board three questions about TikTok: what they like about it, what they hate about it, and what they think parents should know about the social media app. Here are their thoughts - along with insights from Executive Director Michelle Cove and Education Outreach Manager Amanda Mozea - in this episode of The MEDIAGIRLS Podcast.
Who we followed on social media before the pandemic might, and likely should, look different than who we follow now. It's even more important to only opt in to content that makes us feel more empowered, positive, hopeful, and inspired. In this podcast episode, we'll walk you through the best way to guide girls (and ourselves!) in using our body cues to set our intentions and make healthy choices.
If you've ever scrolled through Instagram posts from teen girls, you know they will post just about every positive experience they have. It's almost as if the experience wouldn't exist unless it was seen and "liked" by enough others. What's behind the phenomenon, and how do we have healthy conversations with our girls about it? Join Executive Director Michelle Cove and Education Outreach Manager Amanda Mozea as they dig into this topic.
In this short podcast episode (just 15 minutes), Executive Director Michelle Cove and Education Outreach Manager Amanda Mozea answer three questions sent in recently by our listeners. This includes the most frequently asked one: “At what age should my daughter be allowed to start using social media?” Find out their "tell-it-like-it-is" responses in this special Q&A episode.
In this episode, we share what teen girls from our MEDIAGIRLS program told us about the latest media trends and how their self-esteem is impacted. One thing is clear: While girls are highly aware of unrealistic beauty standards, they’re still obsessed with trying to look like these "fake" images as much as possible. Find out more on what teens are absorbing from media, and how you can talk to the girl(s) in your life about these challenging messages.
Last spring we published a blog post about how to discuss with girls what to say and do if someone asks them to send a “nude” (a picture of her naked or partially naked). Over 70% of girls are asked to send a nude by the time they reach high school; unfortunately, many girls do it because they don’t want to seem prudish or uncool. Instead of burying our heads in the sand, let’s arm girls with strategies to handle the situation. Listen to find out the best ones!
With more than 1 billion downloads and 500 million active users around the world, TikTok rivals Instagram and Facebook for relevance today. It is a video-sharing app that allows you to post videos between 15 and 60 seconds in length, and videos often feature lip-syncing, comedy, ironic jokes, memes. What do girls love so much about it, and what should parents and educators know about this platform?
One minute, girls think they’ve made a new friend or potential love interest, and the next minute, that new person just disappears on them—no more texts, no more direct messages on Instagram, nothing. What happened?! In this episode, we’ll talk about how to acknowledge the feelings that girls experience when they’re ghosted, what they can do about it, and how they can avoid being a ghost themselves.
Miss USA, Miss Teen USA, Miss World, AND Miss Universe are all Black women. Before a new Miss America was crowned in December, Miss America, too, was a Black woman! What does this mean for more inclusive beauty standards, in particular beauty standards for women of color? Are the recent slate of pageant winners entirely positive for Black women? For more inclusive beauty standards? As is true of most of our topics, it's a little more complicated than you might think.
Girls feel intense pressure to get enough so-called likes on social media. In fact, all too often they tie their very self-worth to the number received. It can feel like one giant popularity contest that never ends. How do we alleviate some of this pressure and help girls see the high cost to their well-being? In this episode, we talk about how to help our girls understand that social-media metrics don't equal happiness.
It’s the end of January, and people are "falling off the wagon" with their New Year’s Resolutions, which are way too often around weight loss. You can look at graphs that show that gym attendance starts ticking down and fast food consumption starts ticking up before January is even over. Most of us clearly don't make sustainable, or even healthy, goals. That’s why Amanda Mozea (MEDIAGIRLS Education Outreach Manager) and Dani Padilla (host of the podcast “Luzda Sin Filtro”) discuss how to talk with girls, and ourselves, when it comes to setting smart goals.
We're seeing more and more female artists release music videos with lyrics that are strong and empowering, but with visuals that are still hypersexualized. The mixed messages are downright confusing and even demoralizing. Today’s girls and young women are absorbing the message that they should be independent and confident, but they better look hot too. Find out how to talk to girls about this confusing mixed messaging.
Once girls hit their pre-teen and teen years, they often seek out more independence and begin forming their own opinions rather than blindly accepting that of their parents. While it’s entirely normal, it’s also far more challenging to have productive conversations (especially with all those eye rolls). In our first episode, MEDIAGIRLS staff members set up healthy ground rules for having positive discussions about media content with girls.