Kristin Stewart’s Threesome: It’s Not Her Job To Teach Your Kids Morals — It’s Yours
It isn’t just her Chuck Taylors and a sullen expression that makes Kristen Stewart every teen or tween’s idol. In case you missed the last five years, she also embodies Twilight‘s Bella Swan. It’s an iconic role for a young actress to be saddled with. She has millions of die-hard fans who look up to her. It only makes the fairytale more perfect since she’s been dating her glittery co-star, Robert Pattinson, for years now. Stewart has to deal with some pretty obsessive scrutiny and a whole lot of angsty teen typecasting.
And it’s K-Stew’s position as a teen icon that has her coming under fire from Culture and Media Institute, a website that claims to be holding the liberal media accountable. Vice President of Business & Culture for the group, Dan Gainor, told internet tabloid Radar,
“In the film On The Road, Kristen Stewart engages in a threesome and masturbates two male characters according to reports. How will parents who took their daughters to see the Twilight movies explain this? It is irresponsible of Stewart and manipulative of Hollywood bosses to deliberately try to destroy any sense of decency these actresses might have taught young people.”
As a mother, my very first reaction to this statement is that it’s not any actress’s job to teach my child a sense of decency. It is not an actress’s job to behave in a certain way so that my child can look up to someone. Do I appreciate a good role model? Of course I do. Do I demand that a popular actress portray my specific beliefs so that my daughter can see them positively? No. Because that’s not Kristen Stewart or any other actress’s position.
If parents want to teach their children morals and decency, they need to speak to their kids. If we don’t think that our tweens should see On The Road, then we shouldn’t drive them to the theater or pay for their ticket. Even more, if we want them to understand that sexual acts should be saved for mature, committed relationships, we need to talk to them about that. Have the discussions, explain your position. If any of us are waiting for a pop culture figure to present the perfect role model to our kids, then we’re setting our children up to fail.
There’s one more part of this little controversy that has me frustrated. Completely aside from the whole “demanding someone else to live by your morals so they can be a role model to your kids” thing, why is it that we demonize a young actress for taking on a sexual role and yet a boy in the same position is called “brave” and “proving his maturity.”
That’s right, I’ll bite and call out the extreme double standard going on here. Did we forget that just a few short years ago, there was another tween idol who starred in a blockbuster franchise and chose to take on a highly mature and sexual role? Does the name Harry Potter ring a bell? When Daniel Radcliffe chose to take on the part of Alan Strang in a revival of Equus, the general consensus was that he was breaking out of the tween bubble. The New York Times praised the actor, saying, “Mr. Radcliffe appears to be negotiating the tricky transition from child star to adult actor without falling prey to drug-addled delusion, insufferable narcissism or late-night reality television.”
Radcliffe was proving that he’s a versatile and impressive actor. In the middle of filming his tween empire, he did a play that involved nudity, mental illness and bestiality. And out collective reaction was to say that he was just stretching himself, proving himself. We didn’t chastise him for sending the wrong message to teens. We applauded his bravery.
So why is it that a female actress who takes on a new and different character should be criticized for setting a bad example for young girls? She shouldn’t. Kristen Stewart is her own person and she doesn’t owe teens or parents anything. And if your teen desperately wants to see this movie because it has their favorite actress in it, take the time to discuss it with them. Talk about the sex scene in question. If her movie can help you communicate honestly with your teen about sex, maybe you should be thanking Kristen Stewart instead of condemning her.
(Photo: Examiner)
