The acceptable face of middle aged women being attracted to minors.

[ph0b0s123]

Keira Knightley was 17 in POTC and most men didn't go see that for Johnny Depp or Orlando Bloom.

Probably true, but but it's a false equivalentcy as middle aged men would not have been able to be open about it and would not have been featured in a shops Xmas advert going 'mmmm Kira...'. It would never happen as people would find it unacceptable. That's double standards.

Is there actually an example of a similar ad with the genders reversed causing controversy? Honestly, I can't think of any ads that portray older men fantasising about younger women. Closest thing I can think of is American Beauty. Maybe we're just imagining the dilemma here. Saying men would never get away with it, without ever checking if men would get away with it. I know we can assume, but until this year I would've assumed that Ireland would have a national freakout if Jerry Springer: The Opera came here (we didn't) and that a Trey Parker musical poking fun at Mormons would cause controversy, not win 9 tonies.

I think the fact that there is no male equivalent ad proves the point of it not being acceptable. It is so obvious that it has not been made.

 

[ultimateownage]

I'm more concerned about what the fuck is in that box.

 

[tahrey]

Relevant to who? I replied to someone who specifically said they were legal in the STATES. Seems pretty relevant to point out that he's operating under a false assumption.

Relevant to this discussion, as it's arisen out of an advert playing somewhere that it is legal and concerns a subject living somewhere that it is legal. One presumes it's legal in his particular state too, otherwise he wouldn't have mentioned it. Some US states may say 18, but some of them say 16, and some even YOUNGER. And I still don't remember anyone being arrested for fantasising about things, anyway.

The exact wording may be false ("the states" instead of "some of the states"), but still...

 

[Maximum_Power_Cheese_Supreme]

She's an alien though, so I'm sure it's alright.

It's an advertisement so there are other factors that the advert makers use to get away with something like that. For example the father casually goes "mmmn eggnog".

But if we reversed the roles, had the mother go "mmmn eggnog" and the father go "mmmn Beiber" or possibly "mmmn Selena" (*Selena Gomez), then wouldn't that be really disturbing.

But they are both aliens, so they have a long history of anal-probing. Therefore I'm sure their laws on underage inter-species sex is just as lax.

Edit: Selena Gomez is actually 19 years old, so bad example

 

[Macgyvercas]

This image seems appropriate for the current discussion...

Spoiler

 

[tahrey]

I'm more concerned about what the fuck is in that box.

Spoiler

I'm more bothered about the misappropriation of a classic Smiths song and it's lacklustre covering by some watery tart? (©1974 monty python holdings inc). The box probably has, like, a tamagochi or buzz lightyear or whatever this year's cool toy is.

 

[Dfskelleton]

Note how she said "Mmmmmm... Bieber." Perhaps her only purpose is to serve him. Or perhaps, to serve all men. To serve man, if you will.

 

[Doc Theta Sigma]

Some people will find controversy and offence in anything. I'm gonna say to you what I said to the person who asked me if I cried at the John Lewis advert. No. Because it's a tv advert for a fucking shop. Now grow up and move along.

 

[latenightapplepie]

So I think openly lusting after an under 18 year old is not exactly 100% OK. Certainly if you were male this would cause you problems in the current climate.

I did much more than openly lust after my 17-year-old boyfriend before he turned 18. And yes, I am male. Hurray for avoiding gender/sexual politics by being gay.

On topic: Yeah, it's a double-standard. However:

the "middle aged woman" in question is a puppet of an alien made out of blue fucking felt??

Anyway, yeah if you think it's weird that middle-aged women lust after 18-year-olds, then fine, get all judgemental and shit. Apply the standard both ways and see if you can force some societal norm shift if you like. I couldn't be arsed.

 

[tahrey]

I was thinking about what the scene from American Pie would be like if the sexes were reversed.

Spoiler

Would a 45-year-old guy describing whiskey as "aged 18 years, just how I like it" be considered funny?

Depends how much you thought he meant it, rather than being a little exaggeratedly dirty for fun... It'd still be two consenting adults, whatever moral filter you want to put on it, though.

I see far worse online, like "I like my videogames like I like my girls... 12 years old and made in Japan". Ahem.

The stifler's mom thing, well... there's a sort of mutual attraction/seduction thing going on in that scene. The boys obviously have a thing for her (as some younger women have things for "silver foxes"), she isn't backward in coming to get what she wants, and doesn't meet that much resistance. It would probably not be seen as quite so funny (given that, traditionally, men are the sexual predators, the invaders of their prey's body, and both stronger and more prepared to be violent to acquire it than the prey is to resist), but so long as it was played in more literal "lolita" style (but with an 18+ girl - if only to avoid censorship problems, as, certainly in the UK, the age of consent is 16 but someone has to be over 18 to appear in Scenes Of A Sexual Nature), with both parties wanting it rather than it being straight up rape, one hopes it would merely be treated as an example of documenting slightly deviant but still legal behaviour and wouldn't lead to rioting in the street.

Maybe we should take up Marcus Brigstocke's suggestion of raising the age of consent worldwide to 35...

Maybe her only purpose is to serve him

in b4/tons of oh so clever people making double entendres about what "serve" could mean in this context.

anyway what I originally meant to say there was... or, maybe she just really likes his music and would order him from Argos if she could (or abduct him in the saucer) just to get a private concert? (after a rigorous anal probing... it's alright, it's not homosexual behaviour if she does it, so the minimum socially acceptable age doesn't shoot up to 18 alluvasudden)

 

[CrystalShadow]

Yeah it really sucks being a man, having hollow insult thrown our way and running the world.

Ah, but men don't rule the world at all. ;p

(At least, 99.999999999% or so of them don't.) There's truth to the complaints made about gender issues, but a lot of it is actually reminiscent of a divide and conquer strategy.

Get two groups so focused on fighting eachother they don't realise who is really pulling the strings.

Sure it's good being the favoured slave, but at the end of the day you're still a slave.

Or something to that effect. XD

 

[Baron von Blitztank]

I'm too busy screaming at those aliens to notice...
Those eyes.....

 

[Epicspoon]

Why can't women have fantasies of 18 year old boys? They are of concenting age here in the states. Men do the same thing.

Except that men are considered creepy for doing it, despite it being legal.

hey that's not fair, I fantasize about 18 year old girls all the time.....
oh wait, I forgot I'm 19.

 

[Puddleknock]

I feel this is a bit of a none issue. There many topics to discuss about equality between men and women and this particular issue is not really that signifcant in the wider scheme of things.

Lets just treat the advert as a poor and rather forgettable advert for a shop and not anything more.

 

[Virmire]

It's a joke, and besides, he's 17 years old. It's a one freaking year difference, hardly something to make a great deal about.

On a side note, I found out that Bieber is Canadian... sorry...

 

[Phoenix09215]

Although I understand the point you're trying to make, this advert does not breach and of the rules set by Ofcom (the people who regulate UK film and television). Firstly, they're aliens which means the advert has a very low level of verisimilitude; the audience can clearly identify it as humorous rather than sexual. Secondly, The joke isn't the focus of the advertisement and I doubt younger viewers would pay much attention to it, except maybe younger female viewers but in their case they wouldn't be thinking "That alien mother finds Justin Bieber attractive!", they're more likely to think "I like Justin Bieber too!".