Miss Representation

Gender roles surround us wherever we go. They are seen in products from when you are a baby all the way through adulthood and are trying to look “sexy.” And as teens we are stuck right in the middle of having people do everything for us and having to do everything for ourselves. Teen girls are misled to think that they have to uphold a certain body image to look pretty.

          In the documentary “Missrepresentation”, they talk about how the media has pretty much depreciated the role of women in society. A lot of movies and television shows today do not have high powered female characters. And in the documentary the really point out the fact that most women in the media are used for a sexual appeal to audiences. And I think they did a good job making their point. I think that girls do try to conform and make their bodies look like celebrities and models. And media definitely provokes those thoughts.

          What I don’t like about this film is that they don’t show many girls that look up to celebrities that don’t portray that body image. There are tons of movie and television stars that try to send the opposite message out, telling us that healthy is beautiful; not skinny. I know they didn’t put it in because it would have refuted their claim, but I just think that they made this issue seem like every girl that watches movies and wants to be skinny is going to end up unhealthy and controlled by men.

          “You can’t be what you can’t see.” –Edelman

          The above quote gives me mixed feelings. Sure, I agree that if you don’t see something or aren’t told about something then you aren’t going to know that it even exists. In this film it was used in the context of not seeing many high powered women (congress, doctors, etc.) in the media. And that is where I start to disagree with this statement. There are a lot of women in the media that make a difference in thousands of people’s lives. Also, seeing is not believing. In our grandparent’s time, who would have ever thought that we would have an African-American president? Probably no one. So you can’t say that just because there are a lot of women seen as sex objects in the media, that all girls will succumb to that lifestyle.

Body image is probably one of the most talked about things for women. And although, media doesn’t help anyone feel better about themselves, we just have to remember that we are great the way we are. Most of the images we see are computer enhanced and it’s not healthy to be the way they want us to be. So just live your life how you want to and don’t worry about what other people think about you.

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