Miss Representation Page #9

---

Why'? 'Cause it's cheap.

Fifteen years ago,

it would have been unthinkable

for Britney Spears' panties to

be a breaking headline on CNN.

I want to lead

with the Paris Hilton story.

No. And you know what'?

So does my producer.

Andy Jones is not listening to me.

He's put it as the lead.

Listen... I just don't believe

in covering that story,

especially not as the lead story

in a newscast

when you have a day like today.

Can we show some footage of Paris'?

- Do we have Paris...

- No. No, we can't.

Joe. No.

I'm gonna do the news now.

I haven't thrown it...

There she is.

Oh. Look at that strut.

Oh, look at that.

She's so humble.

- That's a reformed woman.

- Yeah, she is reformed.

She's shy.

- All right. To the news now.

- Think she found Jesus.

Just months after Telecom '96 passed,

"Access Hollywood" debuted

and "E! News" debuted.

These are two of

the most sort of fat-shaming,

infotainment outlets we have today,

where they follow around

women who have eaten a muffin

and then circle their stomachs

with graphics

and point to them and say,

"Baby bump'? Are they pregnant?"

Oh, no, sorry.

She just ate a bagel.

Woman:

After photos of the singer

performing in her trademark

Daisy Duke jean shorts

showed off an unflattering

belly bulge,

Jess' reps were forced

to publicly state,

"She is not pregnant."

This notion

that these media companies

are just giving us

what the public wants...

No. They're giving us

what the media companies want.

They're giving us

what the advertisers want.

And they're packaging it

in such a way

as to make it sound like

it's our fault, and it's not.

This is the first time

in human history

that marketers have dictated

our cultural norms and values.

And this is made possible

by the relaxation of rules

on advertising

in the 1970s and '80s...

and then an amplified

relaxation starting in the '90s.

This is all about capitalism.

The television industry

targets men 18 to 34

because it's harder to get men

to watch television.

Women watch television.

So the advertisers encourage

the networks

to come up with programming

for men 18 to 34

so they can sell

their products to them.

Great taste.

Less filling.

Great taste!

The exploitation of woman's bodies

sells products, magazines, et cetera.

Can you open this'?

[gasping]

Isn't it wonderful'?

Dekoven:

There has been some discussion

that advertisers are themselves

men who are 18 to 34.

They are saying,

"This is the kind

of programing we want."

If you show a woman scantily clad,

maybe that's an opportunity

to get more viewers to your show.

And right now advertisements

are really the best way

to support a business

on the internet.

Click on me and let the show begin.

Sometimes, what will draw

the most eyeballs,

at least in the voyeuristic sense,

is something that, you know

might be more salacious.

[woman moaning]

In the old days,

there used to be a thing

called "The Family Hour,"

which was a voluntary agreement

of the three broadcast networks.

Remember those days'?

When you couldn't air

anything inappropriate

for children and families

before 9:
00 P.M. at night.

Where in return

for the free airwaves,

they felt that they had

a very major

public-interest commitment.

It's actually enforced

by the Federal Communications

Commission... the FCC.

That is gone today, period,

end of story.

Today, it is the wild, wild west.

It is a free-for-all,

and there's no sense

among folks who run the media

and tech industries,

perhaps with the exception

of older broadcasters

who remember the good old days,

that they have an obligation

to public interest.

It's a myth

that we live in and under

and with a democratic media.

We don't.

When it comes to

the politics of all this,

in the last 25 years,

our lawmakers have

essentially been absent,

out of the picture.

You've had a situation

where the lawmakers

who you would hope would represent

the broader public interest

are in a sense...

I hate to overstate it...

but are largely in the pocket

of the media industry

because their fortunes as politicians

are dependent upon the media coverage

as well as their ability to buy time

on those media stations

when they're running for office.

Media has not been held accountable

by our elected representatives,

and it's not a liberal

or conservative issue...

it's an american issue

and an American problem.

Without a media system

that's publicly accountable,

what you have is not only

widespread content bias,

but what you have is

a completely inaccessible

public conversation.

For years,

the media industry hid behind

the label of censorship.

It's not censorship

to say to a media company

that's producing an image

or a website,

"That's really offensive

and really inappropriate."

That's the essence of free speech.

But in a world of a million

channels like we have today,

people try to do more shocking

and shocking things

to break through the clutter.

And oftentimes,

they resort to violent images

or sexually offensive images

or demeaning images

'cause they know

it will get attention.

The problem is

kids are exposed to that

with very little or no mediation.

Kilbourne:
These images are part

of a cultural climate

in which women are seen

as things, as objects,

and turning a human being into athing

is almost always the first step

toward justifying violence

against that person.

Siebel Newsom:
If the cards

are so heavily stacked against

young women,

how are they supposed to

achieve their potential

and become leaders'?

We can't turn a blind eye

to how the media impacts our culture

and harms both our daughters

and our sons.

We have to help our boys

when they're really young, 5 or 6,

when they're just entering

formal schooling,

help them not bifurcate

their head from their heart,

not become emotionally illiterate

and feel that

they can't show emotion,

that they're sissies if they cry,

that they can't be expressing love.

If a man is taught

that he's supposed to be

smarter than women,

he's supposed to

make more money than women,

he's supposed to have

more respect than women

yet it's not true in real life...

you know, his boss might be a woman

his doctor might be a woman,

a woman might be making

more money than him,

the girl next to him in class is

smarter than him, et cetera...

what does it mean to be a man'?

If guys don't show

this, like, masculine side,

then they're criticized for it,

and they're kind of...

I don't know.

They're looked upon

as, like, less of a man.

Now, how do we expect our sons

to be men of integrity

and of conscience

and to be

social-justice advocates

and to treat women with respect

and to speak up

when they see women

being treated with disrespect

if they don't see

their fathers doing it,

if they don't see men

in the public culture doing it'?

It's not fair to put the burdens

on the shoulders of boys

Rate this script:2.5 / 4 votes