Twenty-three-year-old Alejandro Jimenez is an honors student at the University of California, Berkeley. He’s scheduled to graduate in May. “And it’s been worth it,” he says. “It’s been tough, but nothing we’re doing or we’re having is easy.”
East Oakland can be a tough neighborhood for a kid. It's a landscape designed for industry, not for children, and there aren’t many places to play. But a couple blocks east of the 880 freeway, down 98th avenue, is a little refuge that serves as a second home and playground for the those growing up in East Oakland. It's the East Oakland Boxing Association.
Miss Representation is a new film about the rapid proliferation of media in the 21st Century and how it affects young boys and girls. The film notes that the reach of media today is unprecedented and more pervasive than ever before – and it may be presenting a very skewed portrayal of what it means to be female. Women are only 16 percent of the protagonists in movies and, Miss Representation argues, girls are encouraged by ads, TV and films to achieve an unrealistic standard of beauty at younger and younger ages. Here are some girls talking about how images are affecting them:
