Earlier today I FINALLY watched the documentary "Miss Representation".  It's fantastic and I highly recommend it.  The film shows how mainstream media contributes to the under-representation of women in positions of power in the American context. "Miss Representation" challenges the media’s limited and often simplistic portrayals of women and girls.  It features interviews with inspirational women like Condoleezza Rice, Katie Couric, and Gloria Steinem as well as men in politics and the media who recognize this inequity.

Watching this film made me seriously think about growing up female in the United States.  Life as a girl possesses its own set of challenges.  I won't deny the many issues that plague boys and men, but I do believe there are still gender inequities in the USA.  Issues about body image, self-esteem, and empowerment are very real.  I spent a very large portion of my childhood believing that I wasn't pretty enough, skinny enough, smart enough, or worthy enough. Although the media has a huge role in establishing unrealistic norms about being a woman, we as a society continue to perpetuate them.  We complain that the media is a destroyer of reality, yet we buy up tabloids, trash talk female politicians based on their looks and personality as opposed to their stances on issues, continue to support movies that create a very mindless and soulless female narrative, and as women we continuously put each other down.  After watching this documentary, I feel the need to continue to fight for gender equality and to create a world where any child I bring into the world (if I decide to have kids) will be treated fairly and respected based on who their are on the inside and not on the outside.  I hope you get the chance to see it too.