Graphic Sexual Images Shown to Grand Haven AP Language Students
***WARNING PARENTS***SEXUALLY EXPLICIT CONTENT. NOT FOR MINORS, DO NOT OPEN WITH KIDS WATCHING, 18+
Miss Representation: A Documentary Film
How do you feel about school teachers showing graphic sexual images to high school students in school? What do you think about the image below?
This image is one of many such images from the film “Miss Representation” produced by The Representation Project. This film was shown to my AP Language and Composition (AP Lang) class at Grand Haven High School during the 2017-2018 school year. The film had been shown in several previous years, and likely has still been shown in the years since.
The trailer can be viewed here:
An extended trailer can be viewed here:
“Miss Representation” is a documentary film which discusses the oppression and objectification of women in society and in the media through the left-wing viewpoint of the films’ creators. The film is full of disturbing photos and video clips. Before showing the film to my class, our teacher, Mr. Foley, remarked that he would re-think the appropriateness of showing the film every year due to the number of images of scantily clad women, violence, and other graphic imagery. (Personally, I think that if a teacher is questioning the appropriateness of a film, the film should most certainly not be shown to a class of teenagers).
Here are some more images from the film trailer:
Would you show these images to a class of high school students, let alone an entire film? The four images shown here all came from a 2-minute 48-second trailer. The documentary is an hour and twenty-five minutes long. There are many more such images in the film.
Here are four reasons why this film is not appropriate for high school course material:
The film shows graphic sexual imagery, such as the image shown above
Many photos shown in the film display extreme violence
The film has a strong left-wing bias
The key message presented is “women are objectified and oppressed,” pushing the narrative that all women are victims in society
Keep in mind the students in AP Lang are mainly high school juniors, meaning the students are 16 – 17 years old. These students are approaching adulthood but are not yet legal adults. I personally found Miss Representation rather traumatizing when my class was shown the film.
The purpose of AP Lang is to teach students how to understand and craft arguments. While I would agree that it is important for students to understand film-based rhetoric, students do not need to watch obscene documentaries like Miss Representation to learn about film-based rhetoric. Documentaries such as “Food, Inc.” and “The Salt of the Earth” could be analyzed instead.
We live in a world with thousands of films and documentaries. With the number of documentaries available, why did AP Lang teachers at Grand Haven High School select such an obscene documentary to the AP Lang students?