Media. It consumes our lives. It controls what we see, hear, and to a large extent, what we believe. It is something humankind has become addicted to, something we crave. It has soaked into our brains and has both enriched but yet poisoned our minds. It has shaped our ideals, and how we look at the world and the people in it. Since media has such a large impact on how we look at world, it also has a large impact on how we look at various groups of people, especially women. Now, I’m not talking about the models or actresses that are all over billboards and ads representing the latest movie or piece of lingerie that one can buy. I’m talking about the powerful women in our society that have a voice and an opinion, and are desperately trying to be heard. Our media is so focused on how a woman looks or how she dresses, that us as viewers barely get the chance to see or hear about what some seriously strong women have to say about our world and what they want to do to help make it a better place.

Although the media is controlled by dominantly men, there are a few women out there that help spread toxic and degrading thoughts and ideas about women and their bodies. Powerful women are sexualized, and it’s devastating to think that some of the people promoting that embarrassing and disgusting identity surrounding those women, are other women. Teens and young women are all significantly impacted by this continuing rise and infestation of sexualization, and are constantly trying to be accepted by society. Teens and young women who, at one time, had the dream of becoming President or being a doctor, are now suffering from eating disorders, and wake up hours before work or school to put on makeup as a way to look good to everyone else. Society has created this massive idea of how a woman needs to look or dress. Although this sexualized idea of women has been an identity that we have struggled with for thousands of years, the massive uprise of contemporary media has shoved those ideas in our faces. It has gotten so bad that women are scared because they aren’t seen for who they are on the inside, but how they look on the outside.

For example, when I was younger, it was my ultimate dream in life to be an astronaut. I had a passion for space and a deep love for astronomy. I was the kind of kid who was overwhelmed with joy when my science class started talking about outer space. One day, I even made my dad take me out of school early in the second grade to go see the limited time Apollo exhibit at the Museum of Natural Science. However, as I got older, that dream began to fade. I was teased and made fun of in sixth grade for still wearing my hair natural, and never wearing any makeup. I became so embarrassed and self conscious of what others thought of me that I began to straighten my hair everyday, and even snuck mascara in to my backpack every morning to put on in the school bathroom. My grades and school became less important to me while popularity and acceptance ruled my every thought and concern. I would read Seventeen magazine on a regular basis, and started to develop a love for the show "America's Next Top Model." I stopped thinking about women who were once my role models, while models in the front of magazines were all I could focus on. My idea about powerful women in society completely switched from women who exemplify leadership and compassion to women who are skinny and gorgeous. My obsession with looks and my body had a huge impact on my life for a very long time, and it wasn’t until my senior year of high school that my idea of powerful women started to switch back to the same idea I had when I was a little girl.

Women and girls between ages 10-27 are the most apt to be tuned into the media. According to Rolling Stone Magazine, their 2014 September issue stated that girls ages 14-19 are at the biggest risk of being diagnosed with an eating disorder, and women ages 13-22 are most susceptible to developing depression and anxiety. When looking at these statistics, as someone who has suffered from two of these three issues, I can fully understand and appreciate just how difficult being a woman can be. It’s especially hard when the media focuses almost entirely on the perfection and beauty of women, and how their bodies can provide men with the sexual desires they yearn for. It goes with the saying “Women will envy you and men will want to be with you."

However, for many well-known and powerful women who have made it to fame and fortune, beauty and media devastation hasn’t kept them from voicing their opinion and having the desire to be heard and taken seriously. There are many women in our society that fit that category, but for now I’ll focus mainly on Hillary Clinton, Sarah Palin, Oprah Winfrey, and Ellen DeGeneres. All four of these women have shown incredible character, ambition and passion for changing the world. Although some of them don’t necessarily agree with one another, they have still fought many of the same battles and have persevered through some extremely devastating and humiliating media headlines.

