an old grudge: the "kids having sex" scene in IT
For those who have Stephen King’s It, I’m sure you remember the scene where the kids (I don’t remember their exact ages, but the oldest ones had just begun to enter puberty, so like pre-teens or something) have sex in order to escape the sewers/monster. Or rather: the boys gangbang the one girl in the group. Honest to God, this scene always disturbed me. Originally I thought it was because there were KIDS having SEX. And, I mean, that’s part of it, but honestly, I’ve come to realize that it’s more than that. The ages of the characters just make it MORE objectionable, but not the main reason.
Here’s the thing. The scene wasn’t really about the physical act of sex. It was about love and connection and unity. Which is great but WHY did this have to be expressed by THE ACT OF SEX? I know the physical act was supposed to be symbolic, but, considering that the characters are children for God’s sake, why couldn’t it be something else? A group hug, some sort of unanimous chant that had been earlier set up as special in some way, holding hands…IDK. Anything. Literally anything. Like I get it, sex is fun and feels good and can be intimate between romantic partners, but this was a scene about LOVE in a universal, human sort of way, not a romantic way. And I’m so over sex being used as this aggrandized thing that’s supposed to stand in for something inherently emotional and spiritual.
I’m not even going to go into the layers of screwed up that are involved in how this wasn’t even, like, some sort of orgy where everyone was up in each others space. It was a bunch of boys having sex with a girl and that was supposed to bind them as a group? Oh no, God forbid the boys touch each other. I mean, given that this supposedly wasn’t about the sex itself/sexuality.
I just HATE HATE HATE that scene, even though, otherwise, I really enjoyed IT as a book.
Here’s the thing. The scene wasn’t really about the physical act of sex. It was about love and connection and unity. Which is great but WHY did this have to be expressed by THE ACT OF SEX? I know the physical act was supposed to be symbolic, but, considering that the characters are children for God’s sake, why couldn’t it be something else? A group hug, some sort of unanimous chant that had been earlier set up as special in some way, holding hands…IDK. Anything. Literally anything. Like I get it, sex is fun and feels good and can be intimate between romantic partners, but this was a scene about LOVE in a universal, human sort of way, not a romantic way. And I’m so over sex being used as this aggrandized thing that’s supposed to stand in for something inherently emotional and spiritual.
I’m not even going to go into the layers of screwed up that are involved in how this wasn’t even, like, some sort of orgy where everyone was up in each others space. It was a bunch of boys having sex with a girl and that was supposed to bind them as a group? Oh no, God forbid the boys touch each other. I mean, given that this supposedly wasn’t about the sex itself/sexuality.
I just HATE HATE HATE that scene, even though, otherwise, I really enjoyed IT as a book.