WHAT WE VIEW INFLUENCES ATTITUDES AND HEALTH

Television, film, the Internet, magazines, "camera-ready" fashions, hair, and makeup in the media have come to define femininity itself.  This has been going on for years—I call it the "manufactured woman"— but media makes it a ubiquitous propaganda we cannot escape.

In entertainment media, particularly on television, women are very often depicted in ways that are humiliating, derogatory, and offensive, with stereotyped looks, age, and actions. Even television commercials prey on women's insecurity, low self esteem, and the notion that we need to be told what to think and how to be, in order to be accepted--and hence deserving--of self-esteem.

Misogyny and patriarchal dominance is a living force that is in continual search of a home where it can flourish. That new home is the media.  Not to say that all media is bad, nor are women only depicted in derogatory ways. There are several images of inspiring women in the media, one of my favorites being the character of Rayna Jaymes, from the now-concluded TV show Nashville.

Like any technology, there are good uses and bad. I love to play video games and there are benefits to playing video games. There is also a lot of misogynistic teaching and violence saturation in some games, which does impact sensitive human psyches. This is especially true among developing young people, but can also negatively influence adults as well.

As humans, what we put into our bodies impacts our health and well-being.  A healthy diet brings a healthier mind and body. Meditation does too.  Saturating our minds with positive thoughts like gratitude and compassion for others does also.  But conversely, the more bad food and drink we consume, the more death-and-violence we fill our entertainment with, the more misogynistic our entertainment, surely that too has an impact on our mind and body.  It is the latter that harms women, collectively and individually.