Feminism, the Media, and You

  Feminism, a movement which can be described as the theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes, was created to level the playing field between men and women. As it turns out, said metaphorical playing field was less of a field, and more of a 'the peak of Mount Everest compared to the bottom of the ocean' type thing. Many people believe "feminist" to be a dirty word because it is treated as such by the media. In reality, feminism embraces the belief that all of mankind are entitled to freedom and equality, and that discrimination should not be made based on gender, sexual orientation, skin color, ethnicity, religion, culture, or lifestyle. Women and girls are being shafted, treated like they'd drawn the short straw in the lottery of life. Why is it that this has become the societal norm, when the Canadian Charter of Rights states that, "Every individual is equal before and under the law and has the right to the equal protection and equal benefit of the law without discrimination and, in particular, without discrimination based on race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age or mental or physical disability,"? While statistically men just barely outnumber women in the world, that is no excuse for being treated like the lesser sex. After all, one cannot be annoyed with feminism being dubbed as such, when the entire history of the human race is called 'mankind'.

  One particular disadvantage women face are the unachievable beauty standards we are faced with. There is such a wide possible spectrum with so many different variables, and yet media only portrays a certain standard that all women are expected to reflect in themselves. There's only one tiny, practically insignificant, detail wrong with this: it's complete bull. Women naturally come in all different shapes and sizes, so why is it that one is deemed better than the other? Instead of embracing who we truly are, we're told to warp our bodies to achieve our generation's definition of physical perfection. Growing up we're told that the women in the magazines are the women we should look up to; the women we should strive to look like. What we're not taught is that those pictures have been tailored to perfection. They have all the right cameras, all the right lighting and not to mention the excessive photoshop put into those photographs. We cling so desperately to societal beauty standards, when in reality not even those who supposedly fulfil the 'beauty criteria' truly look like the people the media presents them as. Not to mention the fact that beauty has so many different meanings to so many different people, so why does the media proclaim one to be better than the next? Beauty is such a broad term and yet if we as women don't fit into a predetermined beauty standard we're ugly, or unattractive. Dove did a survey in 2013, and from their research we can determine that 72% of girls and women feel tremendous pressure to be beautiful. It speaks volumes about the way society and the media have set the bar for attractiveness at an unachievable level. Young women and girls are so affected by the way the media has told them to be that media internalization has become a major risk factor in body dissatisfaction, dieting, and eating disorders.

  As if the beauty standard wasn't damaging enough, we young women and girls must also battle the deeply rooted internalized sexism inflicted by the patriarchy, and harmful stereotypes. Dress codes are a great example of this. When you tell a young girl that she must look or dress a certain way in order to be deemed appropriate for a certain environment, you're telling her that the way she looks determines her value as a person, and that the way she dresses determines whether she can be seen as someone respectable. When young girls are sent home because what they wear is deemed too distracting for male students, you're telling them that the way her body looks is more important than her education. In promoting ridiculous dress codes, you're sexually objectifying someone who isn't even the age of legal consent. Standards such as these are harmful to the self-esteem of so many young people growing up in today's society. We get so used to our bodies being objectified that it creates appearance anxiety, and leads to greater body dissatisfaction. Not only are we repeatedly sexualized, but now we have the pressure to be as beautiful as society expects us to be. Another issue regarding the objectification of women's bodies is breast feeding. Men often are displeased by women breastfeeding in public, because as soon as the breast is no longer a sexual organ marketed towards men it becomes taboo. The patriarchy is so used to sexualizing the female body that as soon as it is no longer catered towards them it is of no use to them (therefore a no-no). The patriarchy has total control over a woman's body, because it is treated as an object, rather than living, breathing, human anatomy. When will society realize that women deserve to be respected as individuals, not just playthings catered towards male consumers?

  Another main issue in the media is the lack of diversity. Of the top 100 films of 2014, 73% of main characters were white males, while more than 40 of those films had no asian speaking characters. Representation is an important step in the struggle for equality because it representation in a white male dominated industry gives minorities a voice. No one can tell our stories for us. For when people with different sexual, racial, and gender identities are invisible, their voices are not just lost, their victories are as well. Diversity matters, for without it we lose part of who we are, because according to the media we don't exist. Not only are we ill represented, our characters often are based off of harmful stereotypes and character tropes. While white male characters are likely to be the main character, and portrayed as powerful, rational, and string, black male characters are likely to be depicted as menacing or unruly. The same goes for women. While white female characters are likely to be shown as the caring, emotional 'girl next door' type, black women are likely to be shown as exotic and erotic. As young, developing people much of what we see and hear influences our self-esteem and who we are as people. With the media reinforcing gender and racial stereotypes it can be hard to detach one's self from the image we are told to depict. It is for these reasons that representation in the media is important.

  In conclusion, it is imperative that feminism is seen as it truly is, as a movement dedicated to ending sexist oppression, recognizing racial, sexual, and religious diversity, shutting down harmful gender stereotypes such as hypermasculinity, and recognizing the past inequalities that have historically denied women access to many social, economic and political spheres that are mostly occupied by men. While we are still a long way from achieving said goals we have come so far in the last century that giving up simply isn't an option. While there will most likely always be the pressure society to be beautiful, or a lack of representation in the media, at least by educating ourselves we will be more equipped to deal with it.