In October our members and friends gathered at the Shepard Room of the Santa Maria Library for a viewing of the movie, ”Miss Representation:  You Can’t Be What You Can’t See”, a documentary film which gives the inside look at the media and its message.

Writer/Director Jennifer Siebel Newsom interwove stories from teenage girls with provocative interviews from the likes of Dr. Condoleezza Rice, Lisa Ling, Nancy Pelosi, Katie Couric, Rachel Maddow, Rosario Dawson, Dr. Jackson Katz, Dr. Jean Kilbourne, and Gloria Steinem to give us an inside look at the media and its message. As the most persuasive and pervasive force of communication in our culture, media is educating yet another generation that a woman’s primary value lay in her youth, beauty and sexuality-and not in her capacity as a leader, making it difficult for women to obtain leadership positions and for girls to reach their full potential. The film accumulates startling facts and asks the question, “What can we do?”

We were treated to “treats” by our program chairs (thanks for the popcorn!), and felt like we were in the local movie theater sharing an interesting show.  This movie puts great focus on how the media represents women and the resulting affects on the mentality of society, women, and girls.  The message seems distressing, yet women, for over 50 years, have been up against these “missrepresentations” and stereotypes and perceivered  to achieve strong, powerful positions in business, education, finance, politics, and more.  While there is much more to do … our battles continue … it is reassuring to know that the people who created this film, and the messages they are sharing, still stand with women to continue this challenge until we no longer will have it.   We all left the event with the feeling that we wanted to share it with the people in our lives, men and women alike!