Miss Representation: how women are portrayed in the media

Posted on by Carolyn Thomas

 

The documentary Miss Representation by actor and filmmaker Jennifer Siebel Newsom premiered at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival last year. This film explores how the media’s misrepresentations of women have led to the under-representation of women in positions of power and influence. Millions of people have watched and responded to this film so far, but as Jennifer herself observes:

“More than the numbers, it’s the individual stories of action which are especially poignant. From the mother in New York who successfully lobbied Mayor Bloomberg to have a pornographic advertisement removed from her child’s bus stop, to the high school youth who started a ‘MissRep’ club to discuss sexism in the media with her classmates, we have been reminded again and again of the power of one individual having courage and using her or his voice to stand up to injustice.”

Find out about bringing this 90-minute documentary film to a classroom near you.

6 thoughts on “Miss Representation: how women are portrayed in the media”

  1. Thanks for highlighting this Carolyn. My daughter starts high school ( junior high ) next week so issues of self esteem are front and centre as she goes through the teen years. I will see if her school ( a girls school) is interested in this.

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  2. The DVD can be ‘saved’ on Netflix and you can buy the DVD after April 12, according to Amazon.

    I don’t know how old this site is (on the Internet) so things may have changed.

    BUT——- it’s not closed captioned, according to the site. Which leaves many people misrepresented/under-represented or ignored. Sigh. At least for now. This site does hold out some hope:

    “Is the film closed captioned?
    Not at this time. Check back on our website to see when it will become available.”

    I assume that means it MAY be closed captioned in the future? Hopefully.
    But for a person wanting to show this at an ‘event’ be sure to advise all those buying tickets that it may not be closed captioned.

    I know—- that may seem like a petty carp, but not if you’re hard of hearing or deaf.

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  3. I just received a notice from the President of Virgil Films informing me that the DVD of Miss Representation will be closed captioned when it releases in April on NetFlix etc.

    That was nice of him, I thought.

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