On Tuesday evening April 24th Hanger Hall will join with the Asheville chapter of AAUW and the Theatre Department of Warren Wilson College to screen the documentary Miss Representation. You can preview the trailer of this film by going to the MissRepresentation.org website.
As the only single-gender middle school for girls in western North Carolina, Hanger Hall is committed to providing a strong academic foundation in addition to strengthening the emotional and social development of girls this age. Middle school girls who enter high school confident and with great self-esteem are more confident and therefore more likely to make good decisions. According to Jeanne Smolkin, President of the Asheville AAUW “Miss Representation is a powerful documentary that shows how advertising on TV and in magazines depicts girls and young women as caricatures, uses them as sex objects to sell products, and teaches them that they have no worth unless they conform to an impossible standard of beauty. This movie is a great first step in opening girls’ eyes so that they can see advertising for what it is: manipulative, self-serving, and false. And let’s hope some of them have the courage to buck the system, follow their own dreams, and see their own value no matter what their shape, weight, or monetary fortune.”
Miss Representation (90 min; TV-14 DL) uncovers a glaring reality we live with every day but fail to see. Written and directed by Jennifer Siebel Newsom, the film exposes how mainstream media contribute to the under-representation of women in positions of power and influence in America. The film challenges the media’s limited and often disparaging portrayals of women and girls, which make it difficult for women to achieve leadership positions and for the average woman to feel powerful herself.
In a society where media is the most persuasive force shaping cultural norms, the collective message that our young women and men overwhelmingly receive is that a woman’s value and power lie in her youth, beauty, and sexuality, and not in her capacity as a leader. While women have made great strides in leadership over the past few decades, the United States is still 90th in the world for women in national legislatures, women hold only 3% of clout positions in mainstream media, and 65% of women and girls have disordered eating behaviors.Stories from teenage girls and provocative interviews with politicians, journalists, entertainers, activists and academics, like Condoleezza Rice, Nancy Pelosi, Katie Couric, Rachel Maddow, Margaret Cho, Rosario Dawson and Gloria Steinem build momentum as Miss Representation accumulates startling facts and statistics that will leave the audience shaken and armed with a new perspective. (From the Miss Representation website)
Date: April 24 at 6:30pm
Place: Warren Wilson College, Jensen 308 (3rd floor of Jensen)
Sponsored by Hanger Hall, AAUW and Theater Department of WWC
American Association of University Women’s mission is to advance equity for women and girls through advocacy, education, philanthropy, and research. For 130 years, AAUW members have examined and taken positions on the fundamental issues of the day — educational, social, economic, and political. Our commitment to our mission is reflected in all aspects of our work.
