Appearance is the daunting link between media and social perception of what it is to be a female. From children show’s to adult programming women are objectified as seductive beings that must in one way or another tend to the needs of a man and if this isn't the case the woman seems to be an evil conniving selfish person. The clothes determine the character. In most cases we see young women with little to no clothing, dressed sharp and professional or careless and sloppy. Female characters we see in media are often the seductress, the conniving business woman, the house wife and always the damsel in distress.
My name is Michelle, I’m 24 years old and I am a media major currently in my junior year. I grew up in Queens, New York and I have to say media has affected my life in many ways. From what I remember I started noticing female objectification the minute I stepped into junior high school. Until that moment I actually thought Britney Spears school girl outfit was so amazing, but little did I know my rude awakening was waiting for me. Boys in school treated girls with disrespect. They discussed music videos and female body types instead of cartoons or homework.
I grew up watching Disney movies and soon discovered they were all lies. This princess was left to rescue herself. Today I go to college and have a wonderful 2 year old daughter running around pulling my hair. The one thing I’ve noticed about media is that there isn't a character or person that I can relate to that I know of. According to TV I am in my 20’s, my selfish years where I travel the world establish my career and party like an animal. The truth is I balance everything even if media says its impossible.
In the “Devil wears Prada,” actress Meryl Streep, plays the conniving editor in chief. She is the successful woman that has sacrificed many things to achieve success. Women in the media are forced to make choices between a personal life and a career because they can’t have it all, while men are often over achievers and have abundance in love as well as fortune. In “Cheaper by the dozen,” another common movie we see actress Bonnie Hunt playing the part of the mother whom is the caretaker of the house and is forced to leave her book tour because her children need her and her husband can’t seem to hold things together.
Reese Witherspoon happens to be acting in a few films that place women in categories such as Legally blonde where she wears pink through out the entire movie while everyone else is dressed in dark or neutral colors around her to emphasize that she's an “airhead”. In “Sweet Home Alabama,” Witherspoon plays the main character which is a successful woman that returns to her home town from New York and sees all her childhood friends as sloppy house wives with many kids. Its agenda’s like these that don’t make sense although they exist there is a growing number of moms and wives that are working hard and are successful in maintaining a balance between career, family and life in general. 
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