Jennifer L. Pozner made the statement, “You have to look like Miss USA, have sex like Samantha from Sex in the City and think like June Cleaver.” The ideals that women are supposed to look a certain way, act a certain way in the bedroom, and think another way in all other aspects of life is ridiculous. Women are intelligent human beings capable of independent thoughts. The media portrays women and girls in a negative, hyper-sexualized way and it causes unrealistic views of what real women are. Such media has been known to cause eating disorders, depression, and self-esteem issues pertaining to their bodies. Government regulations suggest that women’s reproductive can be controlled and therefore the women no longer have choices in regards to their own bodies. It is immoral to dictate what a woman’s rights are to her own body and that the world presents an unrealistic view of the perfect woman.
In reality, women are highly intelligent human beings and should not be put out of any situation just because they are female. It seems as though the smarter a woman is the more she is shunned by society. Powerful women are not always liked. In regards to this documentary, it seems as though women are expected to be seen and not heard, blending into the background and looking pretty. I was born to stand out and I pride myself on my intelligence. Maintaining a 3.84 GPA doesn’t happen overnight, neither does being invited and inducted in Phi Theta Kappa International Honor Society. Alice Walker said, “The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any.” The first step is to maintain power and make it known that women can do the job as well as a man. I am not discounting the fact the men do well but simply that women can as well. There are many incredibly intelligent women who are the Chief Executive Officers of major corporations such as Hewlett Packard and IBM. (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/07/fortune-500-female-ceos_n_1495734.html)
Notably girls in today’s society are growing up way too fast. It seems as though girls are given an unrealistic view from a very early age that they are supposed to look a certain way based on what they see on some of their favorite television shows or in movies. I know that many people have daughters and they fear that they will end up a statistic of society. 78% of girls hate their bodies by the age of 15 and 65% of them have eating disorders. (http://community.feministing.com/2011/02/14/miss-representation-a-film-review/ Many women and girls suffer from varying forms of depression as a result of Body Dysmorphic Disorder. BDD is a type of somatoform disorder, a mental illness in which a person has symptoms of a medical illness, but the symptoms cannot be fully explained by an actual physician. (http://www.webmd.com/mental-health/mental-health-body-dysmorphic-disorder) People with BDD are preoccupied with an imagined physical defect or minor defect that others cannot see. One of the most common areas of concern is body weight. The media portrays the perfect woman as tall, thin, and blessed in the breast area, so basically like Barbie. However, in most cases unless a woman is in the gym constantly or was blessed with a high metabolism that is not the case. Women and girls come in all different shapes and size, each one unique as God intended.
Women are most commonly stereotyped as good for one thing: reproduction. Without women in the world, the population would be very small or cease to exist. What right does the government have to regulate women’s reproductive rights? Birth control was not available for sale until May 11, 1960 and was sold by Searle. The fact that women have been having children for centuries with no means of birth control is stifling. Many states made the sale of birth control illegal because the Catholic Church opposed it, their only option was abstinence. (www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/pill/timeline/timeline2.html) Many insurance companies will cover male enhancement drugs such as Viagra and Cialis but will not cover birth control. That fact doesn’t set well with me that men can get aid to help enhance their lives and women cannot control their choice to give birth other than abstaining from the act of sex.
Generally speaking watching the documentary, Miss Representation was not an enjoyable experience since having seen it once before. It bothers me that women and girls are over-sexualized and exploited in the media and it portrays an unrealistic view to the young women and girls in today’s society of what real women look like. For women to have 86% of the purchasing power, why do advertising outlets seems to play more toward the stimulus of men? Today’s society and even in years past should be less judgmental of outward appearances and look inward to what really matters. Women should be seen for their brains and not just their bodies.
Works Cited
American Experience
Timeline: The Pill 1951-1990
Body Dysmorphic Disorder
Fortune 500 List Boasts More Female CEOs Than Ever Before
Posted: 05/07/2012 12:34 pm by Bianca Bosker
Miss Representation – A Film Review
COCO, February 14, 2011, original posting on PersephoneMagazine.com
I agree I was in shock when I heard that Viagra was covered by insurance and not birth control. That was indeed ludicrous! Great essay :)
ReplyDeleteI couldn't agree with you more, you researched many valid points. I really enjoyed reading , awesome job at voicing your opinion.
ReplyDeleteI agree that Viagra being covered by insurance is absolutely obsurd. I like the research you did and information you provided.Good job
ReplyDelete