After watching the “Miss
Representation” (2011) documentary film, it is sad to say that it is
unfortunately accurate with the perception of women through the media and the
eyes of males. The documentary starts out with some very disturbing facts about
the struggles of teenagers who are females. The film cites 78% of 17 year old
girls are unsatisfied with their bodies. As I sat there and watched the movie,
that statistic was something that kept replaying in my mind as the film
continued to show images of supermodels, actresses, and other pop culture
icons. Why? Frankly, at 17 the last thing I was worried about was whether or
not I was appealing to girls because I was focused on other things such as
sports, school, etc. Sure, I dressed nice and tried to look presentable so I
could be around girls and feel comfortable, but the idea of not eating this or
that because I didn’t want to gain a pound or two, or change my hairstyle
because that is what was on the cover of a magazine never crossed my mind. But
as I continued to watch this movie, and listened to the struggles of these
middle aged women, I began to realize that this is always an upward struggle
for these women to feel as if they are good enough. Like we talked about
earlier in class this year, for a lot of men, the satisfaction comes from being
able to show off in front of their male friends, or through competition with
other males, but for women its all about satisfying the male population. 65% of
women have some type of eating disorder. Think about that for a second. How
many males struggle from eating disorders? I am willing to bet that it is not a
number that is comparable to that of women. So my question is, do all women
feel as if they “owe” it to males, perhaps boyfriends, husbands, etc, to be
that “perfect women.?”
I think the answer of that question
lies within the movie. The movie brings up pictures and clips of these stunning
actresses and supermodels which is almost acts as the ground work for males to
base all other females off of. Unfortunately not everyone is a supermodel. But
I think males have this ideal imagination that our wives or girlfriends can
evolve into the runway models by maybe changing their hair or losing a few
pounds, when really that is not fair. This is where media comes in to blame.
Again, the film does a great job of portraying how the media views women. We
see in the film how virtually every cover girl in any magazine is often
digitally altered in one way or another. Males do not understand that what we
are drooling about is not exactly a “real” image, yet we try to compare the
rest of the female population to these beautiful, flawless human beings. I am
not sure, but I do not think that women try to compare men to the Leonardo
Dicaprio’s of the world, or maybe they do? But my answer to my own question
would be no they do not because as I said before, we do not hear these sad
stories of men who put themselves in danger to look acceptable for women.
The way our society has been
constructed is also an answer to the problems that women face daily. Yes, a
beautiful women can take her looks a long way, but what about the women who are
not supermodels or actresses? Unfortunately in our soceity the male population
holds the power, and that is something that does not seem likely to change in
the near future. Women have been almost portrayed always as inferior to men;
never earning the same salary or offered the same position of power. Why is
this? Perhaps it is because these men are often the ones who are hiring for
these jobs and are not willing to give women a chance to overtake the throne
and gain power. The society that we live in sets the ground rules for how women
are viewed in the eyes of men, and unfortunately it is always in favor of the
men.
“Miss
Representation” was a real eye opening experience for me in terms of really
understanding the constant battle that women feel to fit in. Males struggle to
be the best and reach the top, while women are constantly struggling for these
males accpetance. Something does not add up.
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