Justin Bieber & Jaden Smith : Underage boys and sex objects for older women?

Bieber: underage boy and sex object for older women

May 4th 2010

Sydney barely averted a potentially violent mob scene last week that would have been caused by 5 foot 3 of trouble, namely the floppy-haired, permanently smirking boy-child chanteur, Justin Bieber.


Disturbingly young to be desired by old women. Photo: Justin Lloyd

While last Monday’s pheromone-fuelled fracas may have gotten all the attention, it’s another group of staunch Bieberites who are more a case for concern.

Peer a little closer and the Justin Bieber show isn’t all rainbows and hair gel. Somehow this boy with his ridiculous forward-swept mop of hair has, consciously or not, crossed into largely uncharted, sexually-confused territory in the popular culture maelstrom.

Where Bieber differs from the countless preening, saccharine pop-tarts of the last 50 years who inspire the sort of feverish, adolescent idolatry witnessed on this week, is that Bieber’s public persona is not simply that of the cute boy-next-door, but of an indelicate, incessant wannabe “player” who’s suggestive interviews and Tweeting often err on the side of cringe-worthy.

This baby braggadocio’s confused, and at times disturbing, public display of what appears to be a very forced sexuality is unsettling behavior, not only his part, but also on the part of the adult women who buy it, or at least play along.

One of Bieber’s most recent coups was to nab the co-host spot on ‘Saturday Night Live’ with ‘30 Rock’ star, Tina Fey. The sketches centred around one gag - Fey’s saucy teacher character lusting after the shiny-haired Bieber who was happily enjoying her attentions.

“I don’t know if I want to marry him or put him in a stroller and push him around the mall,” her character says.

“I love the way his hair really knows where it wants to go, just like him”.

Later on she confesses she wants to give Justin a bath.

He smiles adoringly at her and happily plays the part of the love interest.

Other women who have expressed their attraction to Bieber include singer Katie Perry who posted a photo of her and Bieber on Twitter, writing: “Told you I would tap that. Yummy”.

British actress Billie Piper, appearing on the UK’s Graham Norton show said: “I love Justin. I think he’s gorgeous.”

“It’s kind of that you feel wrong for fancying him. I’m 27…. I’d be a cougar for him. But it is wrong” Piper said.
Take an interview he did with Details magazine, saying of his love life: “Now I’m waiting for Beyonce to call”.
He also Tweeted about being kissed by singer Rihanna: “Thanks for refreshing the lipstick mark @rihanna.”

Arriving in Australia he Twittered: “ok. Just arrived and I like Australia. I like the weather, the accents, the girls, the water, the excitement, the girls, and the girls”.

(What did he do actually do here? He went to Whale Beach on Sydney’s Northern Beaches and dug an enormous hole and was photographed frolicking on the beach.)

He is referred to by gossip columnists as “cougar bait” and in a recent interview his mother, Pattie Mallette, says of the gushing, screaming fans he attracts: “The mothers are the worst.”

Bieber’s life and image are seemingly controlled with such military authority it is hard not to read his sexually-loaded banter as the product of a focus-grouped marketing strategy. This is a boy, after all, who has a “swagger coach”- seriously.

Witness the exchange between Bieber and late-night talk-show host Chelsea Handler on her show ‘Chelsea Lately’. Handler is 36, and her books about her numerous one-night stands and penchant for vodka have enjoyed considerable success in the New York Times best-seller lists.

Throughout the interview Handler is quite obviously poking fun at his Junior Lothario routine, but Bieber does not seem to quite perceive this and prattles along with what sound like heavily scripted lines.

“What do you think, you’re some sort of player?” Chelsea Handler asks. “I went back there [backstage] and he goes ‘Hey baby’”.

Bieber: “Last time I was serious about that date too, it never happened”

Handler: “You do a lot of flirting for somebody who’s 16 years old”

Bieber: “I knew we had a thing, tomorrow, pick you up at 7. Hahaha”

As the conversation progresses, Bieber sounds increasingly like he’s reciting lines he has learnt by rote.

“Kim [Kardashian] said, ‘I think Justin Bieber should date my sister’ and I was like, I think I should date you,” he says with a defiant, cocky grin.

