My View

 As women, we notice the lack of females in certain roles in the media, we notice the way women must look in media, and we notice men’s expectations for us to be how the women are in the media. This can have a huge impact on how we view the world and ourselves.

I would like to do a test that I got from Forbes. “Close your eyes. Picture a CEO, a president, a Hollywood director, a top scientist, a head coach, a leading surgeon, a hero, or just a very strong, healthy, impressive person. Not a specific person but just someone who would fit these roles or descriptions. What comes to mind? What does he look like?” (Lee, 2022).

Most people picture a man in these roles, this is because in media we mostly see men in these roles. Not only are they men but they are usually white men. This can impact women in several ways, the main way is that we might be discouraged to pursue these careers because we don’t see women in them, and we might assume they are for men.

Geena Davis, a famous actress has discovered a reason for the test we did above. She says that there is a lack of females portrayed in these careers and fewer opportunities for women to be chosen to play these roles. When they are chosen, they are usually just the wife or girlfriend of the man in that role. She believes that it is sending the message that women have less value. She has a non-profit organization to help change that perspective. These efforts are extremely important because it helps “establish social norms, your identity, your health, and your well-being” (Lee, 2022). What you are exposed to as children and teens is what tends to shape your perception. Media has become a huge part of our daily lives we spend almost all of our free time on social media or watching television or movies, and we see so many advertisements in a day. The movie that has impacted Geena was Thelma and Lousie, which has two strong female leads.

Some key findings in the article: in advertisements, men are featured twice as many times as women, in movies men receive twice as many screens time and lines, “Positive female role models in the media can help women become more ambitious and assertive and even help them leave abusive relationships” (Lee, 2022), female characters often have unrealistic bodies and behaviors, and there are not many women playing roles in STEM careers.  

It is mentioned in the article that there are several ways that this is improving. For example, there are several hashtags to spread awareness, #ILookLikeASurgeon, and #MeToo. In light of this Genna Davis has launched her own hashtag #StrengthHasNoGender.

As we can see Geena Davis and many others are impacted by media with strong female leads or equal representation. We can see the importance, especially for young girls, of how women are portrayed in the media. Women have been underrepresented in the media and portrayed in ways that are unacceptable. Women have had to deal with this for long enough. When will this change? How long will it take?