MEDIA'S REPRESENTATION OF WOMEN
Yesterday I watched « miss
representation » which is a documentary. It touches a really
important issue, how women, girls are represented in the media and
our culture. It is everywhere and yet some will pretend that it does
not affect women, in their choices, achievements and self esteem.
For me this documentary was striking.
It opened my eyes to the fact that even without realising we are all
touched by this preconceived image of women which is surrounding us
in the streets with adverts, in the series, movies, the video clips
we watch. I think it is overwhelming.
« In a society where media is the most
persuasive force shaping cultural norms, the collective message we
receive is that a woman’s value and power lie in her youth, beauty,
and sexuality, and not in her capacity as a leader. We must value
people as whole human beings, not gendered stereotypes » - See more
at: the representation project.
Here is a trailer of the documentary.
Caution! It might shock you.
As I said, this documentary is about
how women are represented in mainstream media and so there are
snapshots of provocative images media broadcasts.
*Insert the "Thank you" gif*
ReplyDeleteThe work is going to be gorgeous before getting close to a gender equality.
As said in the report, media are the very first responsible to this situation. They are putting in children minds clichés and stereotypes to tell them how they have to behave in society. And as soon as whores (there is no other word to describe them) like Niki Minajh, Lady Gaga or Myley Cyrus are going even more in the scandalism and become famous, the problem won't be solved.
There many things to work on, and changing medias is the very first.
I have a lot to say but since I'm too lazy (:3) I will just finish with this:
Video games are NOT as problematic as they are trying to show, and it's way easier to make your kids play good video games for their age than making them watching what you want on TV. And even if there are some exceptions like the Dead or Alive series (no comment about this one, the sexual references completly ruined the game and made it a real harem (this is too bad, the first game's mechanics were so good...)), Video Games are definitly trying hard to improve woman's image. Not convinced? Here are some example of some strong female characters: Lighting (FF13), Fiora (Xenobalde), Zelda (The Legend of Zelda), Xion and Aqua (Kingdom Hearts)... this is only a verysmall portion of the list.
Well again, thanks for the article, and it only belongs to us to change the future. And I thought about a little something that might be interesting: Make-up is generally given to girls with the excuse of "it will make you prettier, blablabla...", so girls, why not doing a no-make-up? To be what you trully are and not hidden behind clichés that society made up for you? ;)
As happy as I am that boys an men care about women's representation in the media, I can't let your comment go without answering some points. Sorry.
DeleteFirst, I don't think the women you mentioned should be called whores ; what they do is accept their sexuality and I think that's awesome. Sure, they could tone it down. But, if they are sexual, LET THEM BE. Sex is a part of people ; as long as they're not imposing you anything, and imposing anything to other people, it should be completely fine.
About video games, I recommend you watch Anita Sarkeesian's youtube channel (feminist frequency). True, there are video games that are not problematic. And yes, they are most often evolving in the good way. But some of them just don't. I don't really know where I'm going with this part of the comment, I'm probably trying to say that video games really depend.
And finally, about make-up. I personally don't wear any, but I think that make-up is a good thing. It's like clothes : you wear it how you want, for yourself. The same way, I wear dresses. Not because society tells me I'm a girl and should dress "nicely", but because I love having a dress on. Make-up is the same, if you like it, if you like putting it on, then wear it ! Don't be scared of people calling you a slut, because if you're doing something for yourself, you are strong and I believe in you and support you.
I'll follow the schematic:
DeleteThey can do everything they want, what I'm worried is that there audience is composed of young girls. And honestly, I don't think they are a good example for young girls and men. Of course they aren't imposing it (even though we have an exception with Myley Cyrus and her "nude concert project"... I really hope it's a joke), they are suggesting it. Of course if mind-grown girls watch it, it's not a problem, they know what is bad and good; but what makes it problematic is that younger girls can take example on them.
I checked Anita's channel... Well, I don't agree completly. Of course video games are trying to make it evolve in a good way, even if they are some exceptions nowadays (the Dead or Alive franchise, or the character Quiet in the last Metal Gear Solid). But what disturb me is that she's also talking about sexism in video games like Pac-Man or the first Metroid episodes... Come on, seriously? These games are just out of the 80's, of course they were more sexists than today. And for example, it can even go better, I'll take an example: Lara Croft, the main character of the Tomb Raider series we, at the begining a sex-symbol in video games; and I totally agree that she was over-sexualised. But things evolved since this time, and she is know strong, independant and quite an example of fearless and proud woman.
