A SPARK in the Media

 

When I think of women in mainstream media I can’t think of anything moderately positive. It's not that there aren't positive female

roles because there are. There are several known female directors, such as Kathryn Bigelow, female newscasters (Katie Couric, Diane Sawyer), and many recognizable female actresses.  On television we have women being doctors, surgeons, detectives, cops, and many other females hold positions of high standing. But even if they do hold these prominent roles, many times they are also presented as being catty, plagued with love problems, submissive to their male counterpart, or they aren't the protagonists of the show. Other times it much worse and they are merely on screen as a sex object.

As entertaining as these shows are it's still problematic because of the message it sends to the viewers: the stereotype of women. In “Making Movie Magic”, Bell Hooks talks about film’s power over us and its ability to reinvent reality. She states how most of the time people learn from movies they watch, the audience learns of race, sex, class and what they mostly learn is stereotypes. The reflections of these groups are presented by outsiders and are accepted as truths. Not only does the audience learn of these stereotypes but also does the reflected group. In Melissa Harris-Perry’s “Crooked Room”, she states how when black women are confronted by race and gender stereotypes they feel they have to “tilt and bend” to fit this distortion (29). It is the same way for many groups faced with stereotypes. For women to see a distorted representation of themselves continuously they begin to feel as though this distortion is who they should or are expected to be.

Not to mention that there is also the problem with the lack of female stories on television and film. There are quite a number of female producers, directors, and writers who don't have the funds to create or distribute films with meaningful content. Women are waiting for their voices to be heard but it’s hard when no one actually listens.

In my quest to find meaningful media I came upon the SPARK (Sexualization Protest: Action, Resistance, Knowledge) movement. SPARK is an activist movement that began as a response to the report of the APA Task Force on the Sexualization of Girls with an aim to force out the over-sexualization of young girls that is prevalent in today’s media. Through the SPARK Summit, the movement hopes to help girls through workshops that gives them the tools to become media makers, activists, and policy influencers that will be able to fight against sexualization.

The  SPARK movement is interesting in that gives a girls space and resources to produce healthy media in which they critique the disappointing portrayals and sexualization of young girls. Through SPARK they are allowed to find help through workshops hosted in their schools and there are many girls from different ages and backgrounds who are allowed to question and critique the media on the SPARK blog. Through the blog they are also able to present their own experiences as girls, such as what they see on t.v and life experiences. This a great movement because it teaches young girls, who are susceptible to the influence of the media, and allows them to  become active participants in the fight against the over sexualization that's prominent and the norm in media.

                                        

http://www.sparksummit.com/

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• Harris-Perry, Melissa V. Sister Citizen: Shame, Stereotypes, and Black Women in America. New Haven: Yale UP, 2011. Print. 
•  Hook, Bell. "Introduction:Making Movie Magic." Reel to Real: Race, Sex, and Class at the Movies. N.p.: Taylor & Francis, 1996. 1-9. Print.