Sadly, our world has
reached the point where the abuse towards women is not given the amount of
attention that it should. When saying this, it makes me extremely angry and
heartbroken that women around the world have to deal with both mental and
physical abuse and are yet to be recognized. On this project, I would like to
bring the emotion and physical pain women feel when being abused. Showing this
on screen will bring awareness about the topic and hopefully rightfully
represent how these helpless women feel when going through these harsh and
abusive moments. Without these women being rightfully represented they are
getting no help nor awareness about what they are going through. As the media
is an important source in how the public sees a group of people, having a
well-represented story about them will hopefully bring a more renounced feeling
to these actions against women who have been abused both mentally and
physically.
Often in the media, the
women being abused are not represented in the correct way. As most often, they
can be shown to the public as “asking for it.” An example of this can be seen
on https://www.huffingtonpost.com/keli-goff/of-course-she-was-asking-_b_835782.html where it states that an 11-year-old girl was
raped because “she dressed provocatively and that these young men could have
their lives ruined by the fallout.” It is absolutely disgusting to see girls
who haven’t even reached puberty be represented like this. Those who do the
harm, make the girls seem at fault for their actions. It is completely
disgusting and gets me extremely mad to have to see this happen. There are a
lot more stories like that portrayed in the media, making the general public
believe that they shouldn't be raising awareness about women who are incapable
of feeling pain because they are “asking for it.” Another example of this can
be seen in the rape culture sometimes developed throughout different places,
which normalizes sexual violence, decreasing the chances that awareness be
raised about it. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4964380/Donna-Karan-defends-Harvey-Weinstein-blames-victims.html shows how sometimes even big influencers on the
media affect what the general public believes. It states that “Fashion designer
Donna Karan is standing by Harvey Weinstein and has suggested his alleged
victims may have been 'asking for it' by the way the women act and dress.” Just
by this being posted on the media can change the way people look at rape and
abuse victims, considering that one of their idols said it was okay. It
completely saddens me that these hurt women are being represented in the media
as wanting to be in pain and anguish for the pleasing of another person.
On this note, I would
genuinely want to change how women who are mentally and physically abused are
represented in the media through this project. On many of the accounts that I
have seen, the victim's point of view and pain is represented clearly. I would
like to keep that part incorporated into storytelling as it brings out the true
emotions of the piece and how that person is feeling. I would completely
disregard however how the media would sometimes take away the fact that the
women is the victim and how they were “asking for it,” because in reality, that
is mostly not the case. I find it completely horrid that the women who have
been abused are represented for wanting to be in the pain. It is necessary to
bring out the true emotions and feelings behind the story, to accurately show
represent what happened and raise awareness about the true dangers and pain
these helpless women feel.
