by GRACE BOWE
Ever loved what you were reading in the weekend papers so much, you had to read it out loud to your partner? Yep, that’s me to a tee. I’m now taking my inbuilt need to share to a whole new level. Last month I saw a brilliant and life changing film. I want to share this film so much I have organised a public screening of it. So what’s the film? It’s called Miss Representation and premiered at last year’s Sundance Film Festival. The film explores the way in which the misrepresentation of women in media has led to the underrepresentation of women in positions of power and influence.
This film totally opened my eyes to just how influential media is in how women perceive themselves. Yes, I ‘knew’ this already. Sure, I had debated for my high school arguing and winning cases built around why ‘TV is a negative influence” and “beauty vs brains” but in presenting cases for both the opposition and affirmative sides I don’t think I’d ever had the mirror held up to my own life and realised as a female what a losing side I was on. What a blow media’s misrepresentation of females was delivering to my sense of self belief.
A few powerful take aways for me were:
– “You can’t be what you can’t see” which reinforces the importance of having women in positions of power as role models for future generations
– Gender stereotypes have become so normalised, I’ve become desensitised to them. It starts from such a young age too. As little girls we can choose between ‘a witch’ or a ‘princess’ . This film helps you see that the limited and polarised choices stay with us to adulthood.
Top Comments
Grace - contrary to Anon and Jolie's views, I think it is wonderful to see someone working in the health and fitness industry get behind this cause. You are obviously passionate about the empowerment of women and your sense of social justice should be celebrated, not questioned. Great work Grace!
I was with you till I read your bio. Not a great fit with the subject matter!
Me too, I was so shocked I had to read the bio a couple of times.
Hi Anon and Jolie,
Please don't let the fact I work in the health and fitness industry put you off seeing the film.
Encouraging people to reach their fitness goals shouldn't disqualify me from being just as disillusioned as the rest of us by how one dimensional the portrayal of women in the media is, and the consequences of this.