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Media Constructions of Children — Transcript

by Professor Josh Beck · 1,828 words · 351 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:00All right, so now we're going to talk
0:02about the media and the typical
0:04constructions of children.
0:08First we need to discuss the the the
0:11history
0:12of the idea of childhood.
0:15Um
0:17First
0:20before we even had a concept of
0:22childhood,
0:24um
0:26the kind of dominant philosophy for uh
0:30crime and punishment is rooted in what's
0:32referred to as classicism.
0:35Um
0:37And the argument here, what's important
0:39for this discussion, is that the the
0:41argument is is that punishment should
0:43fit the crime,
0:45not the offender.
0:47So, if you did this thing, we should
0:50punish you this way. It does not matter
0:52who you are, why you did it,
0:55how it was done,
0:56just that it was done.
0:59And if I kick a puppy and my cousin
1:03kicks a puppy and some random stranger
1:05kicks a puppy, we should all be treated
1:06the exact same way because punishment is
1:09inherent in the criminal act, not the
1:13individual and why they did it.
1:15Uh so, under this philosophy, the idea
1:18is that children are just as culpable as
1:19adults. If I'm capable of doing this
1:21thing, I should be punished the exact
1:23same way.
1:24Uh it wasn't really until the 1800s that
1:26we started to see childhood emerge as
1:29this sort of developmental stage.
1:32Uh this is important because now there's
1:34recognition that that children
1:36exist as a distinct group. Uh they don't
1:39have the independence and responsibility
1:41that adults do. As science and
1:44everything has progressed, we've we've
1:45also learned things like brain
1:47development and impulse control and
1:50things like that, a ton of
1:52uh psychological and even sometimes
1:55physiological just development
1:56differences between children and grown
1:59adults.
2:00>> [snorts]
2:00>> Uh all of these things are
2:03important sort of developments and
2:05evolutions of
2:07both the understanding of childhood and
2:10as a result how we treat children
2:13uh who both commit crimes and are
2:14victims of crimes.
2:17There There's also two terms uh we need
2:20to to make sure we know. One is is this
2:23concept of the adultified child.
2:25And that's the tendency to treat
2:27children almost like mini adults.
2:29Uh in the West we see this in in
2:31children involved in fashion modeling
2:33are often heavily sexualized despite the
2:36fact that they are under the age of
2:37consent.
2:39Were I to actually have sex with a
2:40child, that would be wildly illegal,
2:43absolutely immoral, indefensible.
2:46But
2:47when we
2:49try to sell uh fashion
2:52uh any sort of clothing, things like
2:54that, there's this tendency to sexualize
2:58young children.
3:00And because [clears throat] it's not a
3:02overt physical sexual act, we we tend to
3:05see that as very different.
3:07But there's still sort of this
3:08underlying
3:10the what is at the end of the day
3:12sexualization of young children.
3:14Uh
3:16>> [snorts]
3:16>> this also expands beyond just, you know,
3:20fashion and modeling to include uh
3:24any children who commit some sort of
3:25violence, uh there's a tendency to for
3:29especially heinous acts treat
3:32uh youthful offenders to sentence them
3:35as adults.
3:36So
3:37that happens when a crime is especially
3:40bad that we decide we have these
3:42safeguards in place, right? Uh
3:45children cannot be sentenced to life
3:46without the possibility of parole. Cuz
3:48the argument is that they still have so
3:50much time to grow, evolve, and adapt,
3:52and we can still fix them, we can change
3:55them, we can make them good, better
3:56people.
3:57Uh [snorts] but this adultified child is
3:59this tendency to
4:01uh
4:02attribute sort of adult levels of
4:05expectations, of impulse control,
4:07decision-making to children.
4:11There's also this idea of
4:12infantilization.
4:13>> [snorts]
4:13>> And so this refers to the
4:17especially recently extended period of
4:20time that children spend depending on
4:22their parents.
4:23So it's become increasingly common for
4:25adults to continue living with their
4:26parents in their 20s and their 30s.
4:29Uh the world's too expensive, nobody's
4:30getting paid enough, you can't work
4:32enough to to
4:34be able to buy a house or or even make
4:35rent.
4:36Uh and so
4:39you're sort of forced to be an adult,
4:41you're expected to be an adult, in a
4:43world where it's not really possible to
4:45meet your basic needs without that
4:46assistance.
4:48As anybody who's lived at home with
4:49their parents as an adult knows, your
4:51parents are very, very quick to continue
4:54to treat you as that child who used to
4:56live with them.
4:57Uh
4:58because you don't have a place of your
5:00own, because you can't support yourself,
5:02there's this tendency to see even 20-
5:04and 30-year-olds as
5:06almost these very big kids.
5:11>> [snorts]
5:11>> One of the most popular framings of
5:14children in media is children as tragic
5:16victims.
5:18And so when we think about things like
5:19pedophiles, stranger abductions, and
5:21just sort of broadly stranger danger,
5:24we can track the first sort of prominent
5:27fear of pedophiles
5:29uh rising in the 1980s and 1990s.
5:34Uh this is due in large part to a number
5:36of high-profile cases that captured the
5:38attention of the media and the general
5:39public,
5:41and our response to coverage of and
5:43demand for new laws passed because of
5:46these
5:47these incidents uh has ultimately led to
5:51a very overblown focus on stranger
5:53danger.
5:55We see this with sex offender specific
5:58legislation.
5:59In response to many of these
6:00high-profile incidents, pedophile and
6:02sex offender specific legislation are
6:04often passed.
6:06Uh by centering the threat of the
6:08stranger danger we're shifting attention
6:10away from the offenders who are actually
6:12known to the victim.
