Sex/Sexism & “Skins”  Sex/Sexism & “Skins”  by Mia Fontaine
MTV, youâ€™ve come a long way baby.  In six short years youâ€™ve
gone fromÂ pimpinâ€™ rides to pimpinâ€™ girls, starting with the
recent premiere ofÂ Skins, a remake of the hit British program
by the same name. Immediately labeled â€œthe most dangerous show
for teens,â€ by the Parents Television Counsel and lambasted
for gratuitous sex and drug use, what was seen as most
controversial was the employment of underage actors. Given that
the show includes implied fellatio and sexual assault, simulated
masturbation and half-naked teens having sex, MTV potentially
violated child-pornography laws.  Without minimizing the above
accusations, what shocked me, howeverâ€“and should shock
everyoneâ€“was the showâ€™s flagrant and unaddressed sexism. And
Iâ€™m not talking garden-variety sexism, Iâ€™m talking a show
thatâ€™s glaringly sexist in truly alarming ways.  Episode One,
for instance, centers around Tonyâ€™s efforts to get his best
friend, the virgin Stanl