Documentary exposes skewed representation of women and girls in media
Mark your calendars and don’t miss the new documentary Miss Representation which will air on October 20 at 9 p.m. ET, on Oprah’s OWN channel. This documentary has been garnering great reviews and generating necessary discussion. The film looks at the messages the mass media perpetuate that women and girls’ value comes from beauty and sexuality and examines how those messages impact the way in which women are viewed in society, by themselves and others. Consider this: sixty-five percent of women and girls have eating disorders.
Miss Representation goes beyond the groundbreaking work in the Killing Us Softly films and discusses how media affects women as leaders. Consider this: Women makeup only 17 percent of Congress despite representing 51 percent of the population. Eighty-four percent of guests on Sunday morning political tv talk shows and 85 percent of radio producers are men. Eighty percent of the op-ed pages are dominated by men. The number of women in senior management positions globally has gone from 24 percent in 2004 to 20 percent in 2009.
According to the makers of the film, American teenagers spend 31 hours per week watching TV, 17 hours listening to music, 3 hours watching movies, four hours reading magazines and ten hours online equaling almost 11 hours of media consumption a day. That’s why it matters when:
- Scooby Doo’s Daphne gets a dangerous makeover.
- Fashion houses photoshop already too skinny models.
- Political ads depict female candidates as pole dancers.
- Female characters on television are sexualized.
- Men’s sports get prime time tv spots and front page coverage while women’s spots are virtually ignored.
- A major news weekly runs a questionable photo.
Watch the trailer for the film here and visit the Miss Representation website for more information and additional screening times.
Kim,
Oct. 19 is Love Your Body Day.
–Yes. I remember that photo quite well. What a disgrace. What a fallacy.
Thanks Hello Ladies for all your work to bring awareness to women’s issues such as “”"”distorted Body Image. “”"