Ladies and gentlemen listen up, we have a big problem on our hands. The women of our country have been misrepresented. We have been told to be thinner, sexier, more beautiful and to take the back seat in our society. The media is constantly streaming images into our minds of who we should be and how they expect us to look. They have diminished women’s ability to be leaders and in positions of power by sending demeaning messages of women into our culture. When an advertisement only shows the value of a women in her youth, sex appeal, body and beauty it focuses on her outward body and not on her inward intelligence and worth. I see it daily when working with my teen moms at Hope House. The young women I work with often think that they will never be successful with a toddler in tow or without the perfect body. Last week, one of my girls started a diet- at age 17! This should shock us and spur us to do something to empower and instill confidence in the women of our country.
So what do we do about it?
I have a good idea of a place to start. Watch the film MissRepresention. A friend of mine showed me the trailer and immediately I knew this documentary alined perfectly with my passion of encouraging and empowering adolescent girls. The film MissRepresentation will shed light onto how the media effects the view society has of women and it will bring awareness to the issue at hand. The director of the documentary also challenges it’s audience to do something about it. You can watch the trailer here and see it for yourself. I promise you it will ignite a fire in your soul to push back against the pressure this culture has placed on the women, especially the youth, of our country and hopefully stir an excitement for women to pursue leadership roles in the future.
This Thursday, December 5th at 6:30pm there will be a showing of Miss Representation at the AMC Cherry Creek 8 in Denver. I encourage all to attend. Below is the link to the facebook event page. I hope you all can make it and if not at least watch the trailer and become even a little more aware :)
https://www.facebook.com/events/1413613528870150/
XO,
Erin
