MissRepresentation

I first became aware of the documentary MissRepresentation a long while ago, but finally had the opportunity to watch it earlier this month. I must say, it was one of the best documentaries I have ever seen, and I think it is a message that everyone, male or female, could benefit from, as we are all consumers of the media.

In today's society, American teenagers spend nearly 11 hours a day consuming media, via television, the internet, books, magazines, looking at advertisements, and more. Clearly, if we are spending such a large percentage of our time looking at media, some of what we see is going to shape the way we think or live. MissRepresentation breaks down society's notions that women can only draw power from their youth, beauty, and sexuality. The film featured many surprising, yet important statistics and testimonies that really resonated with me.

One prime example of the way we view women and their sexuality comes from Disney princesses. Growing up, I know that I loved myself some Disney princesses, and I remembered even dressing up as a princess for a few years during elementary school for Halloween. (Don't even get me started on Halloween costumes for women and girls... that will probably be it's own post later on). As a girl, I think these "princesses" do shape how we grow to understand concept of beauty on the societal level. And yet, when watching MissRepresentation, I was horrified when they revisited images of several popular characters.

What the heck! Despite such a young target age group, these characters are wearing so little clothing. Once grown up, I think that everyone should be able to wear whatever makes them happy, and if that is more revealing clothing, that is okay if it is their choice. What is not okay to me is if individuals do that because they think they have to, or because they think it's expected of them if they want to get anywhere in society or if they think they have to, to get a man, which is exactly what many of the Disney princesses went after. 

Another prime example of how the media views women is with the number of male protagonists compared with the number of female protagonists in film and television. Typically, female protagonists only exist in romantic comedies, while the men seem to dominated action, drama, and comedies, often with a younger, beautiful woman as their sexy sidekick, who is often many years younger and tries to seduce the older man. Here is just one example that is very popular today with the new Skyfall movie.

An interesting statistic presented by the film was that while the United States is perceived as having gender equality, women actually only hold about 16.9% of the seats or offices in government, which ranks 91st in the world. How is it okay for the United States, a nation that prides itself on our supposed equality and competitiveness in the global arena, to rank 91st in terms of women in government? I just don't understand, especially when the government affects us in so many ways.

Jennifer Siebel Newsom, who wrote and directed the film, created it because she was scared about the world that her young daughter was going to grow up in. I wonder what the world will be like for my future daughters, as I can see the self-esteem and body image struggles of so many of those around me right now. Coming from my own body image struggles in the past, I truly want to do anything I can to make sure everyone, but women in particular, feel empowered about who they are and what they can do, regardless of their age, body, or sexuality.  As far as I see it, the only limitations are how society trains us to look at our faults rather than seeing the beautiful, capable and remarkable individuals we are.

One of the film's themes is "you can't be what you can't see", and I think this can reach
Moving forward, we should challenge ourselves to be the sorts of leaders who we don't yet see in today's society. Regardless of gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, language, age, class, religion, or any other factor, there are others counting on us that we might not even know. Our world is continuously expanding in unprecedented ways, and we have to power to control what we put out there and what we buy into. Therefore, this is a huge opportunity to be the example of what we to see and stand up for what matters to us.

If you have not watched the film, I strongly suggest that you check it out, as it is most definitely worth your ninety minutes. In the meantime, check out the MissRepresentation youtube channel here or watch  Jennifer Siebel Newsom's TED talk.

I truly believe that we can have a huge impact even if we just shift our thinking a little bit in how we view some of these gender norms, power relationships, and ideas of beauty. Rather than criticize each other, why don't we work together to try to empower one another, and to make people believe that everyone has the power and ability to be a strong leaders and create meaningful change.

Thank you for your time!