Media Blog #12: MissRepresentation in Catoons

     As a kid, I watched a whole lot of cartoons.  I would watch just about any cartoon that was on TV.  But I never noticed the kinds of messages these shows were installing in my mind.  Last night, as I was watching some cartoons, I began to see what was said in MissRepresntation applied to these shows; most noticeably, really skinny women wearing barely any clothes or wearing revealing outfits. Think about the messages these shows send to young girls now.  If this was already happening when I was a young girl, I'm pretty sure it has gotten worse.  
     Take Misty from the Pokemon series.  She's already very skinny, and to top it off, she only wears short shorts and a cropped tank top.  The outfit is wrong on so many levels, not to mention that it is also impractical.  She is supposed to be traveling the Kanto region in this outfit, but how is she supposed to know what the weather will be like in each area?  That always puzzled me, but I didn't look further into it.  She needs to be covered up a lot more.  Also, her skin is perfect, not a blemish in sight.  When young girls see her, they begin to compare themselves to her, saying things such as "I wish I looked like her."  The fact that she is also a strong-willed, likeable character doesn't help.  Girls admire her and want to be just like her.    They are measuring themselves to an unachievable and unhealthy standard.  They begin to believe that society accepts girls that super skinny and wear just enough clothes to cover what needs to be covered at all times of the year.  Warmth is not an issue for them.  They just need to look good and show themselves off. 

     Another example is Starfire, from a show called Teen Titans.  In the show, Starfire can fly and shoots green fireballs.  Starfire and four other superheroes work together to fight off crime in the city they live in.  Like Misty, many girls could look up to her because she fights off bad guys.  How cool is that?  People may think that objectifying women doesn't apply to her because shes helps her fellow men colleagues save the day, but she is.  Look at what she is wearing, a tight, revealing top that stops way above her waist, an extremely short and tight skirt that just covers her bottom, and long socks that stop just before where the shorts stop to reveal a small sliver of skin.  Also, look at her legs.  They are just skin and bones that could break any second.  Girls get the idea that they should wear something like this when they feel powerful and are helping people.  

     Cartoon characters aren't real and don't exist in life, but they do a very good job in telling girls how they should look like and be.  Even though these shows have ended, the fact that there are still reruns of them only increases the chance for a young girl to watch it.  Why can't strong cartoon characters be like Katniss Everdeen, who is recognized for her strength, not her sex appeal.  It is dangerous for girls growing up in this era of media.  They are constantly being bombarded with messages telling them how to be, and they don't get a say in it.  This needs to stop, but the only way to do this is to reshape the way women are portrayed in all kinds of media.