About make-up. I'm the first one to say "accept yourself as you are". this is why I consider make up as a bad thing. But then , if make-up is ok for girls, then it should be consider as normal for men to wear make up too. Can't we have a fake beauty too?
Why should sexuality be taboo to young girls ? As for her "nude concert project", I don't think it should be condemned : as long as everyone who is going has been told what it is, and isn't going to accompany a friend, but because they're OK with seeing a woman accepting her body so much that she is OK with a crowd seeing it, I think it's beautiful. Of course, there are a lot of "if"s, and I'm idealizing. But I really wish people could accept and respect themselves and others enough to see naked bodies without automatically sexualising them (of course, this sexuality still needs to be able to exist, but naked should not always mean sex).
ReplyDeleteHer channel has evolved as well, one of the last videos I saw was her talking about how evolved a game is (I think it was the last Tomb Raider, but I'm not sure). So yes, I know, videogames are really evolving, and that's great.
I totally think that if boys want make-up (which, by the way, is not really fake beauty, but another kind of beauty. If someone likes how they look without make-up and still wear it for some reason, that's totally fine, they're just deciding to show a different beauty to the world), or nail polish, or dresses, skirts, and heels, they should be allowed to have them, without having to undergo a stigma. After all, we aren't all that different, we're all humans, and everything that does not harm others should be considered normal. Who cares if a girl is dressed in clothes found in the "men" section of a shop and a boy is wearing lipstick and eye shadow ? Is it really that big of a deal not to follow gender stereotypes ?
I'm not saying that sexuality is bad for young girls, I'm just saying that they can interprete this kind of show in a bad way. And this is the main problem. Also, to talk about Niki Minaj... I'm sorry, but she doesn't promote the acceptation of her body like Miley Cyrus could do as you said, she is just being provacative to get more popularity. And this is the point: if we talk about young boys: what image are they getting from this? to be popular, a gril has to be provocative, over sexualized (and have an elephant sized butt)? And I think (even though it can seems a bit exagerated, saying that Niki Minaj is doing things well, it's saying the same things to the Kardashians: just a group of rich, arrogant and over sexualized girls/guys.
ReplyDeleteAlso, we talked about video games being provocative, but actually TV and movies shows an image even worst. But it would be way too long to explain.
(Before beginning to talk about make-up: aside of lips stick, I don't have a clue about what thing is what in make-up). I totally agree that anyone should be prisonned in any kind of stereotypes. Everyone should be allowed to wear anything without being judged (honestly, I wear a kilt at home in summer (so more or less a skirt), and it feels god damn good). It's surelly personal, but I don't think make-up is a real thing to help you to feel more confident, it's just hidding yourself behind a mask of over expansive creams and stuff.
But just to do like a symbolic day, I've seen it in some schools in the USA, I think we should do a "cross dressing day". In fact the thing started because a guy in the US has been fired (for 2 days) from his school because he wore a skirt. The next week, all the boy of the school came, wearing a skirt. It was just awesome, and it can be an interesting idea ;)
When I get lost on tumblr, it seems like Niki Minaj is more inspiring that Miley Cyrus... Niki Minaj seems to say more body acceptance things, so I think they both have good and bad sides, that are difficult to see sometimes.
DeleteOf course TV and movies are worse. There is no arguing on that point.
I am confident about myself without make-up, but there are occasions on which I do wear some, not to feel confident but because I just find it fun to wear it sometimes (like... three or four days a year ?).I think it would be amazing if everyone saw make-up not as something to boost confidence, but as something like clothes : we wear the ones we want, according to our mood and taste.
A cross dressing day would be great, problem is : I already wear man shirts and jeans on normal days, and I don't want to force it by following some stupid stereotypes, like people can do at some parties (btw I have nothing against those parties since everyone has agreed that it is more or less to make fun of said stereotypes). But that's just me, and the idea is absolutely great. Maybe we can put some more thought into it ?
