POC Representation in Entertainment and Media

I am not a woman of color. I am white, my ancestors were from Sweden, Norway, Scotland, Ireland and my dad tells me I have a smidgen of Portuguese and Ojibwe (Chippewa) Native American in there. You're probably not interested in my Scandinavian bloodline, but I say this because I cannot speak for the experiences of people of color and the media. I can only present facts and statistics on media representation of people of color. I'm an ally, meaning I can listen, I can sympathize but not empathize, I can support and I can help your stories be heard.

People of color are extremely under represented in entertainment and media. Often when women of color are in advertising or entertainment positions, they are white washed. In the past two decades technology has been developed that digitally lightens skin tone.

(1)

In the past, negative body image and eating disorders have been treated as issues that only effect white women and men. According to a study done at the University of Florida, the media's glorification of pale skin, straight shiny hair and other traits that are stereotypical of a woman of European descent, have an harmful effect on women of color, whether they be African American, Asian American, Native American or Latina. Often women will go to great lengths to have these "desired" beauty traits and when they are unsuccessful causes major body image problems. (2)

In an article published in National Hispanic Women Coalition, it becomes apparent about how little WOC are represented and when they are, they are often represented in a stereotype. For example Lupe Ontiveros, a well known Latina actress in the U.S. is estimated to have had the role of a maid between 150-300 times (3). The discussion on eating disorders has been so polarized racially, that studies regarding the frequency of eating disorders in WoC haven't even been conducted, but culturally we see a major increase in negative body image among young girls and women of color. 

It's very important we begin desegregating media and entertainment. PoC make up 33% of our society and yet they are hardly represented in major forms of media. A big change needs to happen quickly, to stop the impairment of self esteem. 

References I Used!

Kite, Lexie, Ph.D, and Lindsay Kite, Ph.D. "Beauty Whitewashed: How White Ideals Exclude Women of Color." BEAUTY REDEFINED. Beauty Redefined, 1 Feb. 2011. Web. 26 May 2014. <http://www.beautyredefined.net/beauty-whitewashed-how-white-ideals-exclude-women-of-color/>.

Martin, Carolyn L., and Eboni J. Baugh. "Minority Women, Media, and Body Image." University of Florida - IFAS Extension. Web. <http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pdffiles/FY/FY113500.pdf>.

Web log post. National Hispanic Media Coalition. National Hispanic Media Coalition, 24 June 2012. Web. <http://nhmc.org/blog/?p=412>.

To Clarify Just A Bit...

After rereading my first blog entry, I realized that I was very one-sided on the topic. I want to be clear that men absolutely struggle with media's and society's ideals for body image too. The body image topic is very often geared towards women, and as it really should be as women suffer eating disorders, body dysmorphia, etc. much more often. Men however struggle with this as well, as society has an unrealistic idea for what a man should look like, how he should interact with others and how he should carry himself. From birth, boys and men are told to be the biggest, best, strongest, fastest, pretty much any superlative that can be correlated to strength. This is reinforced with phrases like "Grow a pair!", "Man up!" and my personal favorite "Don't be a pussy!" (because according to society, there's innate weakness in having or being a vagina). Not only is this a singular story phenomenon, meaning that all men want to be "masculine" or those who identify as a man are the only ones who can express masculinity, but it can be extremely harmful to a man's body image. There's also the fact that society pushing men to be powerful not only creates unequal opportunity for different genders, but it is a major catalyst for rape culture

.

As many have said before me, it's important to empower everyone. All genders, all ages, all sexes, all sexual orientations, all races, all ethnicities, all heritages, all classes, all family situations, everything. Putting an empowerment exclusivity on men is dangerous to women and men alike. If this emphasis on men being buff, toned, strong and powerful continues, men will have the same self-esteem epidemic that women in this country are currently in. It's important to talk to our sons about how society and media portrays attractiveness and power in men, and that it's not realistic or healthy. 

In short: it's okay not to be buff, fellas. It's okay to not be the strongest. It is okay to be the strongest, ladies. Go ahead and get buff if you want. Or don't. It's okay to be masculine even if you are not male-bodied. It's okay to be feminine if you are male-bodied. Wear whatever you want, dye your hair whatever you want, tattoo whatever you want. It's all good. You are perf.

Grimhilde's Mirror

[Trigger Warning: contains statistics on eating disorders]

We've all watched Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, correct? Well if you haven't here's a short synopsis: Snow White is a pale 14 year old who hits all of the standard "beauty ideals". Evil stepmother Queen Grimhilde makes Snow White a maid out of jealousy of her beauty. Evil Queen asks her mirror who's the "fairest of them all" and the mirror says Snow White. Grimhilde orders a huntsman to kill Snow White. Huntsman can't kill Snow white. Snow White runs away and lives with seven incompetent dwarves. Queen poisons her and puts her in permanent sleep. Nameless Prince Charming kisses and wakes Snow White. Prince kills Queen Grimhilde. The end.

I now realize that this movie is extremely difficult to write a short synopsis of. Creepy, under aged, non-consensual activity aside, this whole mess of a situation, simply stated, comes from one woman comparing herself to another. This movie was Disney's first animated movie, made in 1937, and unfortunately almost 80 years later people are still comparing their outer beauty to one another. While it may not result in a queen-on-prince battle, the consequences are extremely severe. According to the Anorexia and Associated Disorders website, up to 24 million people of all ages, races, genders, sexual orientations and any other facet of identity suffer from an eating disorder in the United States alone. Only 1 in 10 people who suffer from an eating disorder get treatment for it, and eating disorders have the highest death rate of any other mental illness. 

I believe society puts way too much emphasis on our outer appearance and I believe movies like Snow White give young children the wrong impression of how one should measure their own value against others. I believe media gives society unattainable ideals of what a woman (and men in many cases) should look like. Most importantly. I believe movies like Snow White teach young girls the most important thing to be is physically beautiful. It teaches girls that the best compliment you can receive is to be called "gorgeous", "sexy" or "pretty", when those should be the last things a person should value most. 

I think it's time to shatter Grimhilde's Mirror. 

I myself have struggled with body image since I was about 12 and I am very guilty of comparing myself to others so this topic hits close to home and I think we're centuries past due for a change in perspective.

This blog will tear apart articles, social media and other forms of advertising that glamorize the virtually unattainable beauty ideal, as well as comparing or scrutinizing people's outer appearance. It will also give spotlight to those who are working to change this. Stay tuned.

Also, a shoutout to my mama who gave me the great idea of using Grimhilde's mirror as a theme. You rule mom.

"ANAD." Eating Disorders Statistics « « National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders. National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders, n.d. Web. 11 May 2014. <http://www.anad.org/get-information/about-eating-disorders/eating-disorders-statistics/>.