Sex, Sexism, and Tweens
Submitted by Boys and Schools Blog
It’s always interesting to me when I find myself agreeing with a person/group/organization that I would ordinarily be at total odds with. Take, for example, this article about “Sexualizing Tweens for Profit” on a website that is definitely not on the same page as I am, politically speaking. I mean, right there in the side column is an article criticizing Ironman for being retrograde and (I assume) sexist. (Because “retrograde” is one of those words that people use to criticize something popular as being sexist without coming off as a big wet blanket. Also, I should add that Ironman was a lot of fun, and that I didn’t notice anything particularly sexist about it. Of course, I also don’t tend to look for those things, nor do I have a chip on my shoulder about gender roles in entertainment.) Anyway, as I was saying, despite my political differences with the site, I do applaud the interview’s mention of why the trend impacts boys as well as girls:
Durham: Boys are getting the same messages from the media, especially what defines masculinity and femininity, so we need to have more co-ed discussions that involve teachers, parents and counselors helping facilitate a healthy discussion about sexuality.
A lot of boys are very thoughtful and see girls as more than eye candy, so it’s important to bring them into the discussion as well.
And then there is the push back against the marketers. Parents need to continue to put pressure on marketers and hold them responsible for what they are selling. There have been a number of products that have been removed from the shelves because of these efforts.
Iowa Independent: What about recent video games like “Grand Theft Auto” that are not only violent but that treat women as sex objects while simultaneously degrading them, or as is the case in “Grand Theft Auto,” you can kill them after having sex with them?
Durham: Not only are these games incredibly violent, but all the women in these games are sex workers. They are all strippers or prostitutes. The games are rated “M” and are intended for adult audiences but of course that never matters, because 13- and 14-year-old boys are the ones that tend to play these kinds of games. Again, I think boys need more media literacy and education and need to hear adults they respect being critical of these issues, then they will begin to understand why our value system doesn’t appreciate those representations.
Obviously, as parents, if these trends bother us, it is on us to make our unhappiness unknown. And merely griping about the trend is not exactly proactive. I don’t think that boycotts, expressing disapproval of the message, and similar methods are naive about the true nature of teen sexuality, nor are they oppressive or encouraging censorship. The fact of the matter is that these media images and cultural trends are pervasive and there’s nothing wrong with letting the companies that profit from them know that their bottom-line decisions will affect your desire to business with them.
As a side note, I notice that they brought up Grand Theft Auto, so I would stress once again that parents need to learn more about the games that their children are playing. If you wouldn’t let your son watch a hard-”R” movie, then you probably shouldn’t let him play this game. I wouldn’t, on the other hand, go so far as to make any major conclusions about sexism regarding this game. True, most of the women are strippers and prostitutes, but most of the men are psychotic low-life criminals. And, while there is at least one female lawyer, nurse, and one female drug dealer, I’m not sure that I would consider it a great victory for feminism if Grand Theft Auto introduced a high ranking female mafioso to the game. (Not to mention that there was a female Yakuza leader in Grand Theft Auto 3.) But I digress–my point is that sexism is not the major problem with letting young boys play this game.
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