missrepresentation

After watching the first part of MissRepresentation, as a woman who hopes to enter a professional field I felt very discouraged. Listening to the political analysts rip apart powerful women such as Hilary Clinton and Sarah Palin solely based on their outward appearances was both infuriating and discouraging. A woman in the public eye is faced with the impossible task of presenting herself in a way that doesn’t give sexist analysts material for disrespectful jokes, which in my opinion is just plain ridiculous. Ultimately, the reason I feel so discouraged is because I truly do believe it is impossible for a professional woman to present herself in a manner that doesn’t solicit an opinion of another person, especially a male.

Generally speaking, men in the professional industry follow an unwritten dress code that works every time. This dress code puts every man on an even playing field and basically eliminates the concept of style, allowing for much more important aspects of their personality to shine through. Women do not have a dress code that equalizes them. Women have to think about their hair color/style/ length, outfit (all encompassing), bra style, shoes, jewelry, nails, eyebrows, purse, makeup, skin care, along with so much more. Men have a fraction of those options. As a woman I don’t think it’s possible to ever present yourself in a way that doesn’t open up the door for scrutiny from somebody, and like I mentioned before, that is ridiculous. It saddens me to think that the way I present myself from this point forward will have such a significant impact on my career path, but unfortunately there seems to be no way around it. I can only hope that one day women will experience the same neutrality men do.