MTV introduces ‘look different’ gender-bias initiative
Broadcaster MTV has marked Women’s Equality Day with the launch of a new gender-bias initiative commemorating the emancipation of women through the granting of a right to vote.
Look Different first launched in 2014 to highlight race, gender and homophobic bias and will now be expanded to foster an open and constructive debate amongst Millenials by targeting issues such as street harassment and slut-shaming, to rape culture, workplace inequality, masculinity, feminism, gender norms.
This includes a study of 1,000 people aged 14 to 24 which found that only 24 per cent of respondents knew where to seek advice when experiencing gender bias whilst 54 per cent wished “they knew how to tackle gender bias in today’s society.”
Ronnie Cho, head of MTV Public Affairs said: “The majority of Millennials are aware of gender bias throughout society. But many do not recognize how pervasive and insidious it truly is and need support in identifying ways to tackle it. In its first year, ‘Look Different’ has leveraged every MTV platform from the VMAs to our ‘White People’ documentary to confront racial bias, and we’re now widening our aperture and applying our creative firepower to fight gender bias, as well.”
As part of this work MTV will run an implicit bias quiz designed to bring unconscious biases of participants to light as well as a ‘gender bias cleanse’ which offers a range of daily exercises designed to help people unlearn their biases.