Blog Post 6- Miss Representation

Miss Representation was an incredibly powerful film. It completely blew my mind to see some of the statistics about American women, like more than 20% of American girls are having sex before they are 14 years of age. Seeing iconic women like Katie Couric and Rachel Maddow stand unwavering against misogynistic and sexist controversy and still be publicly loved is a sign to me that our society still has hope. I am now more aware of the language used in the media to describe women versus men, usually displaying an underlying male-favor/bias; this is especially evident in political information and “news” stories that focus more on gender-specific stereotypes than it does on content. Our millennial (and younger) generations are growing up in a country that publicly participates in the dehumanization of women, and “weak” men who expose emotions, and these young people are having to decide to (or not to) participate in this social norm. A great question the movie asked us was, “How do we expect our sons to speak to women with respect in our culture if a large portion of our societies adults and media outlets do not?” This brought to my attention the increasing amount of time developing children and young people spend freely on the internet, watching television, playing games, and receiving influential information through these socially bias portals. With only 16% of movie protagonists being women, a growing majority of news casters being sexually exploited, attractive women, and information being worded through the lens of a male-dominated society, our country is creating an environment of submission and glass-ceiling-like opportunities (or the lack of opportunities) that is unfair and regressive for women as a whole. My maternal instinct kicked in when Jennifer Newsom provided her new daughter as her motivation to make a change; I also worry about someday raising children in this society that is prioritizing egocentrism with technology causing increasingly easy access to anything and a culture that is socially accepting prejudice-based lifestyles. This is definitely a film that I posted about on social media, sent to family and friends, and anecdotally use in my life presently to support a world-wide change; I hope that this issue continues to be pursued and catches enough attention (over the same portals used to create the problem) to make steps toward a more fair and hopeful society for coming generations.