You're too fat. Too thin. Too young. Too old. Too plain. Too sexy. That's what women and girls hear and see in the media.
That is, until you put the camera and the microphone in the hands of the girls themselves. That's what TVbyGirls is doing to counter the barrage of negative, confining, and confusing images of girls in the media.
Barbara Weiner, a Twin Cities-based, award-winning maker of documentaries and experimental films, founded TVbyGirls in 2004. The goal of the program is to empower girls by giving them a role behind the camera, giving them both the technical skills and confidence they need to express their own creative visions.
A dozen “core girls” make up the editorial staff and create the videos. The girls are mostly in their mid-teens and share a passion for expression through video and television. While the projects put together by the core girls are the central focus of TVbyGirls, the adult staff offers workshops to students, parents, and teachers on media literacy, moving-image storytelling, and creating a video. Workshops are offered both in-person and through Internet conferencing.
Past video projects by the girls include “What's with the Hijab?” - a look at the head-scarf Muslim women wear, and “This is ME!” - a video poem in which the girls meditate on how complex it is to be both a girl and an individual. Some of the videos have been screened at the Walker Art Center, the Minnesota Institute of Arts, and the Minnesota Center for Photography.
For more information and to watch the videos online, go to TVbyGirls.tv.
