Miss Representation

       Over winter break I watched Miss Representation. I've always known we have a lot of unrealistic standards for women and girls but when they showed us the statistics of mental health, women in media, and body standards, it was shocking. I hadn't realized how affected girls are by the media, and how much of the media is dominated by men. Women can't feel empowered if they are not properly given a voice in media. In movies and on TV shows, men objectify women a lot, and it just shows boys at an early age that it's ok for them to do it too. When women are the main character in movies, a lot of the times, the entire plot is them looking for love. An example of this are Disney movies, many early Disney movies have a female character, and the entire movie is about her finding love and being saved. This shows girls at an early age that their purpose in life is to find a spouse and tells young boys that they are the prize. What I also found interesting was how our beauty standard and what we think of as the ideal women, is an image drawn up by men because they make up most of the entertainment industry. And this image of the "ideal women" isn't even realistic. They take an image of a woman, and alter it, making her waist thinner and eyes larger and making girls feel like they have to achieve this unrealistic image. 
       What I also liked about this documentary was them pointing out the issue of having standards for men and boys too. We've created these expectations of men not being able to have feelings or show their emotions. I think in the documentary they used the term "emotional constipation." We've created a society where we tell men and boys that crying is weakness, and they cannot show weakness. If people kept all of their emotions on the inside, this can turn extremely unhealthy.