Caryn Franklin & Keon West: How to Recognize and Undermine Sexism, Racism, and Other Corrosive Media Biases

Hosted by Andrew Keen, Keen On features conversations with some of the world’s leading thinkers and writers about the economic, political, and technological issues being discussed in the news, right now.

In this episode, Andrew is joined by Caryn Franklin and Keon West, authors of Skewed: How Bias Distorts Our View of Other People and How to Make It Stop.

Caryn Franklin and Professor Keon West are two friends, connecting across a number of divides to share their different perspectives and explore the topic of bias in an open and insightful way.

Caryn Franklin MBE, MSc (Psyche) MBPsS is a former fashion editor and prime-time BBC TV Clothes Show presenter. Former co-editor of i-D Magazine, Caryn is a multi-platform broadcaster, fashion and identity commentator and activist. Across four decades of practice Caryn has explored the politics of image and self-esteem through commercial, educational and activist positions. 

Caryn sat on steering groups for two successive Government Ministers of Equality: Lynne Featherstone and Jo Swinson. Consulting with the Advertising Standards Authority, Caryn has helped overturn the objectification of women in advertising.

Professor Keon West is an Associate Professor of Social Psychology at Goldsmiths, University of London and an expert on identity, prejudice, and representation. He has published over 60 empirical papers which have been cited over 1700 times in the wider scientific literature.  

Keon has received numerous international awards for his research, teaching, media engagement, and social activism. He has also appeared several times in print, on radio and on television (including BBC Radio 4, BBC World Service, Channel 4, and the Discovery Channel) discussing his research and area of expertise. Keon grew up in Jamaica and came to the UK as a Rhodes Scholar in 2006 to do a doctorate in Social Psychology at Oxford University.