Handler: “That’s a lot of woman for you to handle”

Bieber: “It is”.

Handler: “You’ve made it OK to flirt with underage people…. Say I start dating a 16 year-old”.

Bieber interjects: “Which might happen”.

Discussing his new car Bieber says, “I’ll be able to drive it on our date tonight”.

It’s a disquieting exchange that raises questions about the differing social acceptability of men and women’s behaviour when it comes to the murky territory of teen sexuality.

This isn’t about maintaining the fantasy for his fans that he’s the cute boy who wants to take you to your formal. This is about engaging on a distinctly adult level about sex and relationships.

The lesson Justin Bieber teaches us is that it is cute and charming for a teen boy to come-on to every woman who comes within conversational distance. Likewise, there is no issue with adult women repeatedly expressing their attraction and desire towards a boy who is essentially a child.

The ‘cougar’ genre defies any more malicious, predatory or abusive connotations, making it seemingly permissible to express desire towards a child.

Consider the reverse situation: what would be the reaction if say Disney star Miley Cryus so flagrantly and aggressively talked about men nauseum, and publicly propositioned interviewers like David Letterman and Jay Leno, before attempting to hit on in front of the world’s camers, say, Leonardo di Caprio?

Conversely, say Brad Pitt or Justin Timerblake, told an interviewer how much they wanted to “get on” Miley Cyrus?

The public response to both scenarios would be swift and critical.

Yet there seems to be little public concern regarding the overly-sexually confident persona Bieber has cultivated.

Though he may have left our shores, the Bieber phenomenon leaves behind some interesting questions about the societal fault lines beneath our attitudes towards gender, age and sexuality.

http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/bieber-underage-boy-and-sex-object-for-older-women/

“Kim Can Have Bieber. Jaden’s Mine!”: More Sexualization of Boys

2 days ago at 03:28 pm

Last week I posted photos of the Justin Bieber/Kim Kardashian photoshoot for Elle. I compared it to my earlier post on the sexualization of Jaden Smith. In both I argued that we accept the sexualization of boys at younger ages than girls, seeing it as adorable and proof that they are sufficiently heterosexual and masculine rather than that they are in danger of sexual exploitation.

Yesterday Rob W. sent in a photo that I think illustrates this point well:


Karissa Shannon, born October 2, 1989

http://contexts.org/socimages/2010/07/15/kim-can-have-bieber-jadens-mine-more-sexualization-of-boys/

http://contexts.org/socimages/2010/06/19/sexualizing-boys-totally-ok/

Schnuffel,

It doesn"t say how young the boy is, 1 would guess 13-14 yrs old. With Sexual behavoiur so rampant now
amongst teenagers some even as young as 11 yrs of age, it"s not surprising he is mature for his age and wants
to create the impression of sexual maturity.

Panda wrote: Schnuffel,

It doesn"t say how young the boy is, 1 would guess 13-14 yrs old. With Sexual behavoiur so rampant now
amongst teenagers some even as young as 11 yrs of age, it"s not surprising he is mature for his age and wants
to create the impression of sexual maturity.

Condoms are now available in most secondary schools to all young people from year 7 on. That, of course, means from age 11.

Panda wrote: Schnuffel,

It doesn"t say how young the boy is, 1 would guess 13-14 yrs old. With Sexual behavoiur so rampant now
amongst teenagers some even as young as 11 yrs of age, it"s not surprising he is mature for his age and wants
to create the impression of sexual maturity.

Jaden Smith was born July 8, 1998, making him 12-years old Panda. So you think he is 'fair game' to adults do you?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaden_Smith

that picture is cringe-worthy. She may think she's being 'funny' but the article is correct, if that were Leonardo de Caprio wearing a T-shirt with Mylie Cyrus on he'd be called for everything.

Double standards.

wantthetruth wrote:that picture is cringe-worthy. She may think she's being 'funny' but the article is correct, if that were Leonardo de Caprio wearing a T-shirt with Mylie Cyrus on he'd be called for everything.

Double standards.

