Missrepresentation of Women in Media: Sexual Objectification, Justification of Men’s Happiness and Sexism

The misrepresentation of women in media has had a big impact on today’s urban societies. Women deal consistently with the insecurities of being below men; from not feeling good enough to being told they are not good enough causes a lot of damage. In media, women get represented as sexual objects. Many publishers and producers make women feel as though all women should feel and look similar, for example being skinny, tall, and having perfect facial features. Many focus on the money-oriented points of view of a woman, rather than who a woman truly is and what she is capable of. Through the video Miss Representation, it is shown through sexual objectification, the use of public perspectives, and justification of men’s happiness, the media uses sexist biases toward women to make them assume they are less than a man.

The video Miss Representation opens many viewers' eyes to the contradictory views of not valuing those with gender indifferences. Throughout the video, they begin on talking about and showing videos of women being sexually objectified by men in movies, music videos, fashion shows, and tv shows. One of the gentlemen in the video is Jim Steyer, who is a lawyer and professor of civil rights at Stanford University. Jim relates these acts as to how it will affect those who watch these videos. For example, he relates it to the idea of children watching these videos and how these children are being raised only to see how women are being treated on television. This asks the question of, what will make them not do this in the future to women? As in the past, there are many cases in which the woman gets sexually objectified by the man, for example, more recently Harvey Weinstein, who sexually objectified women more than once. Further on in the video, they continue to talk about how the media is not representing women as intellectuals, but rather, only for their looks. They also talk about how women in government would have a big part in have changed everyone’s view on a global scale. When they talk about change, they talk about how women can show mentorship to other women. They finished the video off with Katie Couric, who is an anchor for CBC News, she said, “the media can be an instrument of change”. This is an inspirational quote that can change the eyes of viewers all around the world. The video “Miss Representation” can influence the world and produce information that many do not know.

Through the video, it is shown that men have more power than women in the publishing industry. Women are shown to be sexualized in many movies. In certain films such as Star Wars; the Return of the Jedi, The Avengers, many Disney movies, Space Jam, and so many more this seems to be shown. These movies prove the use of women's sexualization to promote the selling of box office tickets towards a more general male audience. Even though magazines, the news, tv shows, and video games, women are shown as sexual objects that men use to make a profit. From the years 2002 to 2014, only 4% of women have been able to direct a movie. In 2014 only 21% of the lead roles in movies were women, and only 30% had speaking roles. These statistics could show that women do not get the part in the movie unless they can be sexualized. There is an idea that women cannot be a big part of Hollywood so, the access to female role movies is low. Even if there are many movies that introduce a big female role, they will not get the same recognition as a movie with all male-dominated cast and crew. Women are sexualized all over the internet. As shown in the video even on social media platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and Snapchat women get sexually objectified. This is an ongoing issue in today’s society. With the growing population, children only see that women are being shown as sexual objects and will continue on with that trend throughout their lives. This could lead to physical abuse, mental abuse, sexual abuse, domestic abuse, and violence overall in the home or in the workplace. There are many causes for the sexual objectification of women being carried throughout today’s society.

Through public eyes, women can be represented in the wrong ways. Alongside social media and films, there is the public’s opinion. Through the eyes of the public women get judged on the clothes they wear, the way they act, and the way they portray themselves in society. For example, in the workplace the public eye is huge. From big corporations to small businesses, women can be hired because of the way they look or cannot be hired because they are a woman. In 2017, some workplace statistics show that 18% of women say that men are more prevalent in the workplace. An article from the Pew Research Center says, “women in majority-male workplaces are less likely to see the fair treatment of women or adequate attention to gender diversity”. Even though women get treated unfairly throughout time, women's luck has changed. For most celebrities, they get watched all the time, for example, a celebrity who will not let the public represent her in the wrong way is Billie Eilish. Billie wears baggy clothing in order to hide herself from the media, she does not want the world to judge her for her body because they do not know. Many find this as an inspiration and praise her for this. Through prying eyes in the media, out in public, and within close-knit groups, many are affected by the way women alongside many other things can be represented in an indecent way, affecting many individuals.

Women also have to deal with the historical evidence that what they have to do is make sure a man is happy. Over the years we have experienced attaining women’s rights, women being able to get jobs, women in parliament, women in sports, and so many more. But, still, deal with the roadblock of attaining the same pay as men in the workplace. Also, professional athletes being able to get the votes for a woman to be voted into parliament. For example, in the video, it talks about how a woman being elected into parliament is too slim. In places like Europe, 32% of women are part of the leadership. Whereas in Canada 90% of elected roles are men, and in the United States even less women are part of the government. These are statistics that show that even though women have these rights they do not get the same opportunities that men do. As mentioned in the video, they say they ask kids when they are in kindergarten what they want to be when they grow up, and many say a doctor, president, and astronaut, but when they ask when they are in high school the rates of kids that say that is lower because they do not get what they deserve in today’s society. As today’s society continues to grow women are being able to get their rights and become a part of higher power roles. They are able to be represented in a strong powerful view and continue to be role models for young girls growing up in the future.

Through the video Miss Representation, you can see many disappointing viewpoints. Women throughout history have been treated poorly. However, through recent years in some areas, this has changed. Through the video they mention that “girls get the message very early on that what’s most important is how they look, that their value their worth depends on that”. This can be described as the idea that women are being immortalized by their looks, they are being sexually objectified on social media, through prying public eyes they are being portrayed, and that their own goal in their lives is to provide happiness for men. Through the works of these opinions’ women are being “miss represented”.