Your article is so interesting and true... And like we were talking the other day with Juliette, when she asked me '' What is it to be a woman this days? '' you guys answered the question easily but that question made me think a lot and I couldn't describe what it was to be a woman this days, because being a woman/girl this days is not easy as we saw it in the documentary, Medias, magazines,advertisements try to show us the '' perfect woman '' and sometimes like you said '' without realising we are all touched by this preconceived image of women ''.. i'm pretty sure more than 70% of women/girls struggle with that every day, trying to look like the '' perfect woman '' or have the '' perfect body '' because nowadays the physical aspect is more important than the person him/herself.. And it's sad how people only base their judgement on the physical aspect and not trying to know the real person behind the '' preconceived image '' we've made of them.. For example Kellian said Nicki Minaj, Lady Gaga or Miley Cyrus are '' whores '' based on their outfits, how they show up in public it's true that the way they dress is not too convenient for every one but if they like it, and not because they are dressed like that don't mean that they are '' whores '' I've heard people who said Lady Gaga or Nicki Minaj changed their lives with their stories, because all this people are humans too and their stories can change other people lives...
ReplyDeleteThat's why, even though I don't really like their music etc, I support and defend them. Because they are sending amazing messages.
DeleteStill not convinced about the messages sent... If we follow this direction, we can more or less thanks Kenny West by his "I will be the president of the USA" to give hope to generations of people... I think there is a limit that we should'nt reach.
DeleteThere is a difference between sending messages that are body positive and wanting to be president when you don't have qualifications
DeleteI saw the documentary too and it really made me think about the place of women nowadays in the world! I really loved this documentary it was very interesting :)
ReplyDeleteAlso, another thing that we haven't talk about is "How these clichés also touch men?". I won't say that we are pure little creature, but still, there are some point where sexism affect us too. Now, I'm going to talk about something quite serious: rape. Rape is horrible, we all agree to this. But what we haven't think about yet is: girls and women are raped by men, sure, but how about boys and men getting raped by women? Because yes, it does exist, and the person who writes this comment really knows the subject. And this is where sexism afect us too: when things like rape happens to men, thing that people generally think it happens to women, the consequences for us are way worst. We are pointed as weak people. And this is why I'm feminist:
ReplyDeleteWe have to change our way of thinking, we have to do it to free girls and boys' minds. We have to break clichés.
Of course sexism affects both men and women. I'm not oblivious to men being raped by women, and it's horrible how they are not taken seriously.
DeleteAnd feminism is exactly this. Changing thoughts to free not boys, not girls, but people.
And this is where it's beautiful. But we should make a diffrence between feminism (which is good) and femi-nazi. What I called femi-nazi are the girls that want the actual situation to be opposite: girls on top, and boys crushed down. And to me this is probably the dumbest thing ever. We both fight for equality, not domination.
DeleteFeminism is good, and I agree that some women are stupidly wanting the situation to become the opposite, but I don't think the term feminazi is appropriate, because come on, they are not murdering thousands of people.
DeleteIt's the image to show that they are going too far
DeleteI know, but it still bothers me. Not towards the so-called "feminazis", but towards the people who suffered in the Holocaust.
DeleteInteresting article (even though I already had a preview from Loredana herself!)! I will surely watch it the following weekend, because this is just the perfect mix of what interest me the most: feminism & medias!
ReplyDeleteI read Kellian & Judith's comments (yes all your comments OMG!) and it was great to hear both of your opinions. I agree with you Judith about the acceptance of sexuality/body/personnality, but I also agree with you Kellian about the image/message send to (young) people!
Sorry Kellian but a lot of video games send insane messages to people too, for example: GTA which has as purpose to take drugs, kill innocent(or not) people, steal cars/weapons/etc, "seeing" prostitutes...! So according to me they are really problematic!!!
Anyway I just can't comment everything you said, but it really was an interesting debate!
And this is why. There's a thing called PEGI classification, and if you look well, GTA, Call of Duty, etc... are classified as PEGI 18, which means people souldn't watch nor play these games before they are 18 years old. And by this agge, they want to show that these games are made for grown up, people who can understand that video games aren't real life. I willd o a subject on this, there are lots to say
DeleteAn interesting, but quite old, book about this would be "Backlash: the Undeclared War on Women" by Susan Faludi, and Rosanna Arquette's film "Searching For Debra Winger" asks why Hollywood gives so few interesting roles to women over the age of 40.
ReplyDeleteEveryone should watch this video! Everyone (including men) should understand how we are manipulated by the media.
ReplyDelete