Step Up teen Angelica Luna shares her experience attending the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media global symposium in New York City.
On September 22, I attended a global conference about how gender is being portrayed in media. Geena Davis was the founder of her institute and she presented the first study about gender in films. I would like to give a special thanks to Step Up for giving me the special opportunity to attend this global conference.
Although women make up most of the world’s population, men have been the dominant ones over many centuries to control politics, education and media. Geena Davis said, “About 80% of media, we are largely responsible for,” meaning that society was created based on the people and how we can still change the way the next generation would view it. I also learned that media influences females at such a young age. For example, in the movie Frozen, the main characters are portrayed as skinny with small feet and with pretty faces. Even though, this is such a cute movie, it shows girls that in order to feel beautiful they must have these characteristics the person has. When a female does not reach to her expectations, they tend to have a low self-esteem which can affect their choices in life. There is also a lack of women who have the main role in a movie. There is usually someone who plays along with the protagonist like in the Harry Potter movies. Don’t get me wrong, the Harry Potter movies were amazing but there was a lack of females in the movies. Davis wants to see more female actors having the main lead in the movie. Not only in media but in other career departments like in STEM fields and politics. Overall, Geena Davis’ wanted to focus on the idea that there is still time to change the way our society has taught us to be. More generations will be born and by that time I hope to see a female president.