6:13Um
6:15the the first of these to to really
6:18reach uh
6:20any sort of meaningful
6:22uh prominence is is the 1994 Jacob
6:25Wetterling Crimes Against Children and
6:27Sexually Violent Offender Registration
6:29Act.
6:31The media [clears throat]
6:32is generally all too happy to throw
6:34their weight behind laws like these.
6:36Uh often arguing they make sense. It's,
6:39you know, this common sense approach. We
6:41have to protect our children.
6:43Uh Bill O'Reilly famously made many many
6:46calls for his viewers to support
6:49Jessica's Law.
6:50Often calling for his viewers to contact
6:52their their elected officials
6:55uh to ensure they are not treating
6:56sexual offenders, quote, with kid
6:58gloves.
7:00As he argued that it is, quote, a
7:02life-and-death battle to save our
7:04youngest and most vulnerable citizens
7:06from abuse, torture, and murder.
7:10Again, all of these things are framed as
7:13you must be a monster to be opposed to
7:15this.
7:17But
7:19the othering of this sort of monster
7:21offender
7:24>> [clears throat]
7:25>> is in and of itself has created many
7:27many more issues.
7:29Uh
7:31we start to present pedophiles as
7:34monsters who are not like us. There's
7:36this sort of difference.
7:37Um
7:39the criminal justice system continues to
7:40distance monsters these monsters from
7:42everyone else.
7:44Uh an example
7:45uh that is oftentimes cited is
7:47legislation uh around sex offenders and
7:51holidays, uh specifically Halloween.
7:54Uh many cities, states, jurisdictions
7:56have laws that uh registered sex
7:58offenders are either not allowed to to
8:00decorate for Halloween.
8:02Uh some have even gone so far as you
8:04cannot have like porch lights on. You
8:06need to make it very, very clear that
8:08no one is coming to the door or do not
8:10come here for candy.
8:12Uh
8:13in some instances, there's even been
8:15required meetings, either
8:19counseling sessions, group counseling
8:21sessions, or even just meeting with
8:23uh your individual probation officer
8:27uh on Halloween. The idea being, as long
8:30as we can lay eyes on you, we know
8:31you're not at home potentially preying
8:33on another child.
8:36But,
8:38what about the incredibly high rates of
8:40family sexual abuse?
8:43Right? The stat that's always thrown
8:44around is that that
8:45uh
8:47one in five it it's likely uh closer to
8:50one in four
8:51women uh have experienced some form of
8:54sexual violence or abuse by the time
8:56that they reach college.
8:59Given what we know about the rates of
9:02incest and family sexual abuse,
9:05both the rates of reporting and the
9:06rates of that actually happening,
9:09uh the rates of reporting are incredibly
9:11low. The rates of that happening are
9:13actually very, very high. Uh some
9:15scholars have argued that number is
9:17certainly closer to one in four if not
9:20one in three.
9:22Because so many women and children are
9:26very, very uh easy targets for people
9:30who
9:31are known to them. Family members have
9:33access, uh
9:35close [snorts] family friends may have
9:36access that the complete stranger can't
9:38get.
9:39And so this shifting, this focus on
9:42stranger danger and others and you got
9:45to be careful and
9:48shifts all of the focus away from the
9:51family and those who might actually have
9:54the easiest time
9:56being able to victimize children.
10:00All of this operates on what is called
10:03the precautionary principle.
10:05And
10:07essentially that just says prepare for
10:09the worst possible outcome, no matter
10:11how unlikely it is.
10:14You know, so somebody adhering to the
10:16precautionary principle may hear about
10:18shootings in Atlanta and every time they
10:20ride Marta they may wear a bulletproof
10:21vest.
10:23It does not matter to this individual
10:26that the incidence of severe violent
10:28crime on Marta trains is actually very,
10:31very low.
10:33Uh it's you know, arguably much more
10:35dangerous to get off at some of these
10:37stations and walk around the
10:38neighborhoods around them than it is to
10:39ride on the train.
10:42But somebody adhering to the
10:43precautionary principle may wear a
10:45bulletproof vest every single time
10:46because
10:48in the worst possible outcome, even if
10:50it's a
10:52uh a one in a hundred million chance,
10:55I want to be prepared.
10:57And again, like we talked about with
10:58news values, that that is a
11:01individualization
11:02of risk. We do not want to see this
11:05violence as a societal issue, it is my
11:08responsibility to keep myself and my
11:10family safe.
11:12Uh we can also see that this sort of
11:14archetype of the pedophile has two major
11:16outcomes.
11:17Uh the topic is is largely less
11:19uncomfortable to talk about. It's a
11:21familiar stereotype. This is not a new
11:23threat.
11:25Uh
11:26and it also diverts attention from the
11:27fact that most child abuse takes place
11:29at home.
11:31This is difficult to fix because of how
11:32the issue is framed.
11:34In particular, the media oftentimes
11:36frames it so that any discussion of but
11:39what about offenders known to the victim
11:41is seen as trying to soften
11:44uh
11:44or shift focus away from stranger
11:46pedophiles.
11:48Uh and as a result is framed as being
11:50soft on crime.
11:54This is obviously not all the pieces
11:58that are worth talking about in terms of
12:00media constructions of children, but
12:03these are the really really important
12:04ones. These are are some of the things
12:06that sort of overlap with uh other
12:09pieces that we're going to be talking
12:10about either we already discussed this
12:12semester or we'll be talking about later
12:14this summer.
12:15Uh
12:16but again, this should hopefully just
12:18kind of get your brain going here
12:20thinking about
12:22uh
12:23assumptions we make
12:24when discussing uh crime stories
12:27involving children.

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