Representation Within The Media

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.