Shifting Media Messages to Women?

by Brenda McKenzie, Doctoral Candidate, Kent State University

Women and girls are bombarded with messages every day from the media about how they should look and act and who they should be. These messages are often detrimental and can be downright misogynistic as has been highlighted by the work of Jean Kilbourne and the documentary MissRepresentation.

But there has been a recent shift in how women and girls are being portrayed and the messages companies want to send to women. The shift seemed to start with Goldieblox’s ad that dispelled the myth that all girls want is to play princess. Girls want to be innovators and architects and scientists and more. More recently Verizon

Women and Power

by Brenda McKenzie

What happens when you hear the word “power”? A typical response is that power is “bad,” that it is something that uncaring leaders wield to get what they want. For me, as a woman, I had these same thoughts and feelings. Power is about manipulation and I am not a manipulator. Several experiences I have had in the past year have changed my mind about the concept of power and its role for women in leadership.

Last spring I took a class on power and politics. I admit to going into the class with a negative attitude toward the concept of power. I saw it as manipulation and negative, and many of the examples we initially read about confirmed my views. As the course progressed, I began to examine my perceptions and think more critically about what power means, to me as a leader in general, but also to me as a woman. I came to realize that my views about power were shaped by political and societal actions aimed at telling me, as a woman, what I could and could not do.