Week 5: Miss Representation post

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/washington/story/2012-05-09/hillary-rodham-clinton/54860282/1

Especially brought to light for me during the recent presidential election with Donald Trump and Hilary Clinton, was the way that women are judged much more harshly than men on purely their appearance. Although I wasn't quite as well informed on everything about this past election as I could have been, I did observe the way that the media treated the women in the election (specifically Hilary Clinton) different than all of the other men. The media would definitely highlight negative aspects about Trump's appearance such as his fake orange complexion and his obvious hairpiece, but it always seemed like more of a joke and the media implied that it wasn't too important or relevant. With Clinton on the other hand, the ads would always focus on making her look "crazy" or "evil" or as "lying", in a way that makes her unqualified, these are also common stereotypical insults for women that have existed for centuries. I think that this strategy used by the media to emphasize any sort of imperfections with women, even in politics, is one of the major sources of the inequalities that women constantly face. When the media puts this sort of stuff out to everyone, it engraves the implicit message that women need to look good at all times and shouldn't go into the public eye in any way if they don't want to be crucially judged on their appearance. Also when this is shown to the people, young girls could see this negativity towards women, and the focus on what they look like and be less driven to try to achieve their goals and pursue their true passions in life. I think to make a more equal society for men and women in America, one thing that must change is the way that women are portrayed in the general media, because it effects everyone one way or another.