Tuesday, January 7, 2014

The Glass Ceiling

After recently viewing Miss Representation (I highly recommend), reading feminist news sites, and discussing controversial topics with teachers and friends, I am more motivated than ever to be a successful woman in the workplace and to work my way up to an influential position in media. 
My choice to delve into the toxic realm of journalistic media as a career is both terrifying and exciting. It's terrifying in the sense that media today has taken a turn for the cheap, appealing to a disgusting demographic of young, horny men because "sex sells." It's terrifying to see "news" stations that feature Robin Thicke's rapey performance with Miley Cyrus as a headlining story when globally, young girls like Malala Yousafzai are taking bullets in order to advocate the importance of education. Investigative journalism is becoming increasingly harder to find on big corporation networks. It's scary to enter a world of media that is dominated by older white men who continue to hold backward judgements about successful women in the workplace and continue to cover superficial stories, ignoring the more important news. 

But I'm not scared. 

As a future journalist, I believe that my generation has the power to not only help change the role of women in the media, but to change the media's representation of "perfect" so future generations' role models will no longer have impossibly skinny limbs, Photo shopped-flawless skin, fluorescent white teeth and tanned, melanoma-ridden skin. So little girls won't be scared to ask for Hot Wheels for their birthdays and little boys won't be taught to hide their emotions. I want people to know who they are before the media tells them who they should be.
I can go on for hours about the indecencies and terrible examples set by the media, but I must not digress. 
Journalism, like any area of prominence, needs more successful women to balance out the bylines and create a sense of equality. There needs to be more than 26% female staffers on the New York Times. There must be more success stories about female editors than instances of sexual harassment in the newsroom. 
I aspire to work myself into a high position so I can write about topics that will open minds and inspire more women to become successful politicians, doctors, and other male-dominated professional positions.
I want to break the glass ceiling that has been set for women. I want to change things. And that is exactly what I am going to do. 

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