I think my group succeeded in creating a solid information base. In the personal stake section of our deliberation, we shared our personal and emotional experiences with the issue. We discussed with the participants how gender bias and stereotypes in entertainment media have affected us, whether it be through magazines or film. Many participants shared that they had felt the effects of gender bias and stereotypes as users of social media and as viewers and students of film. They commented on how frustrating it can be to see female characters be reduced to just a tool to a male character’s development. Comparatively, in the other deliberations where I acted as a participant instead of a moderator, we also shared our personal experiences with issues like mental health and censorship in the media.

I would say we also succeeded in prioritizing the key values at stake for all sides of the deliberation. We made sure to explain the different points of view that we had found and encouraged different opinions to be shared during the deliberation. While we did this, I do wish we could have heard more from the male participants about their experiences with gender bias. We tried to include questions catered to the guys and even directly called on them as a whole to share how gender bias and stereotypes have affected them, but few of them did. We were acutely aware that our topic was often catered to women and we wanted to make sure that it was acknowledged that it has effects on men as well, but I’m sure there was more we could have done to encourage those responses. In the other deliberations, I don’t remember there being any sides that went mostly unheard, so this was different about ours.

We identified a wide range of solutions to the problem and then narrowed those down to just three to discuss. We made sure to root the solutions in different morals so they could have variation and appeal to different people. Each solution has to do with a different side of media and/or a different way of approaching the bias in the media. While encouraging self-love works on the actual people being affected, including diverse representations of gender works on what the people being affected are affected by, as does the third approach.

We also took turns in conversation with who was speaking. Not only did we make sure each moderator had their own designated time to speak and lay out their information, but we also made sure that each participant who wanted to had time to speak their mind. We did this by addressing what people wrote in the chat and by letting people un-mute themselves and talk aloud. The other groups also did this and I found it very helpful. With the deliberation on mental health, for example, the participants had so much to say and the moderators made sure that everyone got to share within the time they had.

My own preferred solution would be to include decrease the gap between male and female producers, directors, etc. Having more women behind the scenes of film and TV is something that I think would greatly impact the bias and stereotypes that kids are growing up with today. Personally, a lot of the pressure to be perfect and to act a certain way has come from TV shows and movies that I watched as a kid. I also recognize that this solution cannot fix every issue we have with gender stereotypes. There are plenty of other forms of media, like magazines and social media platforms, that play into the impossibly high standards and low self-esteem that many people deal with. I think that encouraging self-love and including more diverse representations of gender in the media are two solutions that would also greatly aid these issues that people are forced to deal with. I can definitely see how these solutions might be preferred and even more easily achievable in a shorter period of time. To make the best decision possible, although I’m not sure if this decision is “allowed”, I would choose to go through with all three solutions. I think each one could play a crucial part in diminishing the biases in our society and if it is possible to utilize all of them, then I would.