Why Women (and men) need to see women presented as real people
Yo, what's up guys, it's ya boi Kai coming at you again with another media blog. Today i'm gonna be talking about how both men and women could benefit from seeing more female protagonists. While watching Miss Representation, we see how a lot of women in new movies are one dimensional or simply used as sexual objects. Back in the days of black and white the women who starred in movies were multi dimensional, being a temptress, a caregiver, a lover, and so many other things. Today, women don't see themselves in movies as anything other than a clueless girl trying to fit in with the men, or as a sexual object. and it's the second one we need to worry about the most.
When you go down a path of depression and anxiety, you blame yourself for everything that goes wrong, when, in fact, none of it is your fault. When women see themselves as sexual objects in the media, thats how they see themselves in real life. This self deprecation is harmful and could lead the young women and girls to spiral down that hole of mental illness.
Men also are shown that women are only sexual objects and not truly people. This can lead to men believing it is okay to do things such as what many fraternities at Texas Tech did. they, in their unmatched reasoning decided tat the best thing to do was to march around campus yelling: "No means yes, yes means anal." This was the most disgusting news story I had ever seen, and now, i know why they thought it was okay to do that. The only way that they are ever shown women as something other than a sexual object.
How can we stop this terrible pattern from repeating itself? We need to go back to the 50's. Back when women were represented as multi dimensional characters who were not obligated to give their bodies to any guy who was nice enough. If Women are shown as strong and loving and all of the other characteristics that women in black and white movies were, I believe that we would have a drop in sexual assaults and rapes by men, and an increase in women reporting sexual assault and rape. (Side-note: Women can rape men too and it is also a terrible problem in society, but I'm not going to cover that in this media blog.)
201 6 was a great year in the U.S. taking steps to try to eliminate rape with the Me too movement. The movement did have some unintended consequences. In 2017 and 2018 we saw a spike in rape accusations that were proven false, as well as a spike in rape accusations with no proof at all. When there is no proof at all, it still might have happened, but we have to be sure beyond a reasonable doubt in court, so these cases I'm not worried about. The spike in false rape accusations is terrible, and frankly, as a male, I'm scared to go into places alone with a woman simply because they could accuse me of rape, my life is ruined even if it's proven false, and they walk away with no consequences except the expense of paying for a lawyer.
Overall, both men and women would benefit from seeing more women shown in media who are competent and strong. And men, if they are shown this message enough, will subconsciously realize that rape is not okay and it needs to be stopped. That's all for this one, but be sure to check out my other media blog posts, and catch y'all next time.
When you go down a path of depression and anxiety, you blame yourself for everything that goes wrong, when, in fact, none of it is your fault. When women see themselves as sexual objects in the media, thats how they see themselves in real life. This self deprecation is harmful and could lead the young women and girls to spiral down that hole of mental illness.
Men also are shown that women are only sexual objects and not truly people. This can lead to men believing it is okay to do things such as what many fraternities at Texas Tech did. they, in their unmatched reasoning decided tat the best thing to do was to march around campus yelling: "No means yes, yes means anal." This was the most disgusting news story I had ever seen, and now, i know why they thought it was okay to do that. The only way that they are ever shown women as something other than a sexual object.
How can we stop this terrible pattern from repeating itself? We need to go back to the 50's. Back when women were represented as multi dimensional characters who were not obligated to give their bodies to any guy who was nice enough. If Women are shown as strong and loving and all of the other characteristics that women in black and white movies were, I believe that we would have a drop in sexual assaults and rapes by men, and an increase in women reporting sexual assault and rape. (Side-note: Women can rape men too and it is also a terrible problem in society, but I'm not going to cover that in this media blog.)
201 6 was a great year in the U.S. taking steps to try to eliminate rape with the Me too movement. The movement did have some unintended consequences. In 2017 and 2018 we saw a spike in rape accusations that were proven false, as well as a spike in rape accusations with no proof at all. When there is no proof at all, it still might have happened, but we have to be sure beyond a reasonable doubt in court, so these cases I'm not worried about. The spike in false rape accusations is terrible, and frankly, as a male, I'm scared to go into places alone with a woman simply because they could accuse me of rape, my life is ruined even if it's proven false, and they walk away with no consequences except the expense of paying for a lawyer.
Overall, both men and women would benefit from seeing more women shown in media who are competent and strong. And men, if they are shown this message enough, will subconsciously realize that rape is not okay and it needs to be stopped. That's all for this one, but be sure to check out my other media blog posts, and catch y'all next time.
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