Guest Columns: Working for Media Justice, 100 Women at a Time

Looking to the media for positive images of young women is no easy task.  Too often younger women are depicted as victims, sexual objects, or we're not shown at all. 

As difficult as it is to find realistic portrayals of ourselves, ensuring that there are positive, strong images of young women in the media needs to be a priority.   The influence that the media has necessitates it.  The public face of young women in the U.S. cannot continue to be determined by old men running television studios, heads of advertising agencies or anyone else who would sooner objectify us for money than show what young women are really like.

 Fighting more traditional feminist battles like pay equity, reproductive rights and violence against women will always be central to young women's work.   But working for justice in the media--an issue that's often overlooked--is the fight of the future for feminists.  Whether it's magazines, television, movies, or even online--the media is the new battleground for younger women.

Nothing quite exemplifies the way young women are portrayed in the media as much as Maxim magazine's annual "Hot 100" list.  The women featured in this top men's magazine are chosen solely for the way they look.  Shocker, I know.  Thankfully, what we see in the media - and in Maxim - doesn't match up with reality.  That's why we started the REAL hot 100.  There are too many amazing women out there breaking barriers and fighting stereotypes every day not to give them a platform.

More than 150 women from more than 30 states have already been nominated. They include a Protestant minister from Iowa who's shattering the stained-glass ceiling, one of the first women graduates of   the Florida Space Academy, a violin virtuoso from Tennessee, and the founder of a California non-profit dedicated to helping women of diverse backgrounds get into business school.

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The REAL hot 100 shows that young women are "hot" for reasons beyond looking good in a magazine.  By featuring this list of young women from around the country doing incredible things in their every day lives, we're battling the popular notion that all we have to offer is outward appearances.   This campaign is just a first step.  We hope that the REAL hot 100 will continue to feature younger women's work for many years to come - but there's always more work to be done.  Other campaigns that bring additional attention to this issue need to be formed, and more women need to become involved.

The fight for media justice begins and ends with us.  If we want to ensure that young women are truly present and depicted in positive ways in the media, we have to do the work.   After all, who better to define how younger women in the media should be portrayed better than young women themselves?

The Younger Women’s Task Force, a  project of the National Council of Women’s Organizations, is a nationwide, diverse and inclusive grassroots movement dedicated to organizing younger women and their allies to take action on issues that matter most to them.

In the spirit of its commitment to identifying, developing, and creating a space for younger women’s leadership, the Younger Women’s Task Force (YWTF) is proud to be a sponsor of The REAL hot 100. YWTF’s sponsorship of the REAL hot 100 is exemplary of YWTF’s Media Democracy Project, a groundbreaking new program to infuse the growing media justice movement with the voices, energy, and talent of the younger women’s community.  For more information on the Younger Women’s Task Force, please visit www.ywtf.org. For more information on the REAL hot 100 please visit www.therealhot100.org.