Okay, here's a paradox that never fails to either amuse or depress me. Why do we consider violence to be perfectly okay television fare for children, and sex to be the Great Evil?
Therefore, introducing children to the ultimate expression of love is bad, and introducing children to the ultimate expression of hate is good. Ah, okay, my bad, I must have been confused.
I could rant here about how Puritan-based America is really fucked-up about sex, and mean every single double entendre inherent in that statement. In fact, I had a couple of paragraphs written, but I got rid of them. Because that's not quite the answer, I think. It's the truth, but it's not the answer.
See, violence is easy to understand. Sex is not.
Every five-year-old out there can tell you that if someone does something you don't like, you can hit them, and they'll stop. Ask the same five-year-old about using sex to get someone to stop doing something you don't like. I dare you.
Well, okay, you'll probably get arrested and sued. Because, of course, we're weird about sex. But even if you didn't, I don't think the kid would have a clue.
Sure, they'd probably know what sex was; it's 200-and-freaking-1. Some five-year-olds would be able to tell you about seeing animals having sex, probably. But whether it was initially or whether we just made it so, sex is complicated. And most kids aren't deep enough to understand the possible ramifications. (My goodness, doesn't that sound dirty.)
So, if we were in some alternate universe somewhere where we wouldn't get arrested, we could show kids a show full of sexual politics, and they'd get bored or confused. It's just not something children are capable of comprehending or appreciating yet. That requires a certain amount of maturity.
Plus, of course, kids like violence. Violence is power!
Kids have a very good grasp of power, you see. In that they don't have any, except the power to hit another kid and make them cry. I think that's part of why kids are such vicious, nasty, tribal savages: their acute awareness of how little power they actually have over their lives. We all crave power, and there are two basic responses when we're very young: sublimate or bully. That's it.
Violence is the only form of power easily available to little children. Sure, tantrums and crying may work on their parents, and some other adults, but on their peers? No. I'm making this one hell of a lot simpler than it really is, but if a larger child hits a smaller one, the smaller one is likely to do whatever the larger child wants, in order to not get hit again. Power. Over something. At last.
(And of course, later, words and the concept of emotional violence replace physical violence, especially for girls. Whole different rant. La.)
Ironic, isn't it? As children, we are embraced by violence and shielded from sex, both potent forms of power over another. But as we grow, the violence is legislated away from us; and in the end, it is the power game of sex that remains free and unpunished to us. In other words, we've been thrown into a new arena without the comfortable weapons we grew up with. (And generally, through America's insistance on female beauty, women seem to be a lot more comfortable with sex appeal as power. Ha ha, we win. By losing. Again, whole different rant. La.)
Maybe if we saw more sex as children, we'd be more able to deal with each other as adults. But I doubt it.
Boy, this rant started one place and ended up miles away, and didn't ever get very cohesive, did it? Oh well. Now, to make it even less cohesive!
Sex and violence are the human race's oldest tricks, and tricks we share with every other animal out there.
And we're so fucked up about both of them. Hell, human beings are just fucked up in general. I think the best we can do is stumble along and try not to hurt each other too much, with our violence and our sex and our power... not that this will ever happen, mind you. We still crave our little displays of power, whether it's power through position, through money, through sex, or finally at the bottom of the chain, through violence.
We're just animals. Complicated animals, but animals. Me? I'm a cow. Mwuu.
Replies: add your comment: currently 4 comments
You're very smart for a cow. O.O; Wow, you go girl. (I, meanwhile, am a bitchcat. My00. Marvel at my bitchyness while still being a cat. My00 my00. ... going now.)
Posted by Ley @ 11/03/2001 02:06 PM EST
Well-put, Moon. Yeah, I have also noticed this paradox in our times. People think sex is evil, even though it most certainly is not supposed to be, and violence is good, even though it is not supposed to be, especially by definition. True, sex can certainly be used negatively. Duh.
But it generally speaking is NOT, and it is not SUPPOSED to be. There....really is no GOOD way to be violent. There is no such thing really as "good" violence, when you think about it. Well...maybe some cartoons are okay, where it's just like, slapstick, and there is no blood/gore factor.
Why is sex such a no-no? Who knows. Afterall, were we not all created that way? Why is it bad to learn how you were created? And before religious folks get on my ass (whoa...that also sounds dirty, speaking of sex! ), yeah, yeah, I am aware that the belief is abound that God created people and everything. Yes, I believe God creates souls, but you know what, it takes two people to have sex in order to create the BODY for the soul to exist within. So why is it so "sinful" to talk about sex or to perfrom sex acts? My God, if that is not a paradox, I don't know what is!!
I admit that certain kinds of content should not be viewed by very young children, but you know, sooner or later, they are probably going to ask (I never asked my parents, but hey, I'm just one guy), and what then? Cover up the truth? Or lie about it? Or both? Like you said, Moon, it is afterall, 2001; they are going to find out anyway, whether parents decide to tell them about it or not. But why people consider it a great evil I will never understand. Yeah right...
Of course, I certainly don'tthink graphic violence or anything should be viewed by young children necessarily either, but why is sex more evil than violence? Denno. It's juts part of the paradox we call "humanity".
Y'know, I read a letter in EGM addressing violence, where a young boy wanted to buy Resident Evil 3 at a K-Mart and the clerk would not do it, because well, he was so young, and they are not supposed to anyway anymore. Well, the boy's dad got pissed and demanded he sell the game to his son, even though the clerk informed him of the M rating and violent content, but the guy simply did not care, and demanded the game be sold. God...I don't want to say this guy was a bad parent, but....he does need to listen to people and probably bne more concerned.
Anyway, good job, Moon. ^_^
Posted by Wolf @ 11/03/2001 05:15 PM EST
I think what I find truly frightening is that people can have sex on-screen in a PG-13 movie as long as there's no full frontal nudity and they're not too loud, but Parasite Eve was rated 'Mature' because it mentioned reproductive functions in a purely scientific manner.
Really now, society, get your damned head on straight.
Posted by Ed @ 11/05/2001 01:51 PM EST
Yeah, Ed...I believe they said "sperm" once or twice...oh, and there was that pregnant Eve FMV...that's about all the grown-up shit I remember from Parasite Eve...
Posted by chaobell @ 11/06/2001 02:44 PM EST
