Check out this trailer — the film is called “Miss Representation”, and looks to be very promising.
Hat tip to Fabulously Frugirl for the link, go and read what she has to say!
WOMEN ARE JUDGED ON A HARSHER BASIS
It is true that women in media and in general are being judged harder for not taking care of themselves, looking haggard, etc… but men are not under the same level of scrutiny.
No one has ever really said: Wow that Bill over there has really been getting fat and letting himself go lately. What a hot mess! How will he ever hang on to his wife looking like that?
Guys have to go to some major extremes to elicit such comments, whereas if a woman just forgets to touch up on her hair dye, suddenly she’s an ‘aging hag’ who will lose her husband to a hotter, younger woman.
I love this old ad!
Let me state that I think there is absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to look pretty (heck, everyone wants to look attractive, even men!).
I myself don’t dress up, wear skirts and put on makeup only to look pretty — I actually find it fun and enjoyable to spend time looking nice.
(Men take care of themselves too so that they look great because they are JUST AS VAIN AS WOMEN, it’s only that they just are under less pressure and scrutiny to do so.
See: Jersey Shore, Adolescent Boys and their Axe deodorant and hair gel and metrosexuals)
The real difference is my goal is never to look overtly sexy, like some extra off an MTV video, which is why you’ll never catch me in a bikini top and a miniskirt, strolling down the street in some UGGs in the middle of summer.
The least amount of clothing you’ll ever catch me wearing on any given day, is a full tank top and a skirt above the knees.
These outfits above? You’ll never catch me dead in these outfits where they’ve forgotten their bottoms.
BEING A FEMINIST
When people hear the term “feminist”, they think of these hippy, granola-crunching women who want other women to stop wearing makeup, stop shaving their legs and wearing dowdy clothing so that people are forced to look at their personality and brains instead of their looks. These stereotypical feminists are supposed to guilt trip other women who enjoy wearing a little lipstick and dressing up in skirts.
I don’t think this is the answer at all, because I consider myself a feminist.
Feminists are women who want other women to succeed to the best of their abilities and to be their own selves. Period.
I want other women to earn more money (or at least, as much money as men in the same positions), negotiate for their money, succeed in life, be financially independent, and to understand how important it all is.
The answer is to be a person who sets an example and tells young girls and women in your life how important it is to be intelligent, hardworking and have a great personality above spending all of their time trying to look ‘sexy’ or ‘hot’; that it is not wrong to want to look pretty, but they should be smart as well.
It is important for women of all ages to be role models and to show girls that they can be smart AND still enjoy being fashionable, not that they have to choose one or the other.
This makes me think that it is even more important for women to be financially independent so that money will never be the driving factor in trying to focus only on looks.
A woman should never have to be dependent on anyone else. They should CHOOSE to be interdependent in a true and equal partnership.
I feel like men (in general) understand this much better than women, and are well-groomed to fight for more money, rise in their careers and prove themselves in other ways to get women.
Once guys have money, they know they can be the most unattractive, undesirable man on the block, but they’ll get unlimited women, one hotter than the other only after them for their money.
In contrast, women have a stereotype of choosing their looks and their body to get to that money indirectly, and are not typically encouraged to succeed in their own careers to obtain the same amount of $$$$$.
In conclusion, the change starts with us, and I can’t wait for this film to come out so I can hear what other women have to say about this.
Just a girl trying to find a balance between being a Shopaholic and a Saver.
I cleared $60,000 in 18 months earning $65,000 gross/year.
Now I am self-employed, and you can read more about 
Well, financial dependence IS different than depending on someone else for your sense of self-worth.
BUT even prepping for financial independence as a Plan B doesn’t necessarily work. As you point out, the world is an uncertain place. I am moderately educated with a B.S. in Psych and M.S. in Criminal Justice. I spent years working in a completely unrelated field as a writer/editor for major magazines. At this point, I am a SAHM and completely financially dependent upon my husband. If something were to happen, I’d be unable to support myself and my kids. Because my education and experience are completely unrelated, it would be extremely difficult to find a job. Especially since I live in Middle-of-nowhere Town.
