Miss Representation: Rise Up

When I premiered my first documentary, Miss Representation, 15 years ago, I had just given birth to my first child, a daughter. Miss Representation was inspired by my desire for young girls to grow up using their voices, realizing their power, and becoming leaders who could create necessary change in the world. With the global success of Miss Representation and the immense impact of The Representation Project, I was optimistic about the progress we were collectively making. In fact, we were seeing so much progress, I hoped The Representation Project wouldn’t need to exist 15 years later and that a sequel to Miss Representation wouldn’t be necessary.

Unfortunately, amidst progress comes backlash. And, in this case, it is extreme. We are witnessing a new cultural backslide to women’s voices and power. With the online manosphere and the rollback of Roe v. Wade limiting women’s basic rights over their own bodies, the online backlash to women’s progress is occurring at an unprecedented rate and at scale. As the largest cultural communicator of our time, there is no doubt technology is being weaponized to silence women. We’re watching in real time as online harassment, cyberbullying, stalking, and threats of violence against women and girls bleed into grave consequences offline.

Enter AI. AI learns from the internet and social media, technology largely created by men, so it mirrors the most extreme and sexist parts of our culture. Is it any wonder 99% of AI deepfakes target women and girls and 96% of them are non-consensual pornography? The result is a downturn in women’s and girls’ mental health, safety, and leadership aspirations.

This should be considered a very real public health crisis.

I made Miss Representation and Miss Representation: Rise Up as a concerned parent who wants more for our world’s children. As a mother of four children, two daughters and two sons, I’ve seen this all firsthand. My eldest daughter is now almost an adult, and I’ve even seen her peers alter their bodies, succumb to eating disorders, and die by suicide because of these critically harmful aspects of technology.

But I’ve also experienced the harms of technology myself, as someone who uses my voice online and off. Whether via bots, political adversaries, or foreign governments committed to seeing our country struggle, I am one of many women who receive vile social media comments, some of which hope I get sexually assaulted, others which threaten my life and that of my family’s.

For me, documentaries are a narrative art form that entertains, educates, and inspires cultural and political change for the betterment of our children and future generations.

Please enjoy the young women in Miss Representation: Rise Up who are extraordinarily inspirational and the sage adults whose wisdom and expertise ground us in our reality and what is possible when we come together to alter the status quo. May this film inspire us all to use our voices, stand in our power, create meaningful change in tech, and turn the cultural tide towards gender equity for ALL. And, may we ALL Rise Up together.

Jennifer Siebel Newsom
Director, Writer, and Producer