Week 3 Teaching Intro to Women’s Studies

I had both my classes watch the 2011 documentary film, Miss Representation. I first saw the film last fall and it is a powerful film about the media’s depiction of young women, older women and women in power (specifically looking at Clinton and Palin.) Miss Representation looks at television and movies and is an unflinchingly honest report on the sad state of affairs we call entertainment and news in this country.

It was interesting to listen to the sharp intakes of breath and shock of the students as they watched the film. Many of them shook their head throughout and looked in disbelief at me.

Afterwards we moved into fishbowl discussions in which I asked them to answer two questions, What do you think? And how do you feel? The conversations were personal, insightful and full of questioning what they’ve always thought to be true. After twenty minutes one young woman asked the group what they thought about the 1 in 4 women have been raped statistics the movie talked about. In seconds, 4 women had identified that there were survivors of rape or incest. The truth about their lives were a testament to the facts stated in the documentary—a very powerful moment for us as a class to share.

You can see the trailer here and check local listings on OWN network.


Miss Representation 8 min. Trailer 8/23/11 from Miss Representation on Vimeo.

Here is their Facebook page which is currently talking about the Super Bowl Sunday ads and the new Sarah Palin movie, Game Changer.

I highly recommend this film for the home and classrooms…it will change the way you see television and films forever and hopefully inspire you to take action to help the girls and women of the world. For more information, visit the Miss Representation's website. Have you seen the film? What did you think of it?