I also wanted to note that I have a tight posse of guy friends. And believe me, they are harsh critics of each other and other men. It is always mentioned if one of the guys is gaining weight, losing hair, etc. In fact, they are less likely to criticize women… perhaps because they’ve been conditioned to believe that only insensitive male pigs would remark on a woman’s appearance.
I watched that movie with my sisters and my mom and it was eye opening. These are things that we dont pay attention to.
Amen sister
I agree with you completely. I think what we need to realize is that our level of attractiveness is completely independent of our personality traits, intelligence, capabilities, etc. Both women and men are required to look basically presentable, but men are less likely to have internal personality traits scrutinized based on whether they are attractive. That’s a major issue that needs to be addressed.
Thank you for the link! I immediately thought of you when I saw this video 🙂
One part I didn’t touch on much in my reflection is the pressure to look good. I agree that the appearance of women are held to a higher standard than men. And often times, I feel that women put that pressure on themselves and other women to do so. Not all women, but when I hear catty comments about how so-and-so wasn’t looking her best, most of the time, that comment is coming from a woman. So I think that we, as women, are doing ourselves a huge disfavour, every time we do that.
Whereas men are more forgiving with other men. Wrinkles, baldness, gray hairs, pot belly – it all comes with age and I think that society/media is waaayy more forgiving about men aging than women.
That looks really interesting! Can’t wait for it to come out.
I agree with Amanda below on what feminism is. I think that there are some women about my age who would prefer to be a stay-at-home wife, and feminists shouldn’t stop that. However, I agree that feminists should encourage women to be free-thinking whether they want to have a career or not. If there is a stereotype for housewives being dumb, then that needs to end. Consequently, I think that feminists should fight so that men can choose to be stay-at-home dads if they want as well.
The trailer seemed to imply at one point that the producer thinks that the social values are run by men. On that point, I highly disagree and think that women are more guilty than men for forcing everyone to be anxious about themselves. Some, if not most, of the newscasters making those statements on TV encouraging women to be pretty are women themselves who made it big by being pretty. Girls will take the women as role models and listen to what the women are saying. You can’t blame the men if the women are spreading the same message.
I know that my experience is one unique experience, but I’ve never heard a man tell a women that she should put on tons of makeup, like a model does. I’ve heard men say that a little bit of makeup to cover up the flaws is nice sometimes. I’ve never heard a man say that a woman’s whole worth is her looks, but I’ve heard men say that they like a women with brains. I’ve heard women in the media say, or at least imply all of those things. In my childhood, my mother told me that men don’t like smart girls and that I’ll never find a husband if I’m always so tough. My father and karate sensei, two men that I look up to, told me that smart girls with a brain and stamina are very desirable.
Personally, I care about my weight because I want to be at a healthy weight, and most Americans are not at a healthy weight. I am sexy when I want to be sexy, and I think that being sexy is fun sometimes. I dress professionally when it’s time to be professional and I dress in a t-shirt and jeans when it’s time to be casual. I consider myself a feminist because all of these choices are my own. Oh yeah, I’m working towards a PhD in computer science.
I don’t think feminism is about NOT being dependent on a man. I think feminism is all about choice – about having the choice to either be completely dependent on a man as a stay-at-home wife who doesn’t care about finances, or to be interdependent in a relationship, or to be independent of any man at all. Feminists fought for the right of woman to choose how they want to live their life – not to indoctrinate everyone into thinking that they MUST be independent.
Dependency goes beyond financial reliance though. Dependency is when you rely on someone else for your self-worth, self-image, etc., or when you rely on other people to make choices for you. If a woman feels completely free to choose whether she’d like to stay home or work based on what she believes is right for her and her family, then that itself is a level of independence. Dependency would also assume that the woman has no say in the relationship, or very little say in what happens to their family. If a woman feels that she is able to make decisions and be heard by her partner, I would not say that she is truly dependent.
Although I would say as a matter of practicality that every woman should have some sort of training, education, or work experience under her belt that she can use to make money even if Plan A is to rely financially on her partner. This isn’t saying that financial dependence is an entirely bad choice. It’s to say that the world is an imperfect place and that entirely relying on your partner for finances is a very risky decision, regardless of your gender.