MISSREPRENSTATION - Log 8, 1/19/19
MISSREPRENSTATION - Log 8, 1/19/19
MissRepresentation is a documentary on the objectification and sexualization of women and girls and how it was harmful to young girls. It covers in marketing and popular media as well as politics and news media. To me, the video was powerful and truthful. I was surprised especially by some of the topics they brought up, especially because of the time it was released, such as people of color flattening their hair to "fit in" and the gender wage gap.
Firstly, my tab button and punctuation keys aren't working and they are being all janky so this will be interesting
Secondly, I love the "pun" off of the name. Because they are focusing on woman they made it "Misrepresentation" instead of "Misrepresentation". And it's a "miss" of representation. Like it doesn't represent women correctly..... I just wanted to say that. Back to our regularly scheduled program.
Thirdly really surprised when they brought up people of color, especially African Americans, straighten their naturally curly hair. This perpetuates the misrepresentation of POC women with not straight hair. It's like, you need straight hair to be beautiful. Well, on of the Media Analysis Projects was Victoria's Secret. Sam H., I believe, brought up the following ad campaign.
Literally every single women in this ad is about the same height, have very similar body structure, thin, and their are only white and mixed between white and black girls. No dark-skinned people such as Africans or Southern Asian. There aren't even northern Asians (because you know, northern Asians are superior *eye roll*) (also funny thing, Northern Asians are typically lighter skinned. Not coincidental at all). All of their hairs are straight or somewhat wavy, and they are all shoulder length or longer. So, we see they are perpetuating the fact that the perfect body is what people have been saying for years. Especially when Misrepresentation was filmed and put into the world. The only difference is the outrage.
Also, they talked about the gender wage gap which I thought was interesting. It's so weird that that's a thing. That people of certain genders are paid less because they aren't men. There has definitely been analysis, skepticism, and outrage about the gender wage gap. And yes, people still think it's fake.
But I wanted to talk about something else.
Ok. So here's the thing. Yes, we shouldn't be sexualizing girls in the media and telling them that their best asset is their body. Women and people of all genders are intelligent, powerful, and important t society. But I think it should be up to a women to decide whether she wants to be submissive to other people or any person for that matter. For example, recently a friend of mine (18+) was telling me she saw a feminist on a post about woman being sexually submissive to men and basically saying that the post goes against feminism and women are just submitting to the toxic patriarchy. In addition, I've seen posts about girls being okay with being frilly and girly yet feminists are saying the same thing. But the here's the scoop: isn't feminism to allow girls and everyone else to choose to do and be and wear what they want? If a girl wants to be submissive, be a housewife, only wear dresses, follow "conventional" rules , isn't that her decision? Shouldn't we be celebrating women who decide what's best for themselves and makes them happy. If someone is happy with conventional styles and aren't forcing their beliefs on someone and just going about their business, why can't they be that way? There's nothing wrong with that.
Which reminds me of Hailee Steinfeld's song "Most Girls". The song starts of with her and a boy. They look
like they like each other until he says, "You're not like most girls." She obviously seems
MissRepresentation is a documentary on the objectification and sexualization of women and girls and how it was harmful to young girls. It covers in marketing and popular media as well as politics and news media. To me, the video was powerful and truthful. I was surprised especially by some of the topics they brought up, especially because of the time it was released, such as people of color flattening their hair to "fit in" and the gender wage gap.
Firstly, my tab button and punctuation keys aren't working and they are being all janky so this will be interesting
Secondly, I love the "pun" off of the name. Because they are focusing on woman they made it "Misrepresentation" instead of "Misrepresentation". And it's a "miss" of representation. Like it doesn't represent women correctly..... I just wanted to say that. Back to our regularly scheduled program.
Thirdly really surprised when they brought up people of color, especially African Americans, straighten their naturally curly hair. This perpetuates the misrepresentation of POC women with not straight hair. It's like, you need straight hair to be beautiful. Well, on of the Media Analysis Projects was Victoria's Secret. Sam H., I believe, brought up the following ad campaign.
Literally every single women in this ad is about the same height, have very similar body structure, thin, and their are only white and mixed between white and black girls. No dark-skinned people such as Africans or Southern Asian. There aren't even northern Asians (because you know, northern Asians are superior *eye roll*) (also funny thing, Northern Asians are typically lighter skinned. Not coincidental at all). All of their hairs are straight or somewhat wavy, and they are all shoulder length or longer. So, we see they are perpetuating the fact that the perfect body is what people have been saying for years. Especially when Misrepresentation was filmed and put into the world. The only difference is the outrage.
Also, they talked about the gender wage gap which I thought was interesting. It's so weird that that's a thing. That people of certain genders are paid less because they aren't men. There has definitely been analysis, skepticism, and outrage about the gender wage gap. And yes, people still think it's fake.
But I wanted to talk about something else.
Ok. So here's the thing. Yes, we shouldn't be sexualizing girls in the media and telling them that their best asset is their body. Women and people of all genders are intelligent, powerful, and important t society. But I think it should be up to a women to decide whether she wants to be submissive to other people or any person for that matter. For example, recently a friend of mine (18+) was telling me she saw a feminist on a post about woman being sexually submissive to men and basically saying that the post goes against feminism and women are just submitting to the toxic patriarchy. In addition, I've seen posts about girls being okay with being frilly and girly yet feminists are saying the same thing. But the here's the scoop: isn't feminism to allow girls and everyone else to choose to do and be and wear what they want? If a girl wants to be submissive, be a housewife, only wear dresses, follow "conventional" rules , isn't that her decision? Shouldn't we be celebrating women who decide what's best for themselves and makes them happy. If someone is happy with conventional styles and aren't forcing their beliefs on someone and just going about their business, why can't they be that way? There's nothing wrong with that.
Which reminds me of Hailee Steinfeld's song "Most Girls". The song starts of with her and a boy. They look
like they like each other until he says, "You're not like most girls." She obviously seems
disinterested after he says that and says she has to go. The video continues to play with the song saying, "Some girls, feel best in their tiny dresses. Some girls, nothin' but sweatpants, looking like a princess, some girls, kiss new lips every single night, they're staying' out late 'cause they just celebrating life." The chorus continues to, "Most girls, are smart and strong and beautiful. Most girls, are work hard, go far, we are unstoppable." I feel like both are incredibly true. People feel comfortable in different things. But it should be our decision to chose. Whatever our decision is, that doesn't mean they aren't smart, strong, and beautiful.
So yes, it's bad that girl's are oversexualized. It's terrible. Girl's aren't just a body. Nobody is just a body. However, people should be able to do what they want with themselves. Be conventional or not, they should be able to make their own choices (being moral that is) and be celebrate themselves.
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