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Sanice Arrington
Professor Malcolm Campbell
UWRT 1103
February 10, 2015
Miss Represented
Introduction/Overview
I will be examining the interest in feminism in todays society.
There has been a tremendous rise in the feminist movement in modern
day society that focuses on the belief that there should be political,
social and economic equality between the male and female sexes.
With many current celebrities such as, Emma Watson and Jennifer
Lawrence weighing in the importance of feminism, the movement is
really starting to take off. While there are arguments on both sides on
the need for feminism, I will focus on how the media portrays and over
sexualizes women. This institutionalized sexism and discrimination
against women hinders their ability to hold powerful positions whether
it is in a corporation or in politics. In the history of feminism, feminists
have always been given derogatory names and had their views
misinterpreted by misogynists.
To research my topic, I found research statistics that give way to
the notion that women are underrepresented and often misrepresented
in the media and in society today. I also watched documentaries that
showcased exactly how the media portrays powerful women and

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women in general negatively. I discussed the topic with a close friend
of mine who is actually in the Gender eXcellence learning community
and is required to take Womens and Gender Studies courses. Having
her scholarly input from the research she has had to do as well as the
articles she has had to read, I felt compelled to explore this topic more
deeply. After watching the documentary entitled Miss Representation
my generalized question of Why do women need feminism? became
a more focused inquiry into Why feminism is important in helping
combat the sexist and discriminatory views of women in the media?
Feminists are not some left-winged, radical group but instead women
with the common belief that we have the right to be treated equally as
men. Women who want to be viewed as actual humans rather than
sexual objects and/or objects to be judged.
There are a lot of views on feminism; from some women saying
that we dont need feminism because we are given the same basic
rights as men, to men stating that feminists are a bunch of malehating bitter women, (meninists) to men and women that agree that
feminism is still needed despite the advancements of womens rights.
The meninism movement started in 2014 on social media. The
movement consists of men referring to themselves as meninists to
take a stand against feminism. Their slogan being stop objectifying
men, while the hashtag consists of mostly jokes, some are using the
hashtag to express the real difficulties they feel men have in todays

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society. Pat Robertson is known for this famous statement about
feminism: The feminist agenda is not about equal rights for women. It
is about a socialist, anti-family political movement that encourages
women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft,
destroy capitalism, and become lesbians. This statement, though it
was made about 20 years ago, is one that a lot of anti-feminist men
still believe bears truth about feminists. It goes without stating that all
feminists do not hate men, do not think all men are evil and are not all
lesbian. In the article Feminism it is stated that the feminist agenda
is about equal rights for women and about removing obstacles to
increase the representation of women in political and social leadership
positions.
Initial Inquiry Question(s)
Why women need feminism to help combat sexist views in the
media? What is the effect of sexism in the media in the development of
young girls?
Why is feminism important in todays society? Why is it
important for women to hold political positions? What is the effect of
underrepresentation of women in politics?
My Interest In This Topic
Im interested in feminism because it is 2015 and women are still
viewed as weaker than men. Im interested in feminism because
women are still paid significantly less than men with the same amount

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of education. Im interested in feminism because women are often
blamed for being victims of rape/domestic violence. Im interested in
feminism because when Hillary Clinton was a presidential candidate,
the media focused on the way she dressed and even went so far as to
refer to her as bitchy and ugly rather than focusing on her campaign.
Im interested in feminism because Congress is 80 percent male. I
need feminism because womens looks are scrutinized daily and
women are often fired for their looks. Im interested in the negative
stigma attached to feminism and why it is important to remove that
stigma. Most importantly, I think it important to learn more about
feminism so that I can teach others about it. Feminism isnt about
women gaining special rights but rather equal rights and the freedom
to look and behave as they would like. All of these reasons, and more
than I plan to learn, are the reasons why I am interested in feminism.
Next Steps
I will be using the Points of View database, as well as other library
databases, to find scholarly and peer-reviewed articles on feminism. I
also will exam reliable journalistic sources such as, The Huffington
Post, National Public Radio, and PBS. I also will utilize the Feminist
Majority Foundation and their sister magazine, Ms. Magazine to help
find additional information as it pertains to my topic. I also will try to
find documentaries that provide me with an eye-opening view on
feminism, such as Miss Representation.