Geena Davis Lobbies for Bill to Improve Image of Women in Media

Submitted by anthony on Sat, 2011-07-16 16:42

Article here. Excerpt:

'Academy Award winning actress Geena Davis joined Senator Kay Hagan (D-NC) and Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin (D- WI) on Capitol Hill on Wednesday to introduce a bill that would support efforts to improve the image of girls and women in the media.

“I am proud to join with Sen. Hagan and Rep. Baldwin to promote gender equality and positive portrayals of women and girls in the media,” Davis said in a statement. “What children see affects their attitudes toward male and female roles and impacts the value they place on girls and women in society. The Healthy Media for Youth Act will help ensure we are creating a positive media environment for all our children.”

The legislation would provide grants to encourage and support media literacy programs and youth empowerment groups, facilitate research on how depictions of women and girls in the media affect youth. It also would establish a National Taskforce on Women and Girls in the Media, intended to develop voluntary standards that promote healthy, balanced, and positive images of girls and women in the media.'

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A positive portrayal of women and girls..?

As opposed to what? The current portrayal, you know that of all-knowing goddess, common sense blessed mothers, always in the right wives, kick-ass grrls who can beat an army of men single-handedly, schoolgirls who are always smarter than the boys etc.

If this already doesn't amount to positive portrayals then what could they mean?

And of course the biggie - a nice big fat publicly funded National Takforce on Women and Girls in the Media...

This can only mean one thing - $$$$$$$$$$ all round!

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Submitted by sirprince on Sat, 2011-07-16 17:15

Pretty much sums it up.

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Submitted by Matt on Sat, 2011-07-16 17:49

Can you give just one example in the media where females are portrayed other than god's gift to the world?

Men are the one's portrayed as the children of a lesser god!

Sheesh! Some people are just totally clueless about what is going on in the real world!

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Submitted by Luek on Sat, 2011-07-16 19:09

Ya know, when I first read this I tried to think of examples where females are portrayed negatively in the media - and I couldn't think of any. Then I clicked on the link and read the article and it seems Ms. Davis is focusing on the use of women as "arm candy".

I googled Geena Davis and it seems that back in her day she had no problem faunting herself. She even did some interviews in Playboy magazine.

Could this be a case of her looks fading and getting passed up for younger, hotter women?

Also, look at this excerpt from Digital Journal:

> Geena Davis, Oscar-award winning actress who founded the "Geena Davis Institute on Gender in the Media" to prevent gender stereotyping in film and television, was appointed to the California Commission on the Status of Women.

Davis was appointed to the California commission promoting women's rights by Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. The commission, a nonpartisan state agency, works with Governor Schwarzenegger to promote equality and justice for all women and girls.

The position pays $100 per day and requires confirmation by the California State Senate. [end of excerpt]

Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/294944#ixzz1SKElLEAn

PS- it kind of cracks me up that she was appointed by Arnold Schwarzenegger.

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Submitted by Kris on Sun, 2011-07-17 02:32

I can only think of a couple times I've actually seen women portrayed negatively in the media. Both cases were characters on sitcoms that were really stupid. However, on one of these shows there was also a male character that was as stupid as said female one. But of course whenever a female character on a show is stupid, she's usually really pretty, and her lack of intelligence usually pales in comparison to another, male character on the show. Conversely, I've seen many many shows where all of the stupid characters are male. In fact, it is males that are overwhelmingly and inaccurately portrayed as truly vacant, incompetent, and unaware beings.

The truth is, I don't mind the idea of trying to reduce gender stereotypes in the media. I just wish that our gender would get the 50% attention that it deserves in this matter. Actually, who am I kidding? We'd probably deserve at least 75%, seeing that we are negatively portrayed far more often. But I'd settle for 50.

BTW, I just wanted to say thank you very much, Kris. I noticed that you've been on this site a lot lately, and very active in these discussions. You've contributed much useful and valid information to these topics. I'm very grateful that women like you exist. I'm also very grateful to be with a woman who is compassionate toward males and would like to see an end to this unjust anti-male bias, not unlike yourself. Thank you for helping us!

Evan AKA X-TRNL
Real Men Don't Take Abuse!

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Submitted by xtrnl on Mon, 2011-07-18 03:59

Thanks Evan!

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Submitted by Kris on Tue, 2011-07-19 03:52