I was just about to post something similar. If a man were to be seen wearing a T shirt referring to a young girl, he would be called a paedo. And what if this were to be an 'out,' gay celeb who was wearing that T shirt about Jaden? He'd definitely be called all sorts of disreputable things. Can you imagine the furore if George Michael were to walk around in that T shirt? It's not funny, whoever wears it.

I hadn't heard of this Bieber lad, so I looked on YouTube and found that his videos come up looking like film trailers: they are so professionally produced.

Check out Bieber's lastest video on YouTube (if you have the stomach for it). It is a bloody sight more offensive than Tony Bennett reading out 48 questions, I can tell you. What the hell are the parents thinking, I wouldn't let any of mine go tramping round like that at that age!!!

The Famous Grouse wrote:Check out Bieber's lastest video on YouTube (if you have the stomach for it). It is a bloody sight more offensive than Tony Bennett reading out 48 questions, I can tell you. What the hell are the parents thinking, I wouldn't let any of mine go tramping round like that at that age!!!

I can't work out which is his latest. There are so many that have actually been uploaded within a few minutes.

wantthetruth wrote:that picture is cringe-worthy.

You're not on the only person that thinks so wantthetruth.

JihadPunk77 6:49 pm on July 15, 2010

I found the shirt really creepy and offensive. I wonder what Will Smith and Jada Pinkett think of that. If that was my own child, I’d be outraged.

AnnaEsse wrote:

Panda wrote: Schnuffel,

It doesn"t say how young the boy is, 1 would guess 13-14 yrs old. With Sexual behavoiur so rampant now
amongst teenagers some even as young as 11 yrs of age, it"s not surprising he is mature for his age and wants
to create the impression of sexual maturity.

Condoms are now available in most secondary schools to all young people from year 7 on. That, of course, means from age 11.

The woman in the photo is almost 21 years old so quite what condoms in secondary schools has got to do with issue is beyond me. It is illegal in the UK for anyone over the age of 18 to have sex with any child under the age of 16. Condoms are provided in secondary schools for legal sexual intercourse between consenting partners under the age of 16 only.

Schnuffel wrote:

AnnaEsse wrote:

Panda wrote: Schnuffel,

It doesn"t say how young the boy is, 1 would guess 13-14 yrs old. With Sexual behavoiur so rampant now
amongst teenagers some even as young as 11 yrs of age, it"s not surprising he is mature for his age and wants
to create the impression of sexual maturity.

Condoms are now available in most secondary schools to all young people from year 7 on. That, of course, means from age 11.

The woman in the photo is almost 21 years old so quite what condoms in secondary schools has got to do with issue is beyond me. It is illegal in the UK for anyone over the age of 18 to have sex with any child under the age of 16. Condoms are provided in secondary schools for legal sexual intercourse between consenting partners under the age of 16.

Schnuffel, the message I was responding to wasn't about the 21 year-old woman. She is not mentioned. This is specifically the part I was commenting on in a message that was about sexual behaviour amongst teenagers:

"With Sexual behavoiur so rampant now amongst teenagers some even as young as 11 yrs of age.."

ETA: I see! The first part of Panda's message was about the woman wearing the T shirt, but my comment was about the teenagers and their sexual behaviour.

AnnaEsse wrote:

Schnuffel, the message I was responding to wasn't about the 21 year-old woman. She is not mentioned. This is specifically the part I was commenting on in a message that was about sexual behaviour amongst teenagers:

"With Sexual behavoiur so rampant now amongst teenagers some even as young as 11 yrs of age.."

Understood AnnaEsse and my apologies to you.

One of the wee girls in my daughter's class at school (S2, going into S3) is preganant. That scared the living daylights out of me when I heard it. She'll have just turned 15 when the baby is born - same age as this Justin Bieber! What the hell are we doing to our kids??? At 15 we were playing records and going to discos, not having unprotected sex!

Schnuffel wrote:

AnnaEsse wrote:

Schnuffel, the message I was responding to wasn't about the 21 year-old woman. She is not mentioned. This is specifically the part I was commenting on in a message that was about sexual behaviour amongst teenagers:

"With Sexual behavoiur so rampant now amongst teenagers some even as young as 11 yrs of age.."

Understood AnnaEsse and my apologies to you.

No problem Schnuffel. When I re-read the first part of Panda's comment I could see why you said what you did.