Miss Representation

Although I was not previously unaware of the misrepresentation of women in the media, I was still shocked to learn some of the facts states in Miss Representation. Self-objectification is a national pandemic encouraged in young girls by the objectification of women in the media. In my opinion, the injustices were most evident with women in power. Instead of focusing on the positions of women, the media is always concerned with the physical appearance or womanly faults of the lady in the limelight. The media bias portrays men and women completely different; if a male politician cries, he is sensitive, but if a woman politician cries, she is weak and unfit to be a leader. This bias restricts women from gaining significant positions in government—only 17% of Congress are women, and there have only been 34 female governors, in comparison with close to 3000 male governors.

Mount has positively influence my understanding of gender and identity because it not only bolsters women empowerment, but also allowed me to find myself in an environment without boys. Mount has encouraged me to value what's inside more than what's outside, and I'm grateful for the emphasis on education. However, I also feel that the all-girls environment has sheltered me. I've grown accustomed to an environment that boosts up young women, which differs from how society and the media treats young women. While Mount has prepared me for handling myself in the future, I do not know how prepared I will be to handle not only how men view me, but also how other girls view themselves.

I work as a bus person and a waitress, and the people I work with are mostly women. Therefore, in my current employment, I have not experienced the impact of gender. However, as a young woman pursuing engineering, a male-dominated career, I sometimes worry about how my gender will influence my role in the workplace in the future. I do not know if the work environment will be welcoming or hostile to women engineers, and I worry that I will have to prove myself more than my male counterparts.