This election has brought out some of the worst in our country.

It has unearthed the underbelly of our country’s misogyny, racism, and bigotry. It has exposed the limiting gender stereotypes I have dedicated my life’s work to overcoming– toxic masculinity on the one hand, and the double standard applied to women in power on the other. With the election of Donald Trump, this proves that the foundation of patriarchy that our country was built on is alive and thriving.

Regardless of your politics, Hillary Clinton’s ascendance to the presidency symbolically would have captured the change I wanted to achieve five years ago with the release of my first film Miss Representation.

And so as I look to the future, I want to assure you. We are not going anywhere. The Representation Project will continue to educate and empower our constituents, in particular our nation’s youth, to challenge and overcome toxic norms and social injustices. As a cultural change organization, we will expand the cultural narrative for our nation’s children so that everyone, regardless of one’s gender, race, class, age, sexual orientation, or circumstance can fulfill their human potential.

But we can’t do this work on our own. Join us this week by making a commitment toward equality and support The Representation Project by donating here. It’s up to all of us to challenge misogyny, racism, and bigotry in our schools, corporations, media, and larger culture. And working together, in partnership, I am confident we will succeed.

Onwards,

Jennifer Siebel Newsom & The Representation Project Team

Representation Around the Web

“Harvard announced on Thursday that it was canceling the rest of the season for its men’s soccer team after university officials uncovered what they described as a widespread practice of the team’s players rating the school’s female players in sexually explicit terms. ‘We strongly believe that this immediate and significant action is absolutely necessary if we are to create an environment of mutual support, respect and trust among our students and our teams,’ Robert L. Scalise, Harvard’s athletic director, wrote in an email to the university’s student-athletes around 6 p.m.” – The New York Times

• A Plus: A Producer Told Me I’d Never Work in this Town Again – but I’m Done Compromising
• The Atlantic: The Different Stakes of Male and Female Birth Control
• Buzzfeed: This Film Theory from the 1950s about the “Ugly Girl in Glasses” is so on Point
• Glamour: Stanford Sexual Assault Case Survivor Emily Doe Speaks Out
• The Huffington Post: Chris Hemsworth Perfectly Called Himself out on Cultural Appropriation
• The New York Times: Why Blame Huma Abedin?

“[Donald] Trump is certainly not the world’s only misogynist with power, but he is currently the loudest.”
Image via The Representation Project’s Instagram