The Junior League of Midland, Inc. screened the film Miss Representation at
Cinergy Theaters on April 21, 2015 in lieu of an April General Meeting. As quoted
by the promotional materials, “Miss Representation advocates that all people
should be equally represented in our media, that our voices should be heard, and
that we should be valued for our talents, our capacity as leaders, and ability to
contribute to the world at large. This documentary has launched
MissRepresentation.org to drive a social campaign that focuses on how to
empower women and girls to fully realize their potential and transform our culture
for the betterment of all. This documentary premiered at the Sundance Film
Festival. Since then it has been part of the OWN (Oprah Winfrey Network)
documentary film club. Over 1.4 million people have tuned into the OWN network
to watch the films multiple airings. Since then tens of thousands more have seen
the film in classrooms, churches, business, and community events. The film was
made to inspire us all to be agents of change in our culture and to change the
perception that a girls’ value lies in her beauty, youth, and sexuality. The goal is
to create a more positive environment for women and girls as well as men and
boys.”
Several Junior Leagues across the nation have screened the film together and
have used it as a training tool for their members. I thought this would be a great
training opportunity for our League since the film deals with many of the issues
we face in our mentoring programs and in our own personal lives.
The screening of the film began at 7:10 p.m. and ended at approximately
8:35 p.m. After the conclusion of the film, I asked for feelings about the film from
the audience. The response was extremely positive. Jay Hendricks (CBS 7 News
Anchor), a member of the League’s Community Advisory Board, facilitated a
formal discussion about the film. Mr. Hendricks spoke about his experiences as
to how women are treated locally in his newsroom. Mr. Hendricks asked for
members to discuss the film with people around them. After small group
discussion, Mr. Hendricks led a whole group discussion. Mr. Hendricks asked for
comments about how we could bring what we learned to our community. One
suggestion included bringing this film to a wider audience, including many of our
current mentoring programs. Mr. Hendricks suggested having Tatum Hubbard
(his co-anchor) facilitate future screenings as she has valuable knowledge as a
woman working in the media.
I am truly honored that I was able to bring this film to our League. While the
Junior League of Midland by no means advocates every political issue presented
in the film, we do believe in the empowerment of women and girls. My hope is
that this film will begin a conversation in our League and community to work
towards empowering women and girls to create the most positive environment
possible.
-Michelle Dinger, President 2014-2015
