Miss Representation - Check it out!

Newest Miss Representation Trailer (2011 Sundance Film Festival Official Selection) from Miss Representation on Vimeo.

The film explores how the media’s misrepresentations of women have led to the underrepresentation of women in positions of power and influence. Please visit the Miss Representation website to find a screening near you.

As the mother of daughters I am all to familiar with the role of media in their lives. It is so ingrained in their culture that it becomes "invisible" to even them.

When the girls were younger we only had network television, primarily for PBS. At the moment we do not have any TV service. But we did have DirectTV for a couple of years, with a DVR. As the girls entered middle school Elle pointed out that they were at a disadvantage culturally not knowing what the other kids were talking about. And she was correct. I firmly believe that my children need exposed to media, but in a controlled and supervised manner. We talk a lot about images, song lyrics and media hype. We discuss marketing, politics and "like" versus respect. Along the way my kids have taught me a few things. I still do not like Lil' Wayne, but I now respect Justin Beiber.

Mara and Elle have laptops and stream their TV shows and movies. But we monitor the viewing and have control over locking out items. Both girls have cell phones, but they do not have data plans and cannot share photos. The modem is turned off at night and the cell phones are put away. In setting boundaries I teach my children how to set their own boundaries, and even priorities. Rosalind Wiseman does an excellent job of explaining the social impact of  these tools in her revised introduction to Queen Bees and Wanna Bees, which I am sure I will discuss in other posts.