The media portrays the “perfect woman” idea and because of this, women and girls strive for this look. This “perfect woman” idea can never be obtained and the media changes every photo to make the people in the advertisement skinner or “more beautiful”. People look at magazines and are shown supermodels and women who the media deem look like the “perfect woman”. While people look at these women, they judge real women to look like the ones they see on the magazines.Women look at the advertisement and are meant to become anxious. They become anxious to look just like the women they see and they spend money, just as the advertisers want.
Women aren’t the protagonist in films unless it’s a movie about getting a guy, getting married, or getting pregnant. Only 29 percent of women are the protagonist in the movies in 2016. Women are used in the film industry as a sex object or a body prop. Even when a woman is in the superhero role and is the action role, she is still used as a sex object.
Women’s superhero outfits are form fitting or revealing, while men’s outfits have their body covered and have amour. They are protected and safe while the women are sexy instead. How is it that women are 50 percent of the US population but only 32 percent of the speaking roles in movies? In movies that show women in power, they are usually cast as the bitchy boss who had to give up on any dreams of a family or love to make it where she is. In these movies, her subordinate usually brings her down a peg, which is usually a man.
Women in the media are shown as people in their 20’s and 30’s, but once they get to their 40’s or older, they disappear. 39 percent of the US is made up of females that are in the age range of 20 to 30, but the percentage of these young women portrayed on TV is an astonishing 79. However, women who are in their 40’s and older make up only 26 percent of the women portrayed on TV. Women in reality shows are the worst female stereotypes. These shows make it seem like women exist to be decorative, stupid, catty, manipulative, vindictive, and not to be trusted especially by other women.
When a woman Politician is interviewed, the first couple questions are usually never about her position or her views, but how she will balance her family and the position. Jennifer Siebel Newsom, an actress, said “the more power a woman gains, the stronger the backlash against them.” In 2008, when Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton were against each other in the presidential campaign, a reporter Marc Rudov told everyone that, “When Barack Obama speaks, men hear, ‘Take off for the future.’ And when Hillary Clinton speaks, men hear, ‘Take out the garbage.” During this campaign, Clinton was called horrible names because she wanted to be respected.
Women continue to fight for the power that they deserve. In the many major TV companies most only have 1 to 4 women on their boards out of 13 to 17 people. Only 3 percent of clout positions in telecommunications, entertainments, publishing and advertising are women. Only 16 percent of all writers, directors, producers, cinematographers, and editors are women. Women are told that the companies want a man to direct or write a movie or TV show because they can “do it better” even when it comes to movies like “Easy A” or the “Mean Girls” which are female narratives. Because of this image the media puts out, 95% of those who have eating disorders are between the ages of 12 and 25.
Women and girls need to continue to fight and earn their places as the ones with the power and focus on what is inside instead of what they look like or what others think of them. If they can’t see a role model who has done what they want to do, then they should become the role model for the future generations. Become what you want and make the US a better place for women and girls to live in.