Miss Representation Page #3

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You know, I became very anorexic

trying to somehow keep this job

that I really wanted to keep,

and they ended up canceling

the television show,

and they replaced it with Drew Carey

'cause he's so thin.

An aspect

of media-literacy education

that I think

many people aren't aware of

is the whole political economy

of the media.

Most media get their revenues

from advertising, you know'?

So the non-advertising content

of these media

has to support the advertising.

Everybody needs to learn

what the media's really about.

It's really, like, about

how they want you to be

something that you're not.

A lot of advertising is based on

making people feel anxious

and feeling insecure.

For men, there's a lot of

anxiety around status and power

and wanting to look as if

you have power...

at least drive a powerful car.

For women, that you're never

beautiful enough,

Durham:

Which is why 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 futile pursuit

of this idealized body.

It's a hugely profitable pursuit

for these media industries

and for all of the advertisers.

American women end up spending

much more money on beauty

and the pursuit of these ideals

and these myths

than on their own education

which, in fact, would benefit

them more in the long run.

And so, under this rhetoric

of empowerment,

it's completely disempovvering women.

Kilbourne:
Not only are girls

seen as objects by other people,

they learn to see themselves

as objects.

Heidman:
The American

Psychological Association

has found in recent years

that self-objectification

has become a national epidemic,

a national problem.

The more women and girls

self-objectify,

the more likely they are

to be depressed,

to have eating disorders.

They have lower confidence.

They have lower ambition.

They have lower

cognitive functioning.

They have lower GPAs.

How does this connect

to women in leadership?

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.

So if we have a whole generation

of young people

being raised where

woman's objectification

is just par for the course,

it's normal, it's okay,

we have a whole generation of women

who are less likely to run for office

and less likely to vote.

Siebel Newsom:

This is dangerous business.

If the media

is sending girls the message

that their value lies

in their bodies,

this can only leave them

feeling disempovvered

and distract them

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