Women In The Media: Female TV And Film Characters Still Sidelined And Sexualized, Study Finds

The Huffington Post  |  By Nina Bahadur 

For every Carrie Mathison, the brilliant, complicated spy Claire Danes plays on "Homeland," there are six "Real Housewives" -- in other words, the way women are represented on television and in film is pretty dismal. That's the message researchers are taking away from a new study out of a joint collaboration between USC Annenberg and the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media.

Embracing Femininity: Helping Gender Confused Girls

Chuck Colson

A little girl named Jessica could not remember a time when she did not have crushes on female teachers. She hid her feelings behind a tough, sarcastic persona. When she hit adolescence, Jessica insisted on being called “Jess,” cut her hair short, and hid her developing body under layers of boys’ clothing.

As Dr. Joseph Nicolosi writes in his book, A Parent’s Guide to Preventing Homosexuality, Jessica was contemptuous of her mother, a delicate, feminine woman subject to depression. Jessica viewed her mother as weak, and had no intention of growing up to be like her.

But Jessica sincerely wanted to understand why she was so conflicted about accepting her gender, and began therapy with Nicolosi. Jessica eventually told him that for years, she had been molested by an uncle.