Miss Representation

Everyone Should View This Film
While this movie will definitely “preach to the choir” as most likely only enlightened women (and a few enlightened males) will actually make the effort to see it, I do think it absolutely crucial that there be a concerted effort to have this film distributed and viewed everywhere young people may be, including children as young as eight: Schools, colleges, community centers, community education presentations, etc… I would love to see PBS run it/promote it.The only way to stop the current backlash to the significant progress that females have made over the past 50 years or so is to show the present group of young people that they are being heavily enculturated (and I don’t think brainwashed is too strong a word for it) into believing that females in our society are to be valued only for their youth, beauty, sexuality, and service to males. For their part, males must take responsibility for their behaviour, stop doing it, and then speak out any time they see it occurring. Females must stop denigrating their own sex by allowing themselves to be presented in a highly-sexualized manner, and stop playing into this whole idea that being “popular” with, and desired by men is the number one goal in a girl’s/woman’s life.Most importantly, we should be teaching that ALL people should be respected for their intellect, capabilities, passion for the things they do, in addition to their attractiveness, for that is a healthy view of an individual; reducing ANY individual to nothing but a sexual object, or a collection of holes, is NOT healthy, and indeed, is very deleterious to our society.Jennifer Seibel Newsom, her support staff, and her husband Gavin, are totally awesome for making this much-needed film.

Wake up call for parents of pre-teens and teens.
My 12-year-old’s school shows this film in 9th grade. After listening to a presentation by one of the girls who watched the film, I decided to show it to my 6th grader. Be warned – there are a couple of scenes that might be too mature for the average pre-teen. However, I previewed it and decided to go ahead and show it to my daughter. (Skipped over one part that I found to be inappropriate for her level of knowledge).We watched it together, and talked about it after. A very enlightening conversation. The one comment she made that really struck home with me was that she said she was really glad I hadn’t waited to show it to her. She said by the time she was in 8th or 9th grade, it might have been too late and she may already “think of herself in that way.” She said some girls in her grade were already getting the message that they had to be “sexy” and worried about the way they looked.She then decided she wouldn’t eat at Carl’s Jr. anymore because she doesn’t like their advertising. Just as we worry about what we eat and drink to promote a healthy lifestyle, we need to be concerned about what we put in our brains.No illusions that we are going to change the world, but the movie did give her (and I) a different lens to look at it through.

In America, does our media represent our true values?
Just saw the movie, “Miss Representation”. Documentary about media portrayal of women (and men), how that has changed over time (not for the better), why, what the negative results of such stereotypical misrepresentations are, and what can be done about it.Anyone who is a woman in the US, loves a female (daughter, sister, mother, wife, girlfriend, friend), or is a man that’s aware of how damaging these biases / stereotypes can be to our minds (and our country) … should see and support this film. Actually quite entertaining and enlightening. I highly recommend it.In my opinion, while we as Americans love to preach to other countries about the importance of educating girls, treating them humanely, and how much more strong their economies will be as a result… we don’t seem to be looking in the mirror much at what American media says about our true values. I doubt that most people I know believe that TV, movies, commercials, magazines and/or newspapers reflect our values. Do you?While we as adults get to choose what we watch from what is available… do young girls and boys have the same wisdom? Can any parent truly control what teenagers and preteen kids see when they’re not at home? How is the media (intent on profit at any costs) shaping our next generation and their values?

This was first show to my women’s studies class in 2012 and I loved it! It goes deep into how women are critqued on their ability by the clothes they wear, the emotions they express, their culture, etc….. Definitely an eye opener and I think ALL people should see this!

a good overview of gender roles / stereotypes and why we need to question these