Miss Representation

You can’t be what you can’t see.

Like drawing back a curtain to let bright light stream in, MISS REPRESENTATION uncovers a glaring reality we live with every day but fail to see. Directed by Jennifer Siebel Newsom, the film explores how mainstream media contribute to the under-representation of women in influential positions and challenges the media’s limiting and often disparaging portrayals of women, which make it difficult for the average girl to see herself as powerful.

In a society where media is the most persuasive force shaping cultural norms, the collective message that our young women and men overwhelmingly receive is that a woman’s value and power lie in her youth, beauty, and sexuality—and not in her capacity as a leader. Stories from teenage girls and provocative interviews with politicians, journalists, academics, and activists like Condoleezza Rice, Nancy Pelosi, Katie Couric, Rachel Maddow, Margaret Cho, Rosario Dawson and Gloria Steinem build momentum as MISS REPRESENTATION accumulates startling facts and statistics that will leave the audience shaken and armed with a new perspective.