Webinar: Boyhood & Masculinity in Media & Online Gaming

Although much of the existing research on gender representation in media has focused on girls and women — and for good reason — there is a lack of awareness around portrayals of masculinity in television and gaming. Depictions of boys’ development and the fathers who raise them – particularly depictions of violence and “deadbeat” dads – impact social norms around boys’ emotional expression, normalize the use of violence, and misrepresent what it means to be a father.

This webinar brings a gender lens to issues of boys and media by focusing on the changes in recent years both in front of and behind the camera, and what the industry can do to portray more holistic representations of boys, men, and all their diversity. We discuss what more inclusive storytelling can look like, and how parents and educators can maintain open dialogue with boys at home about the media they consume.