Educazione mediale e stereotipi di genere

This paper examines the role of the Internet in the deconstructing of gender stereotyping from Italian television. The symbolic use of the body on TV invests both masculine and feminine, in a logic of "cooperative conflict" which refers to a virtual dimension, the more pervasive as it is able to transform the viewer into an actor of the performance. Gender stereotypes legitimates constructed and disseminated body models, affecting everyday life and relationships of young viewers. In the face of this situation, the use of the Internet as an active space of participatory culture may promote a new information aimed at the diffusion of consciousness of one’s own rights, thereby producing new knowledge and supporting the exercise of active citizenship. An example is represented by the Beiersdorf Ad campaign starring several members of the Milan soccer team; following accusations of sexism by the Facebook group called «Initiative against sexist, misogynistic or homophobic advertising », the spot was withdrawn from TV program. However the problem is not only to add knowledge, but to act in an educational perspective, acknowledging the symbolic by which gender stereotypes are reproduced. Starting from students subjectivity, it is possible to re-define relations and experiences concerning the different aspects of teaching and learning, helping citizenship practice. We argue for a pedagogical project in which medial education can take over the function of educating new sensitivities, consciousness and skills of active citizenship, that today must be considered as crucial to face to the challenges of the global economical and political crisis.