A community of five at Salmon Arm Secondary is hoping a film being shown Feb. 27 will help change how young women perceive and value themselves.
Grade 12 students Rachel Witt and Whitney Everett belong to a small community group that is part of the larger 60-member leadership group at the school.
“We try to organize things within community that everyone in the community can take on, which is why we are showing Miss Representation,” says Everett.
The film Miss Representation – You Can’t Be What You Can’t See, examines how women are influenced by mainstream media, music videos and advertising and, more importantly, how those influences impact how women feel about themselves.
“My mind was blown the first time I saw this documentary,” says Witt, who viewed the film at a Minerva Leadership Conference.
The film weaves together the stories of teenage girls with interviews from accomplished American women like Condoleeza Rice, Lisa Ling, Nancy Pelosi, Katie Couric and Gloria Steinman.
“The film’s motto, ‘you can’t be what you can’t see,’ underscores an implicit message that young women need and want positive role models, and that media has thus far neglected the opportunity to provide them,” says a community group press release. “The film includes a social action campaign to encourage change in policy, education and a call for socially responsible businesses to bring awareness to the issue.”
Everett says the film and the SAS community group challenge women to value themselves for their intellect and abilities.
“It’’s not about how smart a girl is; it’s how she looks, how she dresses,” says Everett of current attitudes.
She says many of the girls at SAS are hooked into the belief that they are only as good as they look and the boyfriends they have.
“You don’t need a guy to make you perfect; it’s crazy. If you look at the so-called popular kids, there’s so much makeup,” she says. “There’s nothing wrong with that, but there is something wrong when you go too far.”
Everett says it is the community group’s belief that women are being sold a bill of goods when it comes to their worth as human beings.
“I think it’s as important to go to the film to understand that’s not what women are like in reality, or should be,” she says. “Moms and daughters need to go, for daughters to see how inappropriate the role models are and for moms to be able to talk to them about it and back them up.”
Everett says she is a member of the leadership group in order to be part of something that addresses issues that are seldom discussed– issues such as bullying, self-esteem or the existence of cliques.
“It’s very cliquey at SAS,” notes Everett. “They can do what they want; I’ve never been bullied, but I’ve never been part of the clique.”
Miss Representation – You Can’t Be What You Can’t See will be shown Wednesday, Feb. 27 on the jumbo screen in the school’s Jackson campus gym at 7 p.m.
