You can't be what you can't see.

01.02.12

Culture

Sexy or Sexist? Ask Miss Representation, the documentary challenging the media's depiction of women. 

The documentary Miss Representation, a biting cultural critique of the media which premiered at Sundance last year, may have the answer. Director Jennifer Siebel Newsom firmly believes that the continuing gender imbalance in public life lies in the fact that the media perpetuates a bias against women-as-workers, instead favouring reductive stereotypes which serve to perpetuate the status quo. “The way we teach our girls and boys to devalue women- is exactly why women make up only 18 percent of America’s top leaders in business, the military, religion, media, culture, and entertainment,” she says. “We’ve culturally accepted that a man’s work is more valuable than a woman’s.”

She continues: “[It has] worsened over time with the 24-7 news cycle and the advent of infotainment and reality television. Today’s media is sending a very dangerous message…in particular that women’s value and power lie in their youth, beauty, and sexuality and not in their capacity as leaders.” It is this argument that her documentary Miss Representation puts forward. It takes a different format from Il Corpo Delle Donne, the 2009 documentary directed by Lorella Zonardo which made a similar point and could be regarded as a precursor. In Newsom’s film, she juxtaposes interviews with American teenagers and powerful women such as Condoleeza Rice and Gloria Steinheim,  with statistics underlining women's position in society. It's a technique that succeeds in being moving and powerful without being mawkish. You'll see a teenage girl dicussing her worries about her weight followed by footage of a news correspondent saying that a woman's PMS may undermine her political abilities, exposing the cold hard reality of the prejudice that ambitious women face in their quest for respect and recognition.

Miss Representation highlights how the media, particularly its visual aspects, now dominates our everyday lives and, as a persuasive force, has an unprecedented scope for power and influence. The images we see and react to have the potential to shape cultural norms and behaviour in ways that are unparalleled and, as yet, under-investigated (the impact of pornography on sexual behaviour, for example, is yet to be fully understood.) Yet one thing is certain: the poor treatment of women is an enduring problem that has yet to be fully tackled. “I was horrified by the thought of raising a daughter in a culture with demeans, degrades and disrespects women on a regular basis,” says Newsom of her motivation for the project. “One of the most shocking things I learned while making Miss Representation is that 15% of rape survivors are under the age of 12. Now if that isn’t despicable and horrifying, I am not sure what is.”

Newsom confesses that the making of the film was often a difficult and harrowing process, to the extent that she would sometimes walk out of the room when her husband was watching TV, the adverts and reality shows making her cringe with discomfort. “I was dealing with ugly energy every day in our research and, being a sensitive person, it was at times too much for me” she admits. She was also “exhausted and overwhelmed” after the birth of her first child, a daughter, after which she did not take maternity leave.

Despite her difficulties, Newsom has succeeded in producing is a call to arms for women everywhere. Miss Representation urges us to take control of our image and begin questioning the mainstream media. Newsom hopes to shock her audience into an alternative perspective; it has been a viral hit, with over one million people having seen the trailer and many becoming involved in the campaign through social media. “I want our audience to be educated, inspired, motivated and entertained” she says, “I want them to feel compelled to talk about it…I want them to feel empowered…Then I want viewers to think more critically about the subtleties of sexism that we’ve come to accept in our culture. And, ultimately, I want our audience to leave motivated to join our social action campaign to affect change for women and girls.”

As Newsom points out, women account for 86% of America’s purchasing power, making the potential for change enormous. It is hoped that the documentary and its sister online campaign will prompt women to stop consuming ‘bad media’ which demeans and degrades women and encourage others to do the same. The launch of the #NotBuyingIt campaign on twitter has been a great success and misrepresentation.org will continue to work with groups and individuals to help eradicate gender stereotypes, as well as developing an educational curriculum for use in High Schools in order to target the age group most prone to media influence. “The situation will not improve until we recognise the problem and begin to make change”, says Newsom.

And it seems a change may come. From the size zero debate to the anti-pink campaign, the Harley street ‘Muff Marchers” and the SlutWalk organisers, the way that women have been represented in the media and, by extension, society is something that is garnering more and more attention from commentators and protestors alike. While not a modern phenomenon (the women’s movement has always concerned itself with the ‘male gaze’, and the symbolisation and objectification of women through various mediums), it could certainly be argued that the proliferation of new technology is prompting a new cross-generational backlash that is heavily reliant on social media: twitter, facebook, and tumblr particularly.  As Newsnight’s Paul Mason explained in ‘Why it’s kicking off everywhere”, such technologies have the potential to change the world through collaboration and collective action: “I hope [the film] stands as a testament to what a small group of committed individuals can accomplish together, says Newsom. “A testament to the power of women."

Newest Miss Representation Trailer (2011 Sundance Film Festival Official Selection) from Miss Representation on Vimeo