Monday, Sheryl Sandberg’s non-profit Lean In.org and Getty Images are announcing a partnership that will provide a collection of stock photos that represent women and families in more empowering ways.
“When we see images of women and girls and men, they often fall into the stereotypes that we’re trying to overcome, and you can’t be what you can’t see,” Ms. Sandberg said in an interview.”
That unrealistically high level of attractiveness has become the standard and we see it everywhere. In magazines, on billboards, T.V. ads, and reality shows. It’s influence is pervasive, and has gone so far as to seep into the collective conscious. We don’t even need to talk about it for it to be true. It is like the ever-present layer of fog (the one that has it’s own Twitter account) hovering over the S.F. Bay. It doesn’t go away if we ignore it. It only changes if we change our view. Maybe we move to Santa Fe, or So Cal; somewhere else-anywhere else.
The argument can be made for the stereotypical stock photos that are used in advertisements that shed light not on the attractiveness of women, but on their role and value in society. Most of the photos are very stereotypical, 1980′s roles. You know the ones. The woman in the gray power suit with the the mousy brown, one-length haircut, black pumps (not too high, but not too low either). Or how about the picture of the mom in her kitchen juggling five tasks, making lunches while slathering butter on the toaster waffles. The pictures of the men are just as average. Men wearing khakis with deck shoes and a hint of gray hair, walking along the beach with his wife (who is also dressed in Eddie Bauer clothing) and two teenagers. A picture being worth a thousand words, we all know what that picture says. It says that the couple is white, still married, upper middle class, and that their teenagers are happily enjoying a family vacation, because the mom stayed at home with them and they were in the best schools. We know that this is not how most people are living, but we continue to use those photos, for others to aspire to such standards.
We are grateful for Lean In’s courage and Getty’s willingness to change the status quo, to reflect what is really going on, and to give girls the chance to “see what they can be.”
Special thanks to the New York Times article: LeanIn.org and Getty Aim to Change Women’s Portrayal in Stock Photos