Kendall Butt Blog 3: Miss Representation

One statistic that stuck with me after viewing the documentary Miss Representation was this: 78% of women are unhappy with their body by the age of 17. It is astounding to imagine that only 22% of our teenage population are content with their body image, while a large portion of these other 78% are no doubt perfectly healthy young women. Personally, I can remember doing crunches on the floor of my room before bed every night in 6th grade. I was ten years old. While I have been fortunate enough to have a fast metabolism and not had a struggle with my weight, I have still continued to rely on dieting and exercise on and off ever since then. I am at the correct weight for my height and age, though I still feel the need to attain this flawless image. Countless times a day young women are subjected to images of half-naked, digitally altered images of our “piers”; it is this that I attribute our vicious and impossible need to achieve this image in ourselves. Women, and men, have come to accept these altered states of the human form as the new norm. Flat stomaches, cinched waists, too perky breasts, thigh gaps, all features of a digitally and cosmetically altered woman--and now expected features of every woman in America. And so we diet, and we cleanse, we exercise, do yoga, hot yoga, pilates, cycling, running, walking, sprinting, lunging, crunching, squatting... but somehow we will NEVER look like the Victorias Secret Angels. The problem is that not even the Victorias Secret Angels fit the mold of the Victorias Secret Angels at this point. Technology is creating the unattainable, but expected, female. 
Something else I took into further consideration after the Miss Representation film was the idea that in movies/television shows, and even books, there is rarely a female protagonist, and when there is she is most likely portrayed as a “sexy” or “bitchy” character. As I racked my brain further I realized that this was largely true in my experience with movies, and that in most cases I never questioned the fact that this was unusual. For instance, the vast majority of superhero films feature male protagonists, largely male antagonists as well, but the few that do feature female superheroes display a sexy, witty, and alluring woman such as Catwoman. While I cannot recall ever actually seeing this movie--it seems like a film that more accurately interests male viewers--I do know the premise of the film and I understand the woman wears a skin-tight black leather “catsuit” as I have seen in countless Halloween costume stores. One of the woman in the documentary noted that she made it a habit to remind her children how unrealistic these depictions are. She would state ideas such as “why is she wearing that if she is trying to save the day”? This is an entirely fitting question for the movie Catwoman; real life superheroes dress in everyday attire, or even safety gear, not sexy leather suits that make them look attainable and weak. Though until she said this I had never pondered such a thought before. In fact, I have more often found myself with a desire to emulate the Megan Fox, Angelina Jolie, Mrs. Smith, multi-tasking, badass, sexy “woman”.