Sunday, March 31, 2013

Misrepresentation


Misrepresentation
            Media has a major impact on how society views its self and it also influences standards people use to judge each other. Society today spends at least 31 plus hours a week on media sites like: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Kik to name a few. People further spend about 17 plus hours listening to music and about 4 plus hours reading magazines weekly (Misrepresentation). The message of mainstream media today seems to be that woman equals sex symbol. Medias’ presentation of women hints and screams that to be intelligent and proficient is not enough.
            In the documentary Misrepresentation, it displayed various ways that women are tainted in society and media these days.  Some alarming statistics according to the documentary Misrepresentation are that: “53% of 13 years olds are not happy with their bodies, 17% of female teens engage in self-mutilation behaviors, 20% or more teens have premarital sex, 1 in 18 men, are in jail and 70% of women in the work force are mothers.”  While parents are working to provide for their families, latch key children are left at their own discretion to watch the negative images of drama, violence, and sexualized scenes on television for entertainment. According to the American Psychological Association there is a direct link between watching TV violence and displaying real violence.
Do media broadcasters have a responsibility in what it presents? Or is main stream media just giving people what they think they really want? Yes, in the United States of America we do have freedom of speech and free press (Constitution). Freedom is having a right to choose. Gandhi said, “Be the change you wish to see.” The United States is a country built on a foundation of values that include freedom, justice, equality, peace, capitalism, brotherhood, hope, hard work, and success to name a few.  There is an old wise saying that verses; “anything worth having is worth its cost.” However, popular society at some point must ask its self, at what cost is success worth.

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