MissRepresentation - The Conditioning of Society
Stupid, catty, goldigger, manipulative, bitchy, vindictive, not -to-be trusted, irrational, emotional. These were the words used to describe women while watching the eyeopening film Missrepresentation. These words are how women are portrayed in modern society. The information revealed to me in this astounding documentary will forever change the way I view myself, media, and other women. Missrepresentation confessed that women are scrutinized to be the perfect, “Samantha from Sex and the City in the bedroom, look like Megan Fox, and think like June Cleaver (Leave it to Beaver)”. Our society is not only priming women to be seen as sex objects, but priming boys to believe that’s what women are there for - priming them to scrutinize women as the ultimate sex object. We don’t even question it, we think this is normal. No wonder rates of depression have doubled from 2000 to 2010. No wonder women spend more on beauty products, and the search for the idyllic beauty than on their education; which would no doubt benefit them further in the long run. When the average American consumes around ten hours of media a day, this impossible standard for women created by men, is impossible to ignore.
US advertisers spent $235.6 billion in 2009 - 80% of the countries in the world have a GDP less than that. Not only are we spending that much money on advertising for capitalism, we’re doing it through the promotion of sex. Advertisers target teens, which is a completely irrational standard because teens are more vulnerable, and have less emotional capabilities to deal with the targeting of media. “This leads to lower cognitive functions, lower GPA’s, and lower political efficacy.”. We’re conditioning the women in our country to not dream of anything less than a perfect body, and the man who’s going to come and save them. “2010 is the first year women haven’t made progress in Congress since 1979.”. Are we trying to stupefy America’s...