Especially during the 2008 presidential election, competitors Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin were both slammed by the media, but in two completely opposite ways. New York Magazine posted an article on their website in November of 2008 titled “The ‘Bitch’ and the ‘Ditz’.” This article goes in to more explicit detail about how the “Year of Women” ended up becoming quite an embarrassing disappointment. For Palin, she was labeled as the ditzy “airhead” who fits the menstruating female stereotype,“Sarah Palin has been variously described as a diva who engaged in paperwork-throwing tantrums, a shopaholic who spent $150,000 on clothing, a seductress who provocatively welcomed staffers while wearing only a towel, and a “whack-job”—contemporary code for hysteric.” (New York Magazine) The article goes on to state that many men found Palin to be quite attractive and feminine, stating that she was “exceptionally pretty” and a “dim beauty queen”. Instead of taking her ideas seriously, people began to see her more as the pretty politician rather than an influential leader.

Hillary Clinton also had the media buzzing, but in a completely different yet still sexist manner. She was labeled as the “narcissistic bitch” who was all about shoving her beliefs down people’s throats. “She was a grind, scold, harpy, shrew, priss, teacher’s pet, killjoy—you get the idea. She was repeatedly called a bitch (as in: ‘How do we beat the … ‘) and a buster of balls. Tucker Carlson deemed her ‘castrating, overbearing, and scary’ and said, memorably, ‘Every time I hear Hillary Clinton speak, I involuntarily cross my legs.’” (New York Magazine) The article goes on to state that she was always cloaked in her femininity and horrific pantsuits. As a politician, she was always well-prepared (sometimes overly so), and tried hard to state how she wasn’t running for office simply because she was a woman, but because she felt as though she was the most well-qualified candidate.

This article is just one of the many articles and media sources that contains extremely sexist remarks about two of some of the most powerful women in our society. However, I decided to dig deeper and talk to a female politician to hear first hand what exactly she has gone through as a woman in congress. My interview was with former House of Representatives congresswoman Kiki Traylor. Not only was she very involved in congress for the state of Colorado, but she is also a close family friend who has always been a role model of mine. I proceeded by asking her a couple of questions on what all she went through as a female in politics, and if her obstacles kept her from pursuing any further dreams she had. To start off, I kept it basic, and asked her if she was ever apart of a sexist headline within the media. “During my campaign to be Senator in 2006, I was doing a lot of speaking and a lot of attempting to convince people to vote for me. I had to be extremely careful with the kinds of things I wore, and especially how I would respond to various questions asked by the press. There were plenty of times where I was ridiculed by the media for wearing pant suits, or called “provocative” for wearing a top that was too low cut. It was very difficult for me. There were times when I would leave a press conference and start to cry because I knew that any wrong thing I said or any question I couldn’t answer would be featured in the news the next day.”

I then proceeded to ask her if she was ever accused of getting any type of plastic surgery or implants that made her seem less capable as a politician. “For a long time there was a rumor about me having an eating disorder. I remember waking up one morning and reading a headline on the Denver Postsaying "Traylor Doesn’t Eat In Order to Get Votes." Although that moment was one of the most difficult in my career, it was also one of the most defining. I had a scheduled press conference again later that afternoon, and spent the entire morning gathering myself in my room before I could even go downstairs and eat breakfast.” My final question for Kiki was one that I was very anxious to hear the answer to. I asked her what she would have to say to any other girls or young women who have a dream of becoming a politician or changing the world. Her answer astonished me, and also brought tears to my eyes.

“Women are beautiful. And when I say that yes, I mean we have beautiful bodies, but we also have beautiful minds. Our ability to think for ourselves and our opportunity to finally have a voice is a wonderful thing that we need to take advantage of. We have to come together and fight for what we want, and for our voices to be heard in a loud storm of male opinions and stereotypes. Any girl who has the dream to change the world should take that dream, and make it a goal. She should never give up, because the world needs more strong women who are ready and are capable of persevering through all obstacles thrown at them in order to make life on Earth more wonderful and fair.”

After much research on political women and how they are brutally sexualized instead of seen for their roles as leaders by the media, I decided to move on to another very different group of women that struggle with their identity as presented by the media. Oprah Winfrey and Ellen DeGeneres may look very different from one another, but yet when it comes to their personalities, they are two very caring and kind-hearted individuals. Both of them have dedicated their lives and careers to helping those less fortunate than them, and spreading the word about the good or humorous doings of other people.

