Let’s Support Representation For Women In Front And Behind The Camera

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In May, a Wisconsin high school teacher was put on leave for showing and discussing Miss Representation. Thanks to students mobilizing on the ground, protests on social media, and nonstop coverage in local press, the superintendent was pressured into reinstating the teacher after just one day. And last week, a movie theater in Austin, Texas, faced extreme backlash for holding a women-only screening of Wonder Woman (including an all-female staff). The community rallied behind the theater, and now, not only has the original screening sold out, but the theater added a second screening, which immediately sold out as well.

All of which is say, your voice works! So let’s use it not just to right the wrongs in our communities but also to proactively create the world we want to live in. After all, the status quo isn’t changing fast enough – Sofia Coppola may have won the best director prize at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival over the weekend, but she was only the first woman to do so in 56 years. We can’t wait another half century for our stories to be equally valued and equally represented.

That’s why this week, we’re asking you to host a screening of Miss Representation. Together, we’ll make sure everyone has the language and tools to defy limiting narratives and demand better representation for all.

Onwards,

Jennifer Siebel Newsom & The Representation Project Team

Share Our Calling Card And Support the Family Act

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Paid family-leave programs benefit everyone, including employers, yielding a more reliable, productive workforce. They’re good for society, leading to healthier kids and families. And they’re good for gender equality, helping mothers and fathers be more equally involved. The Family Act is making waves this week so share this card and join us in demanding your elected official #RepresentHer.

Representation Around the Web

Manchester
“Some observers on Twitter are using this moment to take cheap shots at Ariana Grande’s music and roll their eyes at the makeup of her audience, as if a disproportionately young, female fanbase makes an artist somehow unserious. ‘MULTIPLE CONFIRMED FATALITIES at Manchester Arena. The last time I listened to Ariana Grande I almost died too,’ one Boston-based journalist tweeted. Meanwhile, some reports are saying dozens of unaccompanied children are holed up at hotels, waiting alone until their parents and guardians can come find them. These girls are survivors of an orchestrated attack on girls and girlhood, a massive act of gender-based violence.” – Christina Cauterucci, Slate.com

  • BuzzFeed: This Makeup Artist Turned a White Woman into a Black Woman and Everyone’s Mad
  • The Independent: Harvard Student Graduates with Honours after Submitting Rap Album as Final Year Thesis
  • The New York Times: 11 Years Old, a Mom, and Pushed to Marry Her Rapist in Florida
  • NY1 News: Harlem Residents Fuming Over Push to Rename the Area
  • People: First Gentleman of Luxembourg, Who’s Married to World’s Only Openly Gay Prime Minister, Poses With Spouses of World Leaders
  • The Washington Post: ‘It’s Sexist’: Men Flip Out Over Women-Only Wonder Woman Screenings

 

Manchester

 

“When we include more female storytellers, we will have more of the women I recognize … ones that are proactive, have their own agencies, don’t just react to the men around them.” – Jessica Chastain, at a press conference in Cannes
Image via Miss Representation‘s Instagram