My group watched a movie called Miss Representation about how women are portrayed in the media. This movie talked about how celebrities and other women are treated by the media and everyone else. Somethings I learned from this movie is that because of the media and the internet, media violence makes violent behavior more prominent. I also learned that sexually explicit video games and music videos is linked to men’s stereotype and acceptance of rape myths and sexual harassment. The things we watch in play in our daily lives play a big part in how women are portrayed as sex objects, as well as how they’re treated by those around them. While I was watching this movie, I was astounded by how much stuff there is on the internet that actually supports the stereotype of women needing to be sexy that is available at our fingertips. I was also disgusted by how the media supported this, consciously as well; before going on the web, it has to be approved by someone, and who is this person? Probably not a female because I’m sure that they wouldn’t want to be sexualized or support the sexualization of women. I think that this helped my group realize just how big the problem is. We girls are going to grow up with this stereotype of the “ideal woman” and will constantly be sexualized, no matter where we go, and that tons of people are being affected by this stereotype. This fieldwork helped guide us towards what we wanted to focus on; the sexualization of women and how this “ideal woman” affects them in the workplace. I think that we might also want to research the glass ceiling metaphor, where there is a certain level where women can get up to, and after that, men run the entire show. I think that interviewing and trying to get in contact with the director of the movie would be interesting to see where they got the idea and inspiration for the movie from. I think for the teach-in, we would include some of these facts because I think they would just help raise awareness about the topic and just how much it affects all of us girls and women.
