Breaking the barriers of sexual harassment in corporate media: How feminist media literacy and social media campaigns expose and confront social inequalities and injustice.
Biographical Sketch
Julie Frechette, Ph.D., is Professor and Chair of the Department of Communication at Worcester State University, in Massachusetts, where she teaches courses on media studies, critical cultural studies, media education, and gender representations. Her most recent book, Media Education for a Digital Generation (Routledge Press, 2016), provides a framework for developing critical digital literacies by exploring the necessary skills and competencies for engaging students as citizens of the digital world. Her book, Developing Media Literacy in Cyberspace: Pedagogy and Critical Learning for the Twenty-First Century Classroom (Praeger Press, 2002), was among the first to explore the multiple literacies approach for the digital age. She serves as co-president of the Action Coalition for Media Education.
Type of Presentation
Individual presentation
Brief Description of Presentation
The #MeToo campaign affords a poignant case study for assessing how media literacy activism can mobilize the NetGeneration to challenge antiquated attitudes and behaviors that keep women marginalized in media sectors. Drawing from the sexual harassment scandals of media celebrities and data from the 2017 Report of The Status of Women in U.S. Media, I will analyze the correlation between male domination of corporate media and the continued systematic marginalization and oppression of women within and outside U.S. media.
Abstract of Proposal
Lifelong civic engagement for social change includes feminist approaches to media literacy that encourage critical analysis of corporate media practices that perpetuate gender inequities and injustices. The #MeToo campaign affords a poignant case study for assessing how media literacy activism can unify and mobilize the NetGeneration to challenge antiquated attitudes and behaviors that keep women marginalized in media sectors, public life, and business careers. Along with the slew of celebrity revelations of sexual harassment brought on by the Harvey Weinstein exposé, women -- and some men -- have used hashtag campaigns to share personal stories of sexual harassment and assault. Drawing from what the sexual harassment scandals of U.S. Media Celebrities Donald Trump, Bill O’Reilly and Harvey Weinstein, and data provided by the 2017 Report of The Status of Women in the U.S. Media, I will analyze the correlation between male domination of corporate media and the continued systematic marginalization and oppression of women within and outside U.S. media enterprises. The goal is to connect media literacy education with feminist scholarship and pedagogy as a catalyst for lifelong civic engagement and social justice activism.
Start Date
2-24-2018 8:10 AM
End Date
2-24-2018 9:40 AM
Recommended Citation
Frechette, Julie, "Breaking the barriers of sexual harassment in corporate media: How feminist media literacy and social media campaigns expose and confront social inequalities and injustice." (2018). International Critical Media Literacy Conference. 29.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/criticalmedialiteracy/2018/2018/29
Breaking the barriers of sexual harassment in corporate media: How feminist media literacy and social media campaigns expose and confront social inequalities and injustice.
Lifelong civic engagement for social change includes feminist approaches to media literacy that encourage critical analysis of corporate media practices that perpetuate gender inequities and injustices. The #MeToo campaign affords a poignant case study for assessing how media literacy activism can unify and mobilize the NetGeneration to challenge antiquated attitudes and behaviors that keep women marginalized in media sectors, public life, and business careers. Along with the slew of celebrity revelations of sexual harassment brought on by the Harvey Weinstein exposé, women -- and some men -- have used hashtag campaigns to share personal stories of sexual harassment and assault. Drawing from what the sexual harassment scandals of U.S. Media Celebrities Donald Trump, Bill O’Reilly and Harvey Weinstein, and data provided by the 2017 Report of The Status of Women in the U.S. Media, I will analyze the correlation between male domination of corporate media and the continued systematic marginalization and oppression of women within and outside U.S. media enterprises. The goal is to connect media literacy education with feminist scholarship and pedagogy as a catalyst for lifelong civic engagement and social justice activism.
