Jennifer Siebel Newsom’s 2011 documentary Miss Representation is the wake-up call we didn’t even know we needed. This film exposes how the mainstream media in the U.S. treats women and how that treatment has ultimately caused society to undermine the power, capability, and worth of women. Miss Representation proved its gravity by receiving many awards and nominations including its Official Selection for the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. Even almost a decade later, its message rings true.
Miss Representation is stocked full of statistics, facts, and professional opinions on the problematic representation of women in media and politics but here are the seven hard-hitting facts that we (men and women alike) should take away from the documentary:
1. Advertisements tell us what to desire.
Most people do not take into account the political economy of media. Advertising is a huge and inevitable part of most media industries, which means we are constantly being exposed to ads. The advertisements that you see while watching TV, watching YouTube videos, listening to the radio, or scrolling through Facebook all tell you what you should be yearning to have. In Miss Representation, M. Gigi Durham, PhD and Associate Professor of Journalism at the University of Iowa, states, “…you keep seeing these same body types over and over and over again because those are the body types that generate the purchase of all these beauty products in this sort of futile pursuit of this idealized body.” Durham goes on to explain that media industries and advertisers make immense profits off of these products and how women are spending more money purchasing them (in the hopes of achieving the ‘idealized body’) than they do on their education. This is a prime example of how the media tells women that their appearance is worth more than their mind.
2. Self-objectification is a national epidemic for women.
It is no secret that media platforms objectify women but it might be a little bit of surprise that women are objectifying themselves as a result. Being exposed to constant objectification, women have come to believe and take part in (although perhaps unconsciously) this objectification that causes them to de-value themselves. “Women who are high self-objectifiers have lower political efficacy. Political efficacy is the idea that your voice matters in politics and that you can bring about change in politics,” Caroline Heldman, PhD and Associate Professor of Political Science says in Miss Representation, “We have a whole generation of women who are less likely to run for office and less likely to vote.” The documentary then points out that women make up 51% of the population yet only 17% of the members of Congress are women. (In the seven years since the documentary, the percentage of women in Congress has only risen to 22%.)
3. “You can’t be what you can’t see.” -Marian Wright Edelman
I have seen this quote circulating around the Twitter-verse recently and Miss Representation ties it into the lack of representation of women in the media, “Having this opportunity to see women, to see women in leadership in reality, and on the screen, and in the television, is huge for women, huge,” says Marie Wilson the Founding President of the White House Project. What we should take away from this quote is that the more that the media portrays women in leadership roles, the more likely the public is to accept and support female leaders.
4. Mainstream movies are male-centric.
When you think about your favorite movie, who is that movie about? Is it about a young man who grows up to kickass and take names? Is it about a businessman who learns the ropes of a big-wig corporation? Is it about a woman who falls in love with a man? Is it about a woman who is successful leader until she meets the love of her life? Miss Representation states that when it comes right down to it, only 16% of protagonists are female. It follows that 84% of movies have a male protagonist and that sub-genre of “chick-flicks” which seems to be about women, is usually about women needing a relationship with a man.
5. Hollywood tells us that women in leadership roles can either be the successful, “bitchy” boss or the loving mother.
Let’s take that 16% of female protagonists—of that percentage there are few movies which show a woman in a leadership role. Here’s the catch, when women play the role of the boss, they are most commonly portrayed as “bitchy” and heartless. Miss Representation shows The Proposal and The Devil Wears Prada as models of this tiring stereotype.
6. The patriarchal belief that women are only valuable as child bearers is reflected in the age demographic of women in the media.
Throughout history, women’s worth has been measured by their ability to create and take care of a family. Unfortunately, being able to bear children is a time-constrained quality, which society loves to remind us women. The media is no different as 71% of the female population on television is made up of women in their ideal child-bearing years (teens, 20s, and 30s), when in reality, this age-group makes up only 39% of the female population. Martha Lauzen, PhD from the Center for the Study of Women in TV and Film at San Diego State University sums this up saying, “It’s like when a female reaches 39 or 40, she simply needs to go away.”
7. Female broadcast journalists are objectified and criticized based on their appearance (often by their male-counterparts, who do not face the same scrutiny) which reinforces the idea that a woman’s worth is based on her appearance and not on what she has to say.
Katie Couric is well-known for her professional and confident broadcasting, but throughout her career as a journalist she has faced public criticism for her appearance. Carol Jenkins the Founding President of the Women’s Media Center recounts the beginning of Couric’s career, she explains how reporters would call her about Couric and discuss their thoughts with her, “Inevitably the questions they would ask first were, ‘what about those legs, do you think she was showing too much leg?’ or ‘what about that winter white, wasn’t that a big mistake?’ They were all observations that had to do with her physicality and not really about the content at all.”
Some people may say that men face scrutiny in the media as well, and this is true, but it is unclear if the degree to which male journalists face physical scrutiny is the same as the degree that female journalists face. In fact, according to The Huffington Post, a male journalist in Australia wore the same suit every day for a year and no one even noticed.
By constantly criticizing the way that female journalists dress, style their hair, and do their makeup, society is reinforcing the idea that a woman’s value is in the way she looks which ultimately undermines the credibility of her thoughts and experiences.
The first time I watched this documentary on Netflix, I was upset. As a young female studying journalism, these problems were more relevant and immediate to me than ever. I spent some time sitting on the information, not knowing what to do with it. I decided that the best thing I could do was share what I learned, so that more men and women could be aware of the unfair and disappointing representation of women in U.S. mainstream media.
If you want to learn more, watch the full documentary on Netflix or on YouTube for $1.99.