When I think about Oprah Winfrey, I think about an extremely powerful woman that is not only one of the wealthiest women in the world, but also one of the most well-known. However, Oprah didn’t always have it so easy. She didn’t become popular in the U.S. until her debut as the host of the talk show "People Are Talking" in 1976. Although this was almost twelve years after the Civil Rights Movement which occurred in 1964, Winfrey still had a very hard time fitting in to her media consumed career. In December of 1978, The Jackson Free Press wrote an article about Oprah stating “She’s a big black girl trying to fit in to a white world.” (Jackson Free Press 1978) Many years after, the media continued to make harsh comments about Oprah’s weight, something she has struggled with since she was abused as a little girl. In 2003, Oprah opened up to the nation on her famous talk-show, "The Oprah Winfrey Show," “My weight is something that is in my face every single day. It has defined much of my life, and often times consumes my thoughts and emotions about myself. I struggle with my self image just like millions of women worldwide, but I refuse to let hatred and nasty comments devastate my self esteem. We are all better than that, and every woman deserves to be seen for who she truly is on the inside.” (The Oprah Winfrey Show 2003) It’s no question that Oprah has been seriously impacted by the sexualized norms society pushes on to all women both white and of color. Based on Oprah’s continuous struggles with her career in the media, it’s not surprise that other women, including Ellen DeGeneres, had hard times in the media world as well.

Before Ellen’s career took a major kickoff at the start of her own show Ellen, she was originally a stand-up comedian that was discovered by Johnny Carson. In 1992, DeGeneres was given the opportunity to star in her own prime-time sitcom originally titled "These Friends Of Mine." The show faced strong criticism when, in April 1997, DeGeneres's character became the first lead in sitcom history to openly acknowledge her homosexuality on air. Due to fear of controversy, many of the show’s sponsors withdrew their advertisements. In 1998, "Ellen" was cancelled because of the extreme backlash from viewers and other media sources. Although the "Ellen" show returned to television in 2003, she still struggles with discrimination from the media for her homosexuality. In fact, earlier this year on January 13th, DeGeneres took the time to address an article in the Christian Post which stated that organizations such as GLAAD and other LGBTQ advocacy groups are “targeting innocent and impressionable children.” Her response to this statement was quite classy, and she said, “The only way I’m trying to influence people is to be more kind and compassionate with one another.” Her response to the Christian Post is a prime example of how women aren’t seen as for who they are as people. Although Ellen DeGeneres has been credited with giving out millions of dollars to various less fortunate people worldwide, she still struggles with being criticized for her sexual orientation.

Outside of powerful women in our society who are sexualized and discriminated against by the media, women also continue to struggle with equal rights, especially when it comes to jobs in the workforce and equal pay. Although they hold almost 52 percent of all professional-level jobs, American women lag substantially behind men when it comes to their representation in leadership positions. They are only 14.6 percent of executive officers, 8.1 percent of top earners, and 4.6 percent of Fortune 500 CEOs. According to recent studies earlier this year, full-time year-round women workers are paid 78 percent of what men are paid. Women in every state experience this pay gap, but it is worse in certain states such as Louisiana, Georgia, Mississippi, and Texas, where women on average are only paid 66 percent of what men are paid. The pay gap is even worse for women of color, and studies have shown that African American and Hispanic women are only paid 55 percent of what caucasian men are paid. These statistics are completely devastating, and prove that women still struggle with having equal rights. It is an embarrassment to our society that many women who have the capability to run a company, are simply ignored due to their gender.

My original fascination with the media and how it sexualizes women began in the Spring of my Senior year of high school, when my English class watched the documentary "Miss Representation."From that point on I have always been consciously aware of real “powerhouse” women who are apart of my everyday life, and how they may have been impacted by the genderized norms society pushes on to women. Walking through campus earlier last week, I took the time to look around at all the beautiful and strong women around me. My mind drifted to my professors and TA’s who have had a significant impact on my life and how I’ve grown as an individual since being here in college. However, this positive reflection also made me wonder what kinds of obstacles these women in my life have faced while growing up and creating their own identities. It made me question how difficult it must’ve been for them to go against the norms of society and teach other young women such as myself that it’s okay to look different or be different from everyone else. It just goes to show we are all surrounded by “powerhouse” women, and they are the kind of women in our society that can help bring us together to change this continuous sexualized norm that society throws